07 April
by Ashley Bowers

Fixing Profit Design for Sustainable Growth

Many growing companies focus on top-line revenue but miss the critical foundation beneath it: profit design. At Stage 3 (35–57 employees), weak profit design is one of the most common—and costly—challenges businesses face.

At Apex GTS Advisors, we often meet clients with growing teams, busy sales pipelines, and strong demand… but shrinking margins. It’s a dangerous place to be: scaling without a strong profit engine. That’s why Challenge #1 – Weak Profit Design is such a vital focus at this stage of growth.

Let’s break down what it means, why it happens, and how to fix it.

What Is Weak Profit Design?

Profit design isn’t just about cutting costs or raising prices—it’s about how your business creates, delivers, and maintains profitably.

If your company is busy but not profitable, chances are your underlying model, pricing structure, team alignment, or delivery process is misaligned with financial sustainability.

Common signs of weak profit design include:

  • Flat or shrinking margins despite growth

  • Over-reliance on one client, product, or sales channel

  • High cost to serve that isn’t factored into pricing

  • Lack of clarity around your most profitable offerings

  • Misalignment between strategy and team capacity

If your business is generating revenue but not retaining enough of it, you don’t have a growth strategy; you have a burn strategy.

Why Stage 3 Companies Struggle with Profit Design

The Delegation Stage introduces major structural and operational shifts:

  • You’re hiring more leaders and team members

  • Decision-making is distributed across the organization

  • You’re developing processes and expanding capacity

  • Operational complexity increases rapidly

Amidst these changes, many companies outgrow their original profit model—but don’t update it.

What used to work when you had 10 or 20 employees may now be outdated. Without intentional review, your growth can dilute profit instead of increasing it.

5 Core Fixes for Strengthening Profit Design

Here’s how Apex GTS helps Stage 3 companies recalibrate for profit-driven growth:

1. Clarify Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Not all revenue is good revenue. Companies often overextend themselves chasing business that’s misaligned with their strengths.

✅ Identify the clients who are most profitable, easy to serve, and aligned with your mission
✅ Use data to understand customer behavior, cost to serve, and lifetime value
✅ Narrow your focus to your best-fit audience

2. Refine Your Product or Service Offering

Complexity kills margin. When businesses offer too many variations or custom solutions, operational costs explode.

✅ Standardize your core offerings
✅ Eliminate low-margin services that drain resources
✅ Package your services in ways that scale easily

3. Reevaluate Pricing and Cost Structure

Pricing isn’t just about what the market will pay—it’s about what it actually costs you to deliver excellence.

✅ Analyze your true cost-to-serve (including labor, overhead, and tech)
✅ Adjust pricing tiers or add minimums to protect margin
✅ Implement value-based pricing where possible

4. Align Teams Around Profit Goals

In the Delegation Stage, profit can’t live in the finance department alone. Every team should understand how their work contributes to profitability.

✅ Set department-level metrics that tie to margin
✅ Train managers on how to manage for efficiency and cost-effectiveness
✅ Incentivize behavior that supports profitable outcomes

5. Build Systems That Support Scale

As your business grows, systems—not hustle—must drive performance. Weak systems bleed margin.

✅ Streamline operations with automation and SOPs
✅ Clarify roles and avoid duplicated work
✅ Invest in tools that increase productivity and reduce errors

Measuring Profit Design Effectiveness

Use these KPIs to track whether your profit design is healthy:

  • Gross Margin – Are you retaining enough value from each sale?

  • Net Profit Margin – What’s left after all expenses?

  • Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) – Are your relationships financially sustainable?

  • Cost of Goods/Services Sold (COGS) – Is this trending up or down?

  • Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) – Are you spending too much to bring clients in?

If your KPIs are trending in the wrong direction, it’s time to redesign for profitability.

How Apex GTS Helps Fix Profit Design

At Apex GTS Advisors, we guide companies through a proven process to strengthen profit design:

🔹 Business Model Analysis – We assess where your current model is leaking margin and how to improve it
🔹 Strategic Financial Alignment – We help connect your growth strategy to your profit goals
🔹 Operational Efficiency Mapping – We streamline your delivery systems to reduce waste and improve capacity
🔹 Team Alignment – We help you build a culture where everyone contributes to profitable outcomes

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To explore how our services can support your business directly, check out Our Services.