Sample playbook · Growth strategy

Set one growth goal and break it into team targets.

Every gap in a Growthmarkt™ result comes with a playbook like this one: the order of work, the templates, the check that proves each step is done and the evidence to keep. Your team can carry it out without outside help.

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GS1Example progress

L1L2L3

Level 1 reached · 50% of the work left to reach level 2.

Effort12 h

Suggested duration10 working days

Expected impactHigh

Why it matters

When leaders describe the goal differently, teams work towards different results: budget spreads thin and priority debates never end. One goal with a number and a date is the yardstick every other growth decision is measured against. Without it, no result can be called good or bad.

Accountable

Founder or CEO

Before you start

Revenue and customer figures for the last 12 months, month by month
Read access to the CRM and to the accounting records
A one-hour slot with the founder or CEO
Approved budget and hiring plan for next year, if one exists

To level 1

Choose the one metric that best expresses growth

1 h

Done by: Head of growth

How to do it

Start from your revenue model. Subscription business: new annual recurring revenue (ARR), or total ARR at year end. Project or one-off sales: total revenue (ciro). Revenue not yet meaningful (pre-product-market fit): number of new paying customers.

Choose one metric. Profit, market share and brand awareness are not growth goals at this stage: they are either results of growth or measured too rarely to steer by.

Confirm you can read today's value from a system (CRM, accounting). If you cannot, you have chosen the wrong metric or your measurement needs fixing first.

Output

The chosen metric and a one-sentence reason.

Template

Growth metric
Why this metric
System it is read from

Check

Can the current value of the chosen metric be read today from a named system?

Record the last 12 months of actuals

2 h

Done by: Finance manager

How to do it

Write the metric's value month by month for the last 12 months, from the system named in step 1.

Note the source of every figure and who extracted it.

Where records are inconsistent, leave the cell empty and flag it. Do not fill gaps with estimates: a target built on guessed history inherits the guess.

Output

A 12-month table of actuals with sources.

Template

Month	Value	Source	Extracted by

Check

Does every figure in the table have a written source?

To level 2

Build three scenarios and choose the target

4 h

Done by: Head of growth

How to do it

Write a cautious, an expected and an ambitious scenario for the year. For each, state what it rests on: team capacity, market demand, budget, funding.

Build each scenario from last year's actuals, not from the number you would like. A scenario that needs more than 1.5 times last year's growth rate must name the new resource that produces it.

Choose a scenario that needs a new hire or extra budget only if that resource is already approved.

Output

The chosen target, the date it is measured and the reason for the choice.

Template

Scenario	Target	Assumptions	Resources needed	Approved?

Check

Does the chosen target come from a scenario whose assumptions are written down?

Write the goal sentence and have it approved

1 h

Done by: Founder or CEO

How to do it

Write the goal as one sentence with one number, one metric and one date. Add last year's actual and the reason for the target.

The founder or CEO approves it in writing. An approval in a meeting that nobody records does not count.

Output

The approved goal sentence.

Template

Our growth goal for [year] is [number] [metric] by [date]. Last year we reached [number]. We chose this target because [reason].

Check

Does the sentence contain exactly one number, one metric and one date, with a recorded approval?

Share the goal and test that it landed

1 h

Done by: Head of growth

How to do it

Share the goal sentence with everyone who works on growth: leadership, marketing, sales, customer success.

One week later, ask five managers separately: "What is our growth goal?" Record the answers word for word.

If any answer differs in number, metric or date, repeat the communication and test again.

Output

Five recorded answers.

Template

Manager	Answer	Matches?

Check

Did all five managers give the same number, metric and date?

To level 3

Work the goal back into team targets

2.5 h

Done by: Head of growth

How to do it

Calculate backwards from the goal: new revenue needed, then new customers, then sales opportunities, then qualified leads. Use last year's real conversion rates; where a rate is missing, write the assumption explicitly.

Self-serve businesses work back through paying customers, trials or sign-ups, and visits instead of opportunities and leads.

Tie each figure to one team: marketing owns qualified leads, sales owns opportunities and new customers, customer success owns retained and expanded revenue.

Output

A team targets table that adds up to the company goal.

Template

Funnel stage	Annual target	Conversion rate used	Owning team

Check

Do the team targets add up to the company goal?

Name an owner and a review rhythm for each team target

0.5 h

Done by: Founder or CEO

How to do it

Give every team target one named owner. A target shared by two people has no owner.

Set a monthly review: date, attendees and the single page that is reviewed. Put the dates for the whole year in the calendar now.

Output

Owner list and review calendar.

Template

Team target
Owner
Monthly review day

Check

Does every team target have a named owner and a review date in the calendar?

Worked example

Example Co. closed 2026 at USD 1.2 million ARR. The cautious scenario gives USD 1.5 million, the expected USD 1.8 million and the ambitious USD 2.2 million. Two account executive hires are already approved, so the expected scenario is chosen: "Our growth goal for 2027 is USD 1.8 million ARR by 31 December 2027." Working back: USD 600,000 of new ARR is needed (net of churn this rises; 8% churn on USD 1.2 million adds about USD 96,000, so plan for USD 700,000). At USD 20,000 per contract that is 35 new customers; at a 25% win rate, 140 opportunities; at 30% from qualified lead to opportunity, about 470 qualified leads. Marketing owns 470 qualified leads, sales owns 140 opportunities and 35 customers, customer success owns churn below 8%.

Common mistakes

A goal without a date, or with a date nobody wrote down.
Three goals instead of one: "revenue, customers and brand".
A metric that nobody can read from a system today.
Starting from the wished-for number instead of last year's actuals.
Team targets that do not add up to the company goal, or ignore churn.

Done when

The goal sentence is approved in writing.
Five managers give the same number, metric and date.
Team targets add up to the company goal, churn included.
Every team target has a named owner and monthly review dates.

Evidence to keep

L1Documented

The approved goal sentence and the team targets table

L2Owned

The founder or CEO for the goal; one named owner per team target

L3In a system

Goal and team targets recorded in the CRM or reporting tool

L4Measured

The growth metric tracked monthly against target

What comes next

With the goal in team plans, measure where growth actually comes from (GS3).