Ten quick wins
Ask these first. Low effort, fast to act on, and most businesses have room in at least half of them.
01Cut Costs
Trim waste in cost of goods and overhead without touching what customers experience.
- When did you last review your top ten vendor contracts for price and terms?
- What percentage of your costs is fixed versus variable, and where's the softest spot on the variable side?
- Which recurring expense would surprise you most if you totaled it for the year?
- If you cut this cost, does anything else — quality, speed, morale — take the hit, and can you live with that?
02Raise Prices100% margin
A price increase drops straight to profit — no added cost to deliver it.
- When did you last raise prices, and what happened to volume when you did?
- How do your prices compare to the two or three competitors your customers actually mention?
- Which segment of your customer base is least price-sensitive, and could a price move start there first?
- Is there a version of this offer, priced 15–20% higher, that a subset of your current customers would still buy?
03Improve Sales Conversion
Close a higher share of the leads you already have — no extra marketing spend required.
- Out of 100 qualified leads today, how many actually become paying customers?
- Where in the pipeline do most prospects go quiet — first call, proposal, or negotiation?
- What does your best salesperson do differently from the rest of the team?
- Do you have a documented, repeatable sales process, or does it live in people's heads?
04Reduce Customer Churn
Keep customers you already paid to acquire — retention is cheaper than replacement.
- What's your churn rate today, and is it trending up or down?
- When a customer leaves, do you know why — or are you guessing?
- What happens in a customer's first 30, 60, and 90 days that might be setting up an early exit?
- Is there one segment of customers with meaningfully higher churn than the rest?
05Upsell & Cross-Sell
Offer the natural next purchase at the moment a customer is already buying.
- What percentage of customers buy only one product or service from you?
- Is there a natural "next purchase" you rarely offer at the moment someone's already buying?
- Does your team have a specific prompt, script, or trigger for suggesting an upgrade?
- What's stopped you from formalizing this into a repeatable offer?
06Bundle Offerings
Package complementary items so the total feels like more value, not more spend.
- Which two or three items do customers already tend to buy together?
- Have you tested a bundled price against the sum of the parts sold separately?
- Would bundling simplify a decision your customers currently find confusing?
- What margin are you willing to trade for a larger average transaction?
07Add a Downsell
Catch price-sensitive buyers with a smaller offer instead of losing them entirely.
- What happens today when a prospect says your main offer is too expensive?
- Is there a smaller, cheaper version of what you sell that still delivers real value?
- How many "no's" this year might have become a smaller "yes"?
- Would a downsell cannibalize your core offer, or catch buyers you're currently losing outright?
08Launch a Referral Program
Turn happy customers into a free, high-trust source of new leads.
- What percentage of new business already comes from referrals, without you asking for them?
- Do you have a specific, repeatable moment when you ask a happy customer for a referral?
- Is there an incentive — for the referrer, the referred, or both — that would make this easy to ask for?
- Who are your three most vocal advocates, and when did you last ask them for a formal introduction?
09Reactivate Lapsed Customers
Win back past buyers who already know and trust you.
- How many customers have gone quiet in the last 12–24 months without formally churning?
- Do you have their contact information and purchase history readily accessible?
- What would bring them back — a new offer, a check-in, or just being remembered?
- Has anyone actually reached out to them, or have they just faded from view?
10Generate More Leads
Widen the top of the funnel feeding your existing conversion process.
- Where do most of your leads come from today, and how concentrated is that source?
- What's your current cost to acquire one qualified lead?
- Is there a channel your competitors use that you haven't tested?
- If your best lead source disappeared tomorrow, what would you do?
Positioning & Offer
11Strengthen Market Position
Become the obvious choice in your category so buyers stop comparing you on price.
- If a prospect compared you to your top competitor in one sentence, what would they say?
- What do you do that's genuinely hard for a competitor to copy?
- Are you competing on price because you haven't given customers another reason to choose you?
- What would it take to become the default answer in your category rather than one of several options?
12Sharpen Your Offer
Rework what you sell so it resonates harder with the audience you already have.
- What specific outcome does a customer actually buy from you — not the feature, the result?
- When was the last time you rewrote your core offer from scratch instead of tweaking it?
- What objection comes up most often right before someone decides not to buy?
- If you could only keep one part of your current offer, which part is doing all the work?
13Expand the Product Line
Solve one more problem for customers who already trust you.
- What's the next problem existing customers ask you to solve that you currently say no to?
- Could an adjacent product or service reuse your existing relationships and delivery capability?
- Is there a version of what you sell for a slightly different segment you already reach?
- What would you build if you assumed your best customers would buy it on day one?
Pricing Architecture
14Redesign Pricing Tiers
Good / better / best options nudge more buyers toward higher-value plans.
- Do you currently offer one option, or a genuine good / better / best structure?
- What percentage of customers pick your lowest-priced option because nothing else was offered?
- Is there a premium tier that would let your best customers pay more for more?
- Would adding a decoy or anchor option change what people choose?
15Convert to Recurring Revenue
Turn one-time sales into subscriptions for steadier, compounding revenue.
- What percentage of revenue today is one-time versus recurring?
- Is there a version of what you sell that could be delivered as an ongoing subscription or retainer?
- What would it take for customers to prefer a subscription over a repeat one-off purchase?
