Amana Growth Partners

Amana Revenue Toolkit

The Principles of the Revenue Engine

Building your supercar.

How to build a revenue machine that converts, and how to know it is working. It’s the same framework I use with every customer.

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Why this exists

Growth is rarely an effort problem.

Most growth problems are not effort problems. The team is working hard. The founder is in every deal. Marketing is busy. Demand seems there. And still the number moves too slowly, or not at all.

In twenty years of building revenue engines, I have found the same thing every time. Growth comes from a small number of pillars working together, sitting on solid foundations, and measured honestly. Get those right and success follows. Get one wrong and the engine leaks.

The Principles of the Revenue Engine are my attempt to write that down in one place. It is free, it is practical, and it is the same framework I use with every customer.

The Amana Way

These principles are what make up The Amana Way.

Every engagement follows the same five steps. At every step, we work through the pillars, foundations and numbers on this page, together with your team.

  1. 1ListenWeek 1
  2. 2DiagnoseWeeks 2 to 3
  3. 3PlanningWeeks 3 to 4
  4. 4ExecuteWeek 5 onwards, and repeat
  5. 5Hand overFinal week

See how the five steps work →

The growth engine

Five pillars. Three foundations. Measured honestly.

Any SaaS platform, whatever it sells, even with services and data, relies on the same five pillars.

Pair them with world class tools, repeatable procedures and a clean data room, then measure everything.

From there, it’s about having a clearly defined commercial story that ensures decision makers must make a decision.

Your platform
ProductsServicesData & insight
The growth engine
Talent acquisitionRecruitment and onboarding
Sales enablementLearning and development
MarketingDemand generation
SalesBusiness development
Customer successAccount management

Built on three foundations

Sales toolsThe tech stack
Standard operating proceduresRepeatable & scalable
Revenue operationsThe data room, your CRM
Measure everything with total clarityLead and lag indicators for every pillar. CAC, LTV, payback, retention.

The revenue equation

Every number comes back to one line.

Recurring revenue is the goal, and what you keep. Clear targeting is important, and to make that target we must look at four things.

What is the target
−What is already in the bag and guaranteed
+What is at risk
−What is in the pipeline that we are confident will convert
=What is the gap to target
→What additional pipeline do we have to build and close to make that gap

Efficiency

Growth has to pay for itself.

Investors do not just ask how fast you are growing. They ask what it costs. Three numbers answer that.

LTV : CAC

3 : 1

At the very least. What a customer is worth, against what it cost to win them. Three or better is healthy.

CAC payback

< 12 to 18

Months to earn back the cost of winning a customer. Shorter means you can grow faster on less cash.

Burn multiple

< 1.5

Cash burned for every unit of new recurring revenue. Lower is better.

Definition

A commercial engine is the people, process, technology and data that turn a market into recurring revenue, predictably and at a cost you can afford.

The principles

9 chapters

Each chapter covers why it matters, what great looks like, how to measure it, the principles, the warning signs and the tools. The full chapters are coming soon.

  1. 01The revenue equationBefore you fix anything, know where your revenue actually comes from.
  2. 02TalentThe engine is only ever as good as the people running it.
  3. 03EnablementGreat people with no skills or system will always underperform good people with one.
  4. 04Marketing and demandSales cannot close what marketing does not create.
  5. 05SalesA sales process nobody follows is not a process. It is hope, and hope is not a strategy.
  6. 06Customer successThe cheapest revenue you will ever win is from customers you already have. It is worth 20 times net new.
  7. 07The foundationsGreat pillars on weak foundations will still fall over.
  8. 08Measure anything, but not everythingWhat gets measured gets done. Focus is key.
  9. 09Commission planning and targetingIncentivise the right way, and pay your people what they deserve. Don’t pay for nothing.

Want an honest look at your engine?

Tell me where you are and where you want to get to. No sales pitch.

Let’s talk. 20 to 30 minutes. Book now!