Solving Your Growth and Revenue Problem - An Introduction

Every business owner I know has one goal that haunts them. It's the number you stare at on spreadsheets and whiteboards. I'm talking about your revenue goal.

Hitting that target is crucial for healthy revenue growth, but how do you even set that goal in the first place? If you don't have a real destination, any path you take feels like the wrong one. You feel stuck, and that's a terrible feeling when you're trying to build something great.

I get it because I've been there. As the owner of a small SAP consultancy that's also a Hubspot agency, I help companies with this exact problem every day. This struggle to set and achieve better growth and revenue isn't just you; it's a common challenge that requires a structured approach to a company's financial well-being.

You'll learn how to stop guessing and start building a real strategy to solve this puzzle. It all begins with having the right framework. This post is the first step in giving you that framework.

Why Is Setting a Revenue Goal So Hard?

Someone asks, "What's your growth goal?" and it sounds so simple. But the answer feels anything but simple. Do you just pick a number that sounds good, or do you double what you did last year and hope for the best?

This kind of guesswork is why so many businesses fail to meet their targets. It's like building a house without a blueprint. The goal for high revenue growth needs to be grounded in reality, reflecting both your capacity and market opportunity.

I remember sitting down at the beginning of a new year with a deep sense of dread. If my revenue goal was too low, I'd be leaving opportunity on the table. If it was too high, it would be demoralizing for the team from day one, impacting the overall profit margin and what we see on the income statement.

The problem isn't the number itself. The problem is the lack of a system to arrive at that number. You need a method for analyzing revenue from a previous period to create a logical, achievable, yet ambitious goal for the current period's revenue.

The Universal Challenge of Growth and Revenue

You might think this is a problem only for startups or small businesses, but it's not. I've had the privilege of working with some of the biggest companies in the world, like Saudi Aramco and the United Nations. They have entire departments dedicated to financial planning and still grapple with setting and hitting their targets.

These large organizations focus on optimizing complex revenue drivers and maintaining a healthy revenue growth rate across different divisions. On the other end of the spectrum, I've worked with new startups focused on initial customer acquisition. They face the exact same challenge of building revenue, just on a different scale.

This challenge is present everywhere because every business must adapt to market changes and competitive pressures. The company's financial health depends on it. No one gets a free pass when it comes to figuring out their revenue puzzle.

What's the Real Problem You Need to Fix?

Your revenue problem is usually a symptom of deeper issues. Over my twenty-five years in enterprise sales, I started seeing patterns. The same core problems appeared again and again, which I detailed in my first book about the nine problems every business must fix.

Why those nine? Because I found them in every client, from SAP customers to Inbound Marketing clients. These problems cover everything from leadership alignment to understanding your customer's pain points. A good business strategy addresses the entire organization, not just sales.

If you don't address these underlying issues, simply chasing a number is a recipe for burnout. It forces your team to push products that don't fit or make promises you can't keep. To build long-term revenue, you have to look at the whole picture, from gross profit down to operating expenses.

Often, a high churn rate is a clear indicator of a deeper issue. If you have customers leaving faster than you can acquire new ones, you have a foundational problem. Focusing on customer success and reducing churn is one of the most effective revenue growth strategies available.

Before You Can Grow, Know What You Sell

This sounds incredibly basic, but do you really know what you sell? Every business I've consulted for, from established players to fresh startups, struggles with this question. If you can't answer it clearly, how can you expect your customer base to understand?

This problem was so important that I dedicated my second book, "Knowing What You Sell: The Key to Dominate Your Market," to it. It's about more than listing features; it's about knowing the specific problem you solve. It is your value proposition.

Without this clarity, your marketing is fuzzy and your sales conversations are weak. You can't create compelling LinkedIn Ads or build a prospecting methodology that drives a higher conversion rate. You certainly cannot configure a quoting tool, like the Hubspot CPQ, without a clear picture of the value you deliver.

Understanding what you sell defines your average revenue per customer and directly impacts your total sales volume. This clarity is the first step toward building predictable and healthy revenue. It helps in accurately forecasting potential revenue and setting realistic growth goals.