- How would predictable monthly revenue change what you could plan or invest in?
Marketing & Demand Generation
16Invest in Digital Marketing
Put spend behind the online channels already proven to convert.
- Which digital channel has the best return today, and how much more could you put behind it?
- Do you know your cost per lead and cost per customer by channel?
- What's untested — a channel, an audience, or a message — that a competitor is already using?
- Is your website or landing page actually built to convert, or just to inform?
17Run a Nurture Campaign
Stay top-of-mind with consistent, useful contact until a lead is ready to buy.
- What happens to a lead who isn't ready to buy today — do they hear from you again, and when?
- How many touches, on average, does it take before a lead converts?
- Is there a simple email or content sequence that could run without manual effort?
- Which leads went cold that a consistent follow-up cadence might have saved?
18Build Strategic Partnerships
Borrow another business's audience through a mutually useful alliance.
- Who already has a relationship with your ideal customer that you don't compete with?
- What could you offer a partner that costs you little but helps them a lot?
- Have you approached anyone about a formal referral or co-marketing arrangement, or has it stayed informal?
- Is there an existing vendor or supplier relationship that could become a two-way channel?
19Enter New Sales Channels
Sell through marketplaces, wholesale, or direct channels you don't use yet.
- Where do your customers already shop or search that you're not present?
- What would it take to sell through a marketplace, distributor, or reseller instead of only direct?
- Is there a channel conflict risk, and how would you manage it?
- What's the smallest test of a new channel you could run in the next 90 days?
20Expand Into New Markets
Take a proven offer into a new region or customer segment.
- Is there a nearby region or segment with the same problem you already solve well?
- What's different about that market — regulation, language, buying behavior — that you'd need to account for?
- Could you serve a new market with your existing team, or does it require new hires or partners?
- What's the cheapest way to test demand before committing real investment?
Sales & Customer Experience
21Shorten the Sales Cycle
Remove friction and follow-up delay so more deals close before they go cold.
- How long does it take, on average, from first contact to closed deal?
- Where does the process stall — waiting on you, or waiting on the customer?
- What information do prospects always ask for that you could provide upfront?
- Is there an approval step or internal handoff that adds delay without adding value?
22Improve Onboarding
A stronger first 30 days keeps new customers from churning early.
- What does a new customer experience in their first week with you?
- Is there a point early on where customers commonly get confused, stuck, or go quiet?
- Do you know your churn rate in the first 90 days specifically, versus churn overall?
- What would make someone feel like they made the right decision within the first few days?
23Launch a Loyalty Program
Reward repeat purchases to increase how often customers come back.
- How often does your average customer buy from you in a year?
- Is there a reward, status, or recognition that would make a repeat customer feel valued?
- What's stopping your best customers from buying more often than they already do?
- Would a structured program change behavior, or would people keep buying the same way regardless?
Cost & Operational Efficiency
24Renegotiate Vendor Contracts
Revisit supplier terms and volume pricing you haven't touched in years.
- Which vendor relationships have been on autopilot for more than two years?
- Do you know what a competitor would charge for the same service or supply?
- Is there volume, timing, or loyalty you could use as leverage in a renegotiation?
- What's the cost of switching versus the savings of staying and asking for a better deal?
25Automate Manual Processes
Replace repetitive manual work with tools that do it faster and cheaper.
- What task does someone on your team do repeatedly that a tool could do instead?
- How many hours a week go into work that doesn't require judgment, only consistency?
- Have you priced out the tools that exist for this, or assumed it's not worth it?
- What would that person do with the time back if the task disappeared?
26Reduce Waste & Shrinkage
Tighten inventory and process control to stop losses no one is tracking.
- Do you track loss — inventory, materials, time — closely enough to know where it's happening?
- Is there a process step where things regularly go wrong or get redone?
- What would you find if you audited one month of waste line by line?
- Who on the team would notice first if shrinkage started creeping up?
27Outsource Non-Core Work
Hand off tasks that cost more to do in-house than to delegate.
- What task takes disproportionate time relative to how much it matters to your core business?
- Is there a function you keep in-house out of habit rather than necessity?
- What would it cost to outsource this versus what it currently costs in salary, tools, and management time?
- What's the risk if this went to an outside provider, and is it actually as high as it feels?
People & Productivity
28Improve Employee Retention
Cut the hidden cost of constant hiring and retraining.
- What's your turnover rate today, and what does replacing one person actually cost you?
- When someone leaves, do you know the real reason, or just the reason they gave you?
- What would your best people say is the one thing that would make them stay longer?
- Is there a pattern in who leaves — tenure, role, manager — worth paying attention to?
29Upskill the Team
Better-trained people produce and sell more in the same amount of time.
- What skill gap shows up most often when work doesn't go as planned?
- Is there training that would let your current team do more without adding headcount?
- How much of your team's time is spent on tasks they've never been properly trained for?
- What would change in output if your average performer worked like your best performer?
30Align Incentives to Profit
Tie compensation to the outcomes that actually grow the bottom line.
- What does your compensation or bonus structure actually reward today?
- Is there a mismatch between what you pay people to do and what actually grows profit?
- Would your team make different decisions if they could see the profit impact of their choices?
- What behavior would change tomorrow if incentives shifted to match this?