Growing a business is never just about selling more products. At its core, it’s about understanding people—both the people running the company and the customers they serve. It’s about identifying real problems and providing solutions that matter.
The companies that succeed in winning customers and growing revenue consistently go beyond the surface—they don’t just push features; they focus on outcomes.
Here’s a practical framework for anyone looking to help a business win more customers and drive sustainable revenue growth.
Start by Choosing One Business
Before you can drive meaningful growth, you have to pick one business to focus on. It may sound obvious, but this step is crucial. When you anchor your thinking to a specific company, everything else becomes clearer. Abstract strategies rarely work because they lack context.
Selecting a company lets you explore its world—the industry it operates in, its products or services, its revenue sources, and its customers. By fully immersing yourself in one business, you can identify opportunities that others would miss. You’ll be able to map the customer journey, uncover pain points, and design solutions that are precise rather than generic.
Think of it like building a house. You wouldn’t start hammering nails without knowing the foundation. Choosing your target business is laying that foundation.
Understand the Business at a Deep Level
Once you have a company in mind, the next step is to truly understand it. This goes beyond a surface-level description of what it sells or where it operates. You need to dig into the core of how it makes money. Ask questions like:
- What products or services generate the most revenue?
- Who are the primary customers—individuals, businesses, or both? (see below for more details on this)
- Within business customers, what percentage are small, mid-market, or enterprise clients?
- What is the company’s value proposition to each segment?
This understanding allows you to see where growth is already coming from and where there might be untapped opportunities. For example, a software company might think its enterprise clients are its primary revenue engine, but small businesses may represent an overlooked segment with potential to scale.
The key is clarity. You can’t grow what you don’t fully understand. A deep knowledge of the business lets you prioritize efforts, target the right audience, and communicate solutions that resonate.
Who Are the Primary Customers—Individuals, Businesses, or Both?
When analyzing a business, one of the first things to clarify is who its customers are. This distinction shapes every growth strategy, from marketing messaging to sales approach to product design. Broadly, customers fall into two main categories: individuals (B2C) and businesses (B2B). Some companies serve both, but the differences in approach are significant.
1. B2C – Business to Consumer
In a B2C model, the company sells directly to individual customers. Examples include retail stores, e-commerce brands, streaming services, and consumer apps. The buying decisions here are often emotional, fast, and driven by personal needs, desires, or lifestyle.
Key characteristics of B2C customers:
- Decision-making is individual: Usually, one person decides whether to buy.
- Purchase cycles are short: Decisions can be made in minutes, hours, or days.
- Volume matters: Businesses often rely on large numbers of customers to drive revenue.
- Marketing focus: Messaging needs to appeal directly to personal desires or pain points.
For example, an online clothing retailer needs to understand fashion trends, convenience, and price sensitivity to convert shoppers into buyers. Success comes from connecting with individual motivations and creating experiences that make purchasing effortless.
2. B2B – Business to Business
In a B2B model, the company sells to other businesses rather than individuals. Examples include enterprise software providers, cloud infrastructure companies, industrial equipment manufacturers, and consulting firms. The buying decisions in B2B are more rational, longer-term, and often involve multiple stakeholders.
Key characteristics of B2B customers:
- Decision-making involves multiple people: Budget holders, managers, end-users, and executives may all influence or approve a purchase.
- Purchase cycles are longer: Decisions can take weeks, months, or even years.
- Revenue per customer is higher: B2B companies often rely on fewer, high-value accounts rather than mass volume.
- Marketing focus: Messaging must demonstrate ROI, efficiency gains, risk reduction, or competitive advantage.
For example, a cloud security provider selling to SMBs must understand not just the IT manager’s requirements but also the CFO’s concerns about costs and potential fines. Offering solutions that address multiple perspectives increases the chance of closing a deal.
At the enterprise level, the complexity grows. Consider a multinational corporation evaluating a Security Access Service Edge (SASE) solution. The IT security team may focus on technical features like zero-trust enforcement and threat detection, while the CIO is concerned with integration across global operations and regulatory compliance. Meanwhile, the CFO is evaluating the total cost of ownership, and department heads may worry about user experience and productivity impact. A vendor that can craft a proposal addressing all these perspectives—technical, operational, financial, and usability—dramatically improves its likelihood of winning the enterprise contract.
