How to Achieve 30%+ Growth in Today’s Tech Services Market

18 Nov

Here’s the exact growth formula I used to → add $175M+ in new revenue over 2.5 years for a software services organization — and how any custom software or consulting firm can apply it.

I’ve replicated this formula across multiple companies, including leading another firm to 40% growth during the worst years this industry has ever seen.

This isn’t theory.
It’s not “best practices.”
It’s mechanics.
And when you get the mechanics right, growth stops being a roll of the dice — and becomes something you can actually engineer.

The Reality Behind the $175M Jump

When I stepped into the sales organization at a previous firm, the new logo business was stuck at $18M and flat. Within 12 months, we more than doubled. By Year 3, we were pushing $195M.

Here’s what changed:

We refined WHAT we were selling.
We clarified HOW we were selling.
We aligned delivery with the holistic offering we were selling.
We used commercials creatively, instead of fearfully.
We marketed with intent, not noise.

At another firm, I built the sales and marketing organization from scratch — we achieved 40% growth while the rest of the industry was shrinking.

It wasn’t luck.
It was a formula.

The Growth Formula for Software Services Firms

If you want to grow predictably — 20%, 30%, even 50%+ year over year — you need a foundation that aligns what you sell, how you sell, what you deliver, and how the market perceives you.

Here’s the formula I’ve used again and again:

1. Clarify What You Actually Sell (The Offer Layer)

If your team is describing the company as “custom software development and consulting services,” you’ve already lost the buyer.

You need a crisp, conversational narrative your entire organization can repeat:

What problems you solve
Who you solve them for
Why your approach is different
What outcomes you consistently deliver

Are you selling capacity? Outcomes? Strategy? Speed? Stability? Design?
Be honest.

Most firms say they sell outcomes, but their case studies show capacity.
That gap kills your ability to differentiate — or to raise rates.

2. Simplify and Strengthen How You Sell (The Sales Layer)

Your pitch needs to be so clear your prospects can repeat it back to you.

Most firms bury their value under jargon, buzzwords, and vague “innovation speak.”
Worse, they slap “AI” in front of everything as if that adds differentiation.

It doesn’t.
Clarity does.

When you simplify and articulate your value in real terms, your win rate jumps and your sales cycle shortens.

3. Evaluate Your Team with Honesty and Intent (The Talent Layer)

You can’t build a growth engine with misaligned, unsupported, or underperforming sellers.

Ask yourself:

Who needs support or training?
Who needs to be redeployed?
Who simply is not built for the firm you’re becoming?

Your people either accelerate the formula or block it.
Alignment here is non-negotiable.

4. Align Delivery With the Promise You Sell (The Delivery Layer)

This is the part no one talks about and where most software services firms lose millions.

If you’re delivering strategic outcomes but selling hourly bodies, you’re mispriced and mispositioned.
If you’re selling big-picture transformation but delivering capacity, you’re overpromising.

The gap between what you sell and what you deliver determines:

Your reputation
Your margin
Your ability to grow without chaos

When you close that gap, your growth compounding begins.

5. Make the Market Aware You Exist — for the Right Reasons (The Awareness Layer)

Stop wasting time on low-value visibility:

Walking the floor at every conference
Tweaking your logo
Launching podcasts no one listens to
Reposting old case studies and pretending they are AI

Start marketing for growth, not vanity:

Put your experts in front of buyers
Execute ABM (don’t just plan it)
Create your own events and bring prospects to you
Build a reputation for clarity and outcomes

This is how you shift from chasing opportunities to attracting them.

Why This Formula Works

When you tighten these five layers — offer, sales, talent, delivery, and awareness — your business stops drifting and starts compounding.

This is the same structure that grew my previous organization over $175M, and the same structure that drove 40% growth during the worst years in the industry.

The results repeat because the mechanics repeat.
Clarity fuels alignment.
Alignment fuels momentum.
Momentum fuels scale.

This Is Why ROI Exists

Most firms don’t fail to grow because of the market.
They fail because their foundation isn’t built for growth.

ROI exists to help custom software and technology services firms:

Install this growth formula
Mature it
Evolve it
And run it predictably

We don’t sell buzzwords.
We build growth machines.
If your software services firm is done guessing and ready for predictable scale, let’s talk.