The Strategy That Changed Everything
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
By Jeff Mains
Founder & CEO, Champion Leadership Group
Jeff Mains is a five time founder and CEO who has built and scaled companies generating more than $200 million in combined revenue. Through Champion Leadership Group, he helps SaaS and professional services leaders accelerate growth through strategy, innovation, and disciplined execution.
For years, I ran my businesses with the belief that if we simply worked harder and served customers well, everything else would fall into place.
We are reliable, responsive, and willing to go the extra mile, but even with all that effort, our projects still dragged on longer than expected. My clients were satisfied but not thrilled, and my team was constantly juggling and shifting priorities.
Something was missing.
The turning point came when I realized that it was clarity that was giving us the problem. We were doing great work, yes, but we weren’t defining success in the same language our customers used. I somehow understood that every client had their own idea of what results meant, and without a shared definition, our definition of finish line kept moving.
One day, after yet another kickoff meeting, I tried something simple. I asked my client, In the first 30 days, what would you need to see to feel confident that this is working?
That question changed everything.
The client gave me his clear answer with a single measurable outcome that mattered most to his business. I wrote that goal on our whiteboard and redesigned the first month of work around getting there. My team rallied behind it with every conversation, every deliverable, and every update pointed back to that one milestone.
It wasn't a quick fix to be honest, but it felt close. What happened was, our projects started finishing faster because everyone knew exactly what is important to finish. Even my clients stopped asking for constant check-ins because they could see the progress in real time. Even renewals became easier because the proof was visible and pointing towards one direct goal.
And within a few months, the shift had completely changed our rhythm. Sales closed faster, implementation got smoother, and the entire customer experience became more predictable.
The most unexpected change, though, was internal. My team became more confident. Because they could see the direct impact of their work on the customer’s success, and that sense of ownership showed up in the way they communicated, planned, and solved problems.
That simple strategy—making customer success measurable early, became the backbone of every company I built after that.
Today, when I work with founders through Champion Leadership Group, I teach them to do the same. To ask your customers to define success in their own words. Write it down, make it visible, and review it together until it’s achieved.
Looking back, I wish I had learned that lesson earlier. It taught me that trust isn’t built through promises or presentations but through visible progress.
That clients don’t stay because you convince them; they stay because they can see the result for themselves.
If there’s one takeaway I’d share with any business leader: Clarity creates momentum. When success is defined, measurable, and shared, alignment happens naturally, and that alignment is what turns consistent work into consistent growth.
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