Unlearning Bad Growth Habits
Unlearning Bad Growth Habits
When it comes to growth, firms aren’t failing because they’re not trying or have a lack of ambition—they’re failing because they’re still following outdated or ineffective growth habits.
As competitive pressures intensify and client expectations evolve, clinging to old marketing playbooks is no longer just inefficient—it’s commercially dangerous.
This article explores the most common growth and marketing missteps made by firms in the professional services and fintech sectors, and how unlearning these habits can unlock a more sustainable, effective approach to growth.
Are you content to run on growth autopilot?
At Lagom Consulting, we help firms identify what’s working, strip out what’s not, and build smarter, data-led strategies for sustainable growth. If your go-to-market approach hasn’t evolved, maybe it’s time it did.
1. Still Obsessed with Outbound? Time to Rebalance
For too many firms, outbound marketing remains the default setting: cold emails, paid ads, and relentless outreach. Yet the data tells a clear story. Inbound leads—generated through SEO, content marketing, and organic search—convert at 14.6%, while outbound trails far behind at 1.7%.
They’re also significantly cheaper—61% more cost-effective, in fact.
It’s not that outbound has no place. It does. But without a complementary inbound strategy, firms risk sounding like the guest at a party shouting over everyone else instead of engaging in meaningful conversations.
Structured go-to-market (GTM) thinking can help here, particularly in identifying which channels genuinely move the needle. Balancing inbound and outbound is no longer optional—it’s operationally necessary.
Unlearn the reliance on volume-driven outreach.
Relearn how to be discoverable, valuable and relevant—before the client even makes contact.
2. Who Are You Talking To?
Another familiar flaw: trying to speak to everyone at once. In specialist sectors, broad messaging becomes beige noise. Casting a wide net doesn’t just dilute your proposition—it wastes budget, bandwidth, and brand capital.
Instead, firms should build detailed client personas grounded in real data. Who are your best clients? What keeps them up at night? What language do they use? If your marketing can’t answer those questions, your prospects likely won’t answer your calls.
GTM engineering refers to this as refining your ICP (ideal customer profile)—not as a buzzword, but as a way of anchoring your entire commercial approach.
Unlearn the myth of the universal message.
Relearn the power of precision.
3. Goals Without Measures Are Just Wishes
Too many firms run campaigns without clear objectives or meaningful benchmarks. Without SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound—growth becomes guesswork.
For professional services firms, a healthy return on investment (ROI) is typically between 3:1 and 5:1. In simple terms, for every £1 you spend on marketing, you should aim to generate £3 to £5 in revenue. If you're spending £10,000 on a campaign, you want to bring in £30,000–£50,000 in business. That ensures your marketing efforts are not just paying for themselves, but funding further growth.
For fintech companies, one of the most important metrics is the LTV:CAC ratio—that’s lifetime value to customer acquisition cost. It's a measure of how much value a customer brings to your business over time, compared to how much it cost to win them over in the first place.
In fintech terms:
Banking firms often see a 4.4:1 ratio (e.g. £258 to acquire, £1,135 in lifetime value)
Financial planning firms see about 3:1
Payment processors might see 2.8:1
A 4:1 ratio is generally considered strong because it leaves room for overheads, product costs, and margin—while still growing profitably.
The key isn’t just knowing these benchmarks. It’s tracking them consistently, understanding what affects them, and adjusting your strategy accordingly. That’s where a little GTM engineering discipline—knowing which numbers to trust and which actions to take—can make all the difference.
Unlearn marketing-by-instinct.
Relearn how to let data guide your investments.
4. The Mobile Miss
Despite mobile accounting for over half of all global web traffic, many firms still design for desktop first. The result? Poor experiences that push prospective clients straight into the arms of competitors.
A bad mobile experience turns off 61% of users—40% of whom won’t return. The solution is not simply mobile-friendly design, but mobile-first thinking: intuitive navigation, fast loading times, and a seamless interface across devices.
Unlearn desktop bias.
Relearn where your audience really lives.
5. Data, Used Badly—or Not at All
Data is collected, but often ignored—or misused chasing vanity metrics. The value lies in transforming numbers into commercial insight.
Fintech firms tracking CAC by segment see big differences: $202 for consumers vs $14,772 for enterprise clients.
A structured GTM mindset helps teams focus—not through complexity, but through clarity:
What are we measuring?
Why?
What decisions does it inform?
Analytics tools are only as useful as the questions we ask of them.
Unlearn box-ticking analytics.
Relearn purposeful measurement.
6. Brand Chaos and Jargon Overload
Inconsistent branding undermines trust—non-negotiable in sectors where trust is the foundation of client relationships. Equally damaging is the overuse of jargon, particularly in fintech, where messaging can drown in technical terms without ever conveying a clear benefit.
A logo refresh won’t save poor messaging. Instead, firms must focus on clarity and coherence across every channel. Clients don’t care about blockchain—they care about faster transactions. They don’t care about “bespoke service ecosystems”—they care about getting problems solved.
Unlearn feature-first messaging.
Relearn how to speak human.
