Step 10 · Revenue & Profit
Revenue Is Only Good When Customer Value Is Real
Revenue comes from customers who keep getting value. Profit is what is left after the cost of winning and serving them.
01 / 07 · Customer Value
The customer's work improves.
Step 10
Revenue & Profit
Make sure the customer succeeds, so that revenue renews, grows and becomes profit.
- Revenue
- What the customer pays.
- Customer acquisition effort
- The time and cost it took to win the customer.
- Delivery / support cost
- What it costs to implement, train and support them.
- Renewal
- Whether they keep paying — because the value is real.
- Expansion
- More users, sites or products — only after they have adopted it.
- Profitability
- Revenue minus the cost to win and serve the customer, over time.
Do
- Follow: Customer Value → Purchase → Revenue → Customer Success → Renewal / Expansion → Profit.
- Count the effort it took to win the customer.
- Count implementation, support and ongoing service cost.
- Track renewal, expansion and profitability.
Avoid
- Don't chase revenue the customer gets no value from.
- Don't expand before the customer has adopted the product.
ResultA customer who renews, and a business that profits.
Learn more
Revenue math
Customers, proposals, qualified opportunities, meetings and outreach needed to reach a target.
Reverse funnel · Your conversion rates · Pipeline coverage
Unit economics
CAC, ACV, gross margin, sales cycle, payback, renewal, expansion and lifetime value.
Measured inputs · No borrowed benchmarks · Scalable only if LTV covers CAC
Land → Adopt → Expand → Renew → Refer
The journey continues after purchase: adoption, success metrics, reviews and renewal.
Adoption before expansion · QBRs with evidence · Expansion isn't always right
Lost opportunity analysis
Lost is not failure if the learning is captured.
Reason · What we learned · What should change