3. Businesses That Serve Both (Hybrid Models)
Some companies serve both individual consumers and businesses. For example, a software company might sell a lightweight version of its product directly to individual freelancers (B2C) while offering a full-featured enterprise edition to corporations (B2B). These hybrid models require segmented strategies that address the unique needs and buying behaviors of each group.
Understanding whether a business primarily serves individuals, businesses, or both is essential. It informs your entire approach to acquiring customers, structuring sales efforts, designing messaging, and even deciding which products to focus on. Without this clarity, you risk misdirecting resources and missing opportunities for meaningful growth.
Decide Where to Focus
Growth can take many forms. You could try to do everything at once, but spreading yourself too thin rarely works. The most effective growth strategies come from focus. There are two main approaches:
1. Focus on Product Lines
You might choose to emphasize a few high-impact products across all customer segments. This approach works when certain offerings have strong market demand, clear differentiation, or a high margin. By concentrating your efforts, you can perfect messaging, streamline sales processes, and ensure customers clearly understand why these products matter.
2. Focus on a Customer Segment
Alternatively, you could concentrate on one type of customer—small businesses, mid-market, or enterprise—and master that segment from the inside out. This requires a deep understanding of how the segment operates: its workflows, priorities, constraints, and buying behavior.
For example, targeting enterprise clients often means navigating multiple stakeholders, long sales cycles, and complex procurement processes. Small businesses, by contrast, often make faster decisions but have limited budgets. Mid-market companies might sit somewhere in between, with unique pressures and opportunities. Understanding these nuances gives you leverage. When you truly “speak their language,” your outreach becomes far more effective.
Separate What the Company Sells from What Customers Actually Buy
One of the most common mistakes in sales and growth strategy is equating a product with its value. Every product has two versions:
- The vendor’s description – what the company says it sells.
- The customer’s reason for paying – what the buyer is really trying to achieve.
Take Salesforce as an example. On the surface, it sells CRM software. But customers aren’t buying a database or reporting tool—they’re buying shorter sales cycles, clearer pipelines, and more productive reps. Similarly, a cloud security company may sell “SASE” or “firewalls,” but what customers are really buying is simplicity, risk reduction, and peace of mind.
Outside of tech, the same principle applies:
1. A Commercial Cleaning Service
On the surface, a cleaning company offers janitorial services. But what businesses are truly buying is a clean, safe, and professional environment that impresses clients, keeps employees healthy, and reduces operational disruptions. The cleaning service itself is secondary; the real value lies in the outcomes it creates for the business.
2. A Commercial Insurance Provider
An insurance company sells policies, but businesses aren’t just buying coverage—they’re buying certainty, financial protection, and peace of mind. A construction company, for example, isn’t just paying for liability insurance; it’s paying to avoid catastrophic losses, protect its workforce, and secure client trust. The product is a means to a larger, deeply felt outcome.
And here are four more examples, on the Business to Consumer (B2C) side:
1. Fitness App
A fitness app isn’t just selling an app with workouts and tracking features. Users are buying better health, higher energy, weight loss, and the motivation to stick to a routine. The app is simply the tool that helps them achieve those personal goals.
2. Meal Kit Delivery Service
Companies like HelloFresh or Blue Apron aren’t selling pre-portioned ingredients—they’re selling convenience, time savings, and the ability to cook healthy, delicious meals without the stress of planning and shopping.
3. Streaming Service
Netflix or Disney+ isn’t selling a library of movies and shows. Customers are buying entertainment, relaxation, family bonding, or the ability to stay culturally connected with trending content.
4. Home Cleaning Product
A vacuum cleaner or eco-friendly detergent isn’t just a tool—it represents a cleaner home, a healthier living environment, and less stress about daily chores. Consumers care about results and lifestyle improvements, not just the object itself.
Pinpointing these real outcomes transforms your strategy. Messaging, sales approaches, and marketing all become sharper. Instead of talking about features, you talk about what customers truly care about: results.
Map the Buying Power
Within any customer organization, different people influence purchasing decisions. It’s essential to understand who they are and what motivates them. Key roles often include:
- Budget owners – the person or department controlling the money.
