Thirty percent EBITDA improvement sounds aggressive. It is not. For most middle market companies running between $5 million and $100 million in revenue, there are enough inefficiencies, pricing gaps, and complexity costs that a 30% improvement is a matter of execution, not aspiration.
Lever 1: Pricing (Impact: 10 to 15%)
Most middle market companies underprice by 5 to 15%. They have not raised prices in years. They give discretionary discounts to avoid losing customers. They match competitors without understanding their own cost structure.
A disciplined pricing review, product by product, customer by customer, typically yields 3 to 5 points of margin improvement. On a $50 million revenue base, that is $1.5 to $2.5 million straight to EBITDA.
Lever 2: Mix Shift (Impact: 10 to 15%)
Use 80/20 analysis to shift resources toward your highest-margin products and customers. Every sales rep hour spent on a low-margin product is an hour not spent on a high-margin one. Redirect the effort.
Lever 3: Complexity Reduction (Impact: 5 to 10%)
Rationalize the product portfolio. Streamline operations. Reduce the SKU count. Every unit of complexity costs something to maintain. Eliminating the tail frees up capacity and reduces overhead.
The Compounding Effect
None of these levers work in isolation. Together, they compound. Better pricing improves margin. Mix shift concentrates resources on winners. Complexity reduction lowers the cost base. Combined, they routinely deliver 20 to 40% EBITDA improvement.
The Profitable Growth Accelerator is designed to deliver this result in 100-day sprints. Set a goal, frame the strategy, build the structure, launch the plan. Repeat.
Book a strategy call at the8020institute.com to find the right program for your company.