The Three Levers You Can Pull to Grow Your Business (And How to Know Which One to Pull First)
You sit down to plan your marketing for the next quarter. You've got a revenue goal. Maybe it's 20% growth. Maybe it's a specific number you've been circling for a while.
So you start making a list. More visibility. Better follow-up. Maybe a new offer or a lead magnet. A full page by the end of the hour.
But at no point did you ask the one question that would actually shape all of it. Where is the growth supposed to come from?
Because every business has exactly three ways to grow revenue. More new customers. A higher average transaction. More repeat business. That's the whole list. And when your marketing isn't pointed at the right one for where you are right now, even good consistent effort can feel like it's going nowhere.
Here's how to figure out which lever to pull.
This is part three of a short series on building a marketing approach that actually fits your business. We've covered how to map your activities to a clear marketing purpose and how long to stick with something before deciding if it's working. This piece is about figuring out where to point that effort in the first place.
The three-part formula for growth
Simple on the surface. But most business owners skip right past this and go straight to tactics.
The math looks like this:
(New customers + Repeat customers) x Average transaction = Revenue
No complicated spreadsheet required. Simply an honest gut check. Which of those three numbers, if it changed, would make the biggest difference in your business right now?
Why this matters for your marketing
Picking a growth lever sounds straightforward. But there’s a step most people skip.
Before you decide which lever to pull, it helps to do a quick reality check on where you actually stand.
Take the new customers lever. If you're bringing in new clients but losing existing ones at roughly the same rate, adding more new clients will still grow your revenue. The math works. But you’re likely working harder than you need to. If something about the experience is causing clients to not continue doing business with you, fixing that first means every new client you add actually sticks.
Same idea applies to your close rate. If a significant number of people who express interest never actually buy, putting more people into that process won't fix the leak. Something is creating friction before they get to yes. That's worth understanding before you invest heavily in visibility.
None of this means you have to solve every problem before you start. You can't steer a parked car. But a quick honest look at where things are breaking down can save you 13 weeks of effort pointed at the wrong place.
The lever that looks most obvious isn't always the most productive one. The right one is the lever that, once you pull it, actually impacts results in a meaningful way.
What each lever is really about
Here's a quick breakdown of what tends to move each number.
More new customers is mostly about reducing the friction between finding you and trusting you enough to buy. That usually means getting more visible, building more trust, and making it clearer how to take the next step. If people don't know you exist, or they're not sure you're the right fit, that's the gap you're closing.
Higher average transaction is often about your offer structure. Are you making it easy to say yes to something meaningful? Do you have options that let the right clients invest more? This lever is less about your marketing channel and more about what you're putting in front of people once they're already interested.
More repeat business is about the experience you're creating and the relationship you're maintaining. Are past clients hearing from you? Are they clear about everything else you can help them with? This lever rewards businesses that stay in touch and continue to show up with value after the first sale.
Think of it like your campfire. You can spend all your time gathering new wood, and that matters. But if the fire keeps going out because the structure isn't right, or you're not tending it once it's lit, the problem isn't the wood.
A simple way to find your lever
You don't need complex analytics for this. A few honest questions will usually point you in the right direction.
Start with what you know about the last 12 months.
How many clients did you work with? Of those, how many were new versus returning? What did the average engagement cost?
Now ask: where's the gap between where you are and where you want to be?
If you worked with 10 clients and you'd like to work with 15, and most of those clients were new ... the new customer lever may be worth pulling.
If you worked with 10 clients at an average of $1,500, and you believe the right scope for most of them was actually $2,500 ... the average transaction lever might move the needle faster.
If you have 20 past clients who've never come back for anything else and you've barely stayed in touch ... the repeat business lever is sitting right there.
Use the formula to sanity check your thinking:
(New customers + Repeat customers) x Average transaction = Revenue
Run that math with your actual numbers. Then change one variable at a time and see what it would take to hit your goal. Sometimes the answer is obvious. Doubling your new clients is a massive lift. Adding 20% to your average transaction might be very achievable with a packaging adjustment.
That comparison tells you which lever has the best return on your effort.
One caution worth naming
The math is easy. The honest assessment is harder.
Knowing which lever to pull is one thing. Knowing how hard it actually is to move that number is another.
Getting more new clients requires visibility, trust, and patience. That's a longer game.
Adjusting your average transaction requires looking honestly at your offers and how you're presenting them. Some people find that energizing. Others find it uncomfortable.
Re-engaging past clients requires consistent follow-through. If staying in touch isn't already a habit, it takes real effort to build.
This is why it helps to connect your lever to your strengths and your real-world resources. The lever that looks best on paper might not be the right one if you're building a fire with wet wood.
The best choice is the one you can actually work consistently for 13 weeks.
Pulling it together
Here's the sequence so far.
You know your marketing activities should have a clear purpose. You know you need to give them enough time to know if they're working. And now you have a simple way to figure out what goal you're actually aiming at.
More new customers. Higher average transaction. More repeat business. Pick one. Point your purpose-driven activities at that lever. The result you want to impact. Give it 13 weeks.
That's not a complicated system. It's just a clear one.
This week's action step
Grab a piece of paper and do this one thing.
Write down your approximate revenue from the last 12 months. Estimate how many clients that came from. Divide to get your rough average transaction.
Then ask: if I could change just one of these numbers by a realistic amount, which change gets me closest to my goal?
That's your lever. And that becomes your marketing goal.
Want help working through this?
The math part is usually pretty quick. The harder part is knowing what to do next once you've identified the lever.
That's exactly what a Now What? Clarity Session can help you get started. It's a focused conversation to help you figure out your next best marketing move, based on where you actually are.