- Influencers – those who recommend or evaluate solutions.
- Users – those who interact with the product daily.
- Decision-makers – those who ultimately approve purchases.
Growth becomes much easier when you know exactly who to target, what each person cares about, and where potential blockers might exist. For example, an IT manager may prioritize security and uptime, while a CFO may focus on cost efficiency. A solution that appeals to both is far more likely to succeed.
Go Beyond the Product and Understand Bigger Problems
Customers rarely think in terms of your product category. They think in terms of their goals, bottlenecks, and challenges. The most successful growth strategies uncover these deeper problems. Ask yourself:
- What are the customer’s biggest pain points?
- What slows them down or distracts them from achieving their goals?
- What keeps them awake at night?
Often, these problems aren’t directly related to your product. But by understanding them, you can position your offering as part of a broader solution. This makes your value feel relevant and urgent.
Shift from Selling a Product to Helping Someone Achieve What Matters
When you move from a transactional mindset to an outcomes-focused approach, your role changes. You are no longer a vendor pushing features—you become a trusted advisor helping your customer succeed.
More broadly, you can build a platform, content strategy, or methodology that addresses multiple dimensions of your customer’s world. When potential customers consistently see that you understand their challenges and provide guidance, trust builds. Then, when problems arise that your products or services can solve, you’re the first person they think of.
Example 1: Salesforce and Sales Teams
Salesforce doesn’t just sell CRM software. Sales managers care about hitting quotas, shortening sales cycles, and improving rep productivity. By offering insights, templates, and best practices around sales effectiveness—not just the CRM—Salesforce becomes a partner in achieving outcomes. The CRM tool becomes a means to an end, rather than the centerpiece of the conversation.
Example 2: A Cloud Security Company and SMBs
A cloud security provider isn’t just selling firewalls. Small business owners worry about downtime, regulatory fines, and losing customer trust after a breach. By creating educational content, offering quick audits, and providing actionable plans that address these pain points, the company positions itself as a go-to advisor. When a security problem arises, the business immediately thinks of this provider because it has proven it understands their real-world challenges.
Practical Steps to Implement This Approach
- Choose Your Business and Immerse Yourself
Pick one company, one segment, or one product line. Research everything you can about the business, its market, and its customers. Talk to employees, read industry reports, and examine competitors. The more context you have, the more precise your growth strategies will be. - Identify Customer Outcomes
Don’t focus on selling a product. Focus on the results your customers want. Map out what success looks like from their perspective and design strategies to help them get there. - Segment Customers and Map Influence
Identify key personas: who owns the budget, who influences decisions, who uses the product, and who approves purchases. Tailor messaging to each. - Understand Broader Pain Points
Beyond the product, what keeps your customers up at night? Offer insights, guidance, and solutions that address these concerns. This positions your company as a partner rather than a vendor. - Create a Platform for Trust
Whether it’s thought leadership content, workshops, free tools, or advisory calls, build ways for customers to see you as someone who understands their world. Trust today equals sales tomorrow. - Measure and Iterate
Track how your strategies impact engagement, conversion, and revenue. Learn what resonates and what doesn’t. Growth is rarely linear, and continuous learning is key.
Why This Approach Works
When you shift from product-centric selling to outcomes-focused advising:
- Customers see you as a partner, not a vendor.
- You build long-term relationships rather than one-off transactions.
- Your messaging becomes sharper because it resonates with what buyers truly care about.
- Revenue growth becomes sustainable because it’s based on real customer success, not aggressive selling.
The companies that excel in revenue growth don’t just sell—they help their customers achieve meaningful results. They anticipate problems, provide guidance, and are the first to step in when solutions are needed.
Final Thoughts
Helping a business grow its customer base and revenue is both an art and a science. It requires deep understanding, empathy, strategy, and execution. When you focus on outcomes, understand buying behavior, address broader problems, and build trust, you transform from a mere vendor into an indispensable partner.
Remember: growth isn’t just about selling more—it’s about helping people achieve what matters. And when you do that consistently, customers return, referrals happen naturally, and revenue growth becomes both scalable and sustainable.
Next: For better clarity, we now split this into two new guides: