Friday, October 30, 2026
Only 30% of US owners finished 2025 with profits above expectations, down from 57% the year before. Here's the real reason growing revenue stopped meaning growing margin.
You've got the customer who emails at 9pm, haggles on every invoice, and takes three follow-ups to pay. And you've got the one who orders on time, pays on time, and never once asks for a discount. You treat them almost exactly the same — same response time, same effort, same place on your list. If you can't say in thirty seconds which of your customers actually carries the business, you're not alone, and it's costing you more than you think.
Fairness feels like good business. It isn't the same thing as good strategy. I worked with a client who had 123 customers on the books. When we actually ran the numbers, eight of them — just 6.5% of the customer list — had delivered $266,240 of a total $630,220 in revenue, better than four dollars in every ten. The other 115 customers, treated with exactly the same time, discounts and priority as those eight, were splitting the rest. Nobody had planned it that way. It had simply never been measured.
This runs on the same logic Vilfredo Pareto noticed in income distribution over a century ago: a small share of inputs usually drives most of the result. Applied to your customer list, it looks like this.
"Kevin is a master of his craft... He is a powerhouse presenter and facilitator who brings an explosive blend of energy and expertise to every room he steps into. Participants don't just sit and listen; they leave buzzing with breakthrough ideas and simplified, highly effective growth strategies. Most importantly, Kevin leaves people profoundly inspired, fully equipped, and fiercely motivated to drive their businesses forward. He is the standard-setter!"
— Darilyn Kane, Coaching and Advisory Lead, The Icehouse
Here's the real obstacle: grading your customers means admitting a few of them probably shouldn't stay customers at all, and that's an uncomfortable conversation to have with yourself, let alone with them. Most owners know this exercise exists. Almost none run it, because without someone holding them to it, I'll do it next quarter always wins. That's the part coaching actually solves, not the maths, which takes an afternoon, but the follow-through on what the maths tells you to do next.
This isn't for you if you'd rather keep every customer happy than build a profitable business. It's for you if you're ready to find out, honestly, which eight customers are actually carrying yours.
If you've never graded your customer list, that's usually the first number we run together.
Friday, October 30, 2026
Only 30% of US owners finished 2025 with profits above expectations, down from 57% the year before. Here's the real reason growing revenue stopped meaning growing margin.
Friday, October 30, 2026
43% of US owners have hidden business stress from their own family. Here's why carrying it alone is the actual problem, and why Kevin hired his own coach.
Friday, October 30, 2026
If your business stops the moment you do, the problem isn't your team. It's how many of their problems you're still quietly carrying. Here's the fix, from a 1974 HBR classic.
Friday, October 30, 2026
One client had 123 customers. Eight of them delivered 42% of total revenue. Here's the A-B-C-D grading system that tells you which customers actually matter.
Friday, October 30, 2026
Nearly three in ten US owners name unpredictable demand as a top stressor. Here's the always-on marketing system (RACE) that replaces the feast-and-famine cycle.
Friday, October 30, 2026
If a prospect asked what makes you different, could you answer in one sentence? Here's the three-question positioning map that gets you there before your next pitch.
Thursday, October 29, 2026
Most sales die at silence, not at no. Here is how to build a first AI agent for sales follow-up in five steps, with a human in charge and NZ privacy and spam rules covered.
Thursday, October 29, 2026
AI speeds up whatever you point it at. Here is how to match it to the one link in your business that is actually limiting growth, before you spend on tools.
Thursday, October 29, 2026
36% of NZ SMEs use AI, but the smallest firms trail by 34 points. Here is a four-question test for choosing your first AI job, and a 30-day plan.
Thursday, October 29, 2026
Nearly half of SME owners say their business doesn't have a money problem — it has a time problem. Here's the 90-day Freedom Plan to fix it.
Thursday, October 29, 2026
A business with four equal customers loses 25% of revenue the day one leaves. Here's the customer-concentration math most SME owners never run, and three moves to fix it.
Thursday, October 29, 2026
A lot of owners try the wrong format, see no shift, and decide coaching doesn't work for them. Here's what a peer room is actually good for, what 1:1 coaching is actually good for, and a 3-check way to pick.
Thursday, October 29, 2026
HBR's review of meeting research found about 70% of meetings kept employees from the work they were meant to enable. Here's Verne Harnish's meeting rhythm, sized for an SME before year-end.
Thursday, October 29, 2026
Reps close 2.9x more deals at month-end and lose 11.4x more margin doing it, one major study found. Here's why the plan is the problem, not the rep, and three fixes.
Thursday, October 29, 2026
45% of US consumers used AI for a local business recommendation this year, up from 6% last year. Here's why schema markup won't fix your AI visibility, and what will.