Thursday, November 05, 2026
Revenue's climbing and the bank balance still isn't. The real fix usually isn't your price — it's that your marketing never said who you're actually for.
You know the feeling. Half your customer list drains you — the haggling, the late payments, the "can you just" emails at 6pm — and you genuinely can't tell, without pulling up the spreadsheet, which ones are actually worth the trouble. So you treat them all the same, because singling anyone out feels unfair, and your best hours go to your worst-fit customers by default.
Here's the number that usually ends that guessing game: for most SME owners, somewhere between five and ten per cent of their customers generate close to half their revenue. You don't need more customers. You need to know which ones you already have are worth building the whole business around.
I've coached 200-plus businesses one-on-one across 30-plus industries, and the grading conversation is almost always the one that changes the most, the fastest.
"Be nice to everyone" is good manners and bad sales strategy in the same sentence. Sales trainer Chet Holmes, who built his reputation running sales systems inside major US corporates before writing The Ultimate Sales Machine, put it bluntly: you can't be all things to all buyers and expect to dominate any one group of them. Spreading your best effort evenly across a customer base that isn't evenly valuable is how good owners end up exhausted and underpaid.
A client of mine had 123 customers on the books. When we graded them properly, eight of those customers — the top tier — were generating $266,240 of the business's $630,220 in revenue. Not half the customers. Not a third. Eight, out of 123.
Nothing changed about those eight customers that week. What changed was that the owner finally knew who they were, and started protecting that relationship on purpose instead of by accident.
"Kevin doesn't just present — he electrifies the room and drives massive, real-world value! He drops game-changing insights and actionable shortcuts that show businesses exactly how to turn everyday customers into raving, loyal fans — and acquire new ones faster than ever thought possible."
— Gareth Bayliss, Sales Manager, The Icehouse
Most owners who see this grid immediately know which of their customers belong where. The obstacle is rarely insight — it's that saying no to a paying customer, even a draining one, feels like turning down money. It isn't. It's redirecting the same hours toward the version of this business that's actually profitable to run. That redirect is easier with someone outside the business holding you to the decision once you've made it.
This isn't for you if you'd rather keep every customer happy than find out which ones are actually worth keeping happy. It is for owners ready to see the grid, even when it's uncomfortable.
You could spend next quarter chasing more leads. Or you could spend one afternoon finding out you already have the customers worth building around — and start treating them that way.
If you've never graded your customer list by what it actually earns you, that's the first thing we'd fix together.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Most SME strategy problems are not thinking problems, they are seeing problems. Here is the one-page model that catches the two mistakes that quietly kill most growing businesses before they show up in the bank account.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Four pillars, one real constraint and a 90-day plan. Here is how the Simple-Growth System works, plus a 45-minute test you can run this week.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
When you are surrounded by your industry, it is hard to see the wood for the trees. Here is why an outside perspective finds growth moves insiders miss, and how US owners can use it.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Small businesses grow at half the rate of big ones, and it is not about budget. Techaisle's 2026 global survey reveals why depth of relationships beats contact count, and how to build your own Dream 10 this week.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Rising revenue feels like proof the business is winning. If your margin is quietly shrinking at the same time, you are growing broke. Here is the three-line check that catches it.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
January feels like the obvious month to commit to a coach. It is actually the worst one. Here is why the owners who get the most out of coaching start in November instead.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Wrong hires are now costing Australian SMEs an estimated 7.3 billion dollars a year. The mistake almost never happens in the interview room. Here is where it actually happens.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Somewhere in your pipeline right now is a buyer whose budget has to be spent before their financial year ends. Here is how to find them before a competitor does.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Most SME marketing budget goes to whichever channel the owner already knows, never the one that would actually work best. Here is the simple test that finds it.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Most strategic plans fail quietly, from an optimism nobody questioned out loud. Here is the 20-minute pre-mortem that finds the weak spot before you commit a dollar to it.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
What a business coach for an NZ food, beverage or FMCG brand should do: price waterfall, real constraint, velocity story and a 90-day plan.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
73% of small business owners feel more confident than ever, yet 57% have flat or falling revenue. Here is the real constraint behind the gap, and the 15-minute test that exposes it.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
Most SME owners know their cost per click. Almost none know their true cost to win a customer, because the real costs live in four different spreadsheets nobody has ever combined.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
A pleasant weekly chat and a structured coaching session can look identical from the outside. Here's exactly what should be happening in the room if the second one is real.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
Most SME task lists have no visible connection to the goal on the whiteboard. OKRs fix that gap in three simple steps, without turning your week into a spreadsheet exercise.