7. The Risk of Playing It Too Safe
One of the most dangerous habits in growth and marketing is comfort. That creeping tendency to keep doing what used to work, simply because it’s familiar. Same campaigns, same messages, same channels—copy, paste, repeat.
But markets evolve. Buyer behaviour shifts. What delivered results last quarter might not even register next quarter. Relying on yesterday’s playbook in today’s landscape is how firms stall—quietly, gradually, and then all at once.
That’s why experimentation isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity. Firms that grow consistently aren’t throwing darts in the dark. They’re running small, structured tests—A/B testing subject lines, trialling new landing page formats, exploring alternative messaging angles or offers.
These firms are learning what works now—not what worked in 2019.
Unlearning autopilot thinking means building a culture that values agility over certainty. It means carving out space in your plan—and your mindset—for curiosity. Whether you’re a fintech testing conversion flows or a professional services firm refining your proposition, the principle is the same: test fast, learn faster.
Because stagnation doesn’t show up with a warning sign. It shows up as diminishing returns. And by the time you notice, it’s already costing you.
Unlearn comfort-zone marketing.
Relearn how to test, tweak, and try again.
8. Ignoring the Clients You Already Have
Acquisition is exciting, but retention is profitable. It costs far less to keep a client than to win a new one, yet many firms underinvest in post-sale engagement. This is especially short-sighted for fintechs with recurring revenue models, where reducing churn—even marginally—can significantly boost LTV.
In sectors like fintech, where subscription models or recurring revenue are common, even a slight improvement in churn rate can make a significant difference to overall lifetime value. Yet many firms pour disproportionate energy into acquisition, neglecting onboarding, retention, and loyalty-building strategies.
This is a missed opportunity—and a costly one. The clients you already have are often your best source of sustainable growth. They know you. They trust you. They’re more likely to buy again, refer others, or expand into additional services if you’ve delivered value.
Retention isn’t passive. It requires intentional investment:
Clear onboarding journeys
Regular, personalised communication
Loyalty or referral programmes
Fast, proactive support
Periodic check-ins that focus on value, not just renewals
From a go-to-market perspective, this is part of what smarter firms are starting to map more deliberately: post-sale experience as a growth driver, not a service cost.
Unlearn the obsession with the next client.
Relearn the value of the ones you already have.
9. Silos Kill Strategy
In too many firms, departments operate like islands. Marketing sets goals that sales doesn’t buy into. Sales promises features that product teams can’t deliver. Customer success hears client feedback that never makes it back to strategy. The result? Misalignment, confusion—and a disjointed experience for the client.
Growth doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s not the job of a single team. Sustainable growth is a cross-functional effort, where every department is aligned around a common goal, a shared message, and a clear understanding of who the client is and what they need.
When silos exist, strategy fractures. Campaigns fail to land because the messaging is out of step with the actual product. Sales cycles lengthen because leads aren’t properly qualified. Client relationships falter because what was promised during onboarding doesn’t match delivery. Internally, it leads to frustration, duplication of effort, and poor morale.
A more joined-up approach doesn’t have to mean weekly all-hands meetings or endless documentation. Sometimes it starts with something as simple as:
Shared OKRs across marketing, sales, and product
Regular feedback loops between client-facing teams and strategic leaders
Joint planning sessions for key campaigns or product launches
This is where go-to-market orchestration—a pillar of GTM engineering—quietly adds real value. It doesn’t just create alignment; it creates momentum. When teams move together, everything speeds up: time to value, time to revenue, time to trust.
Because in the end, the client doesn’t see your org chart. They see one brand, one experience. And if that experience feels disjointed, they’ll go somewhere that feels seamless.
Unlearn the departmental divide.
Relearn how to align around the customer journey.
Next steps to consider
Frameworks like AARRR (Awareness, Acquisition, Activation, Revenue, Retention, Referral) offer a useful guide for firms looking to embed growth thinking across their organisations. But frameworks alone don’t fix flawed mindsets.
Unlearning bad growth habits requires humility, curiosity, and commitment. The reward? More effective marketing. Stronger client relationships. And a business built not just for today’s market—but for tomorrow’s opportunities.
Are you happy clinging to outdated growth habits? Slower sales, missed opportunities, and marketing that no longer converts.
At Lagom Consulting, we partner with ambitious firms to rethink the fundamentals—whether that means refining your ideal customer profile, aligning sales and marketing around a shared commercial goal, or building an inbound strategy that actually delivers results.
Our work sits at the intersection of strategic marketing, operational clarity, and commercial performance. We don’t just advise—we help you execute.
If you’re serious about unlearning what’s holding you back, and building a GTM strategy fit for your next phase of growth, book a call with us today.
Who are Lagom Consulting?
At Lagom Consulting, we pride ourselves on being more than marketing and management consultants; we are your strategic allies in building marketing strategies to market into financial services market.
Our ethos centres around delivering first-class service, underpinned by a hands-on approach that melds practical problem-solving with time-tested marketing solutions. We recognise that effective marketing is an ongoing journey, not a one-off exercise. We steer clear of ‘random acts of marketing’, opting instead for a comprehensive and sustained approach.
Working with Lagom Consulting means gaining more than a consultant; it means acquiring a partner committed to your enduring success