A Framework to Tackle Your Growth and Revenue Problem

This is where we get to the solution. The book this blog series is based on, "Solving Your Growth and Revenue Problem," gives you a clear strategy. You'll get the tools, techniques, and methodology you need to finally get this right. This series will break down that framework piece by piece.

We'll move past generic advice. We are going to build a step-by-step process for driving revenue growth. You'll learn how to stop guessing at numbers and start building a predictable revenue engine for your business.

The goal isn't just to give you theory. I'll share real case studies from my years in enterprise software sales. We'll talk about how these concepts apply to complex sales, whether you're using Hubspot or dealing with a massive SAP account.

Moving From Guesswork to a Real Goal

The first step is a mental shift away from thinking of your revenue target as just a number. It is the result of a series of well-executed activities. We will start with a solid foundation by defining what you sell with extreme clarity and figuring out who you sell it to.

From there, we can start calculating revenue projections. How many leads do you need? What does your sales funnel look like? Suddenly, the big, scary revenue number breaks down into manageable activities that your team can execute.

This process brings a sense of calm and control. You're no longer operating on hope; you have a plan. You can track your progress against it and adjust your growth strategies as needed.

Calculating Your Revenue Growth Rate

To move beyond guesswork, you need a solid growth formula. The revenue growth rate formula is a fundamental growth metric that shows the percentage increase in revenue between two points in time. Understanding how to calculate revenue growth is essential for measuring performance and setting future revenue growth goals.

Here is how you calculate revenue growth rate. You take the current period revenue, subtract the revenue from the previous period, and then divide that number by the previous period's revenue. To express it as a percentage, you multiply the result by 100.

This calculation can be used for any time period, whether you are looking at month-over-month growth, quarterly growth, or annual growth. Consistently tracking your growth rates provides valuable insights into your company's financial health. An approach based on data from your financial statements is always more reliable than a gut feeling.

For example, if your revenue last quarter (the previous period) was $100,000 and this quarter's revenue (the current period's revenue) is $120,000, your calculation would look like this: (($120,000 - $100,000) / $100,000) 100 = 20%. Your revenue growth rate for the quarter is 20%.

Why Your Whole Team Needs This Clarity

A well-defined plan for driving revenue does more than help your sales team; it aligns your entire company. When marketing knows the exact revenue goal, they can build campaigns that generate the right leads through activities like A/B testing. Operations can plan for capacity based on projected sales, ensuring a smooth cash flow.

Everyone starts rowing in the same direction. According to research and personal experience, companies with strong commercial alignment grow faster and are more profitable. Your clear plan for revenue growth becomes the glue that holds your strategy together.

Think about the alternative. Sales blames marketing for bad leads, and marketing complains that sales doesn't follow up. The customer service team, which should be focused on expansion revenue and providing excellent service, is blindsided by new deals. This chaos often stems from the lack of a single, unified plan to prioritize revenue growth.

What to Expect from This Series

I wrote my book because I wanted to share what I've learned over the past 25 years. This series of blog posts will do the same. Each post will focus on one specific part of the revenue growth puzzle.

You can look forward to deep dives on critical topics. We'll cover Account Based Marketing for large enterprise accounts and my step-by-step prospecting methodology. We will also talk about creating sales enablement materials that help your team sell more effectively, which is essential for increasing revenue.

I'll also share personal stories and lessons learned from both success and failure. You'll see how these principles work in the real world. This isn't just theory; it's practical advice for anyone trying to master the art of building revenue and achieving high revenue growth rates.

Conclusion

Your business deserves more than a revenue goal that was pulled from thin air. You need a system that gives you confidence and a clear path forward. Fixing your problem with revenue growth refers to working smarter, not just harder, with a proven framework.

This process starts with asking the right questions and building your strategy from the ground up, based on an accurate understanding of your top-line revenue and net income. You can absolutely solve this challenge. This series will show you how to analyze your performance and set growth goals that drive your business forward.