21 decisions from real programsShipped work, live tests, scoped ideas, and one clear no-go.
3 buyer motions in one viewScan self-service, sales-led, or plays that join both.
4 growth systems to scanPartner trust, direct demand, vertical wedges, and the data underneath them.
Guided simulation
Pick the situation. Get a route you can test.
The guide narrows work I have done before. It shows a place to start. It does not promise a result before the test runs.
Your test route
One guide can serve both motions.
Give a useful result now. Keep the context if the buyer wants a sales talk.
4 matching plays
01AskUse a few plain questions to learn the goal.
02GuideShow useful choices and the data behind them.
03RouteLet simple work start. Send hard work to sales.
04ReadTrack action, sales progress, and time to value.
Decision rule: Pick the smallest team that can run a clean test. Read the first signal within six months. Grow only if the play beats the current path.
Experiment library
Each card tells you what is real and what comes next.
Filter the set, then open with the play that fits your buyer and team.
The source work has been sanitized. The cards omit employer dollar figures, contract terms, and unannounced people or organizations. A metric appears only when the source supports it.
Showing all 21 plays
Play 01 · Partner channelScaled
Advisor community, learning, and co-marketing
Readout: The channel paid back in 13.8 months.
Why it may work: Trust can move from an advisor to each client they serve.
The test
Join a community, a learning path, and co-marketing. Track active partners and clients per active partner.
What to read
Partner activation, referred clients, payback, and revenue retention.
Stop or scale
Read two partner cohorts. Scale only if activation and client yield beat the direct path.
Both motionsSignal · 90 to 180 daysTeam · Owner + 1
Play 02 · CompetitiveShipped
Public partner-directory outreach
Readout: 94% of firms in one public directory were new to the CRM.
Why it may work: A public partner list can reveal people who already believe in the channel.
The test
Match a public directory to the CRM. Enrich the net-new set, rank it, and run one focused outreach wave.
What to read
New coverage, replies, meetings, and partner activation.
Stop or scale
Stop after one sequence if it does not beat a normal cold list on replies or meetings.
Sales-ledSignal · 30 to 90 daysTeam · Owner + 1
Play 03 · InfrastructureShipped
Public roster and enrichment engine
Readout: Public professional rosters produced more than 500,000 rows.
Why it may work: Public rosters can be fresher than bought lists and easier to audit.
The test
Find one public roster. Collect it, clean it, and match it to the CRM before buying more data.
What to read
Valid records, net-new coverage, freshness, and cost per valid record.
Stop or scale
Drop a source if its valid yield or freshness does not beat the vendor control.
Self-serviceSignal · Under 30 daysTeam · One owner
Play 04 · InfrastructureShipped
Offline conversion data and value bidding
Readout: 90 revenue-confirmed conversions were matched back to ad clicks.
Why it may work: An ad system learns better when it sees buyers, not just form fills.
The test
Send the verified revenue event back to the ad platform. Keep the old setup as the control.
What to read
Matched buyers, acquisition efficiency, lead quality, and lag to revenue.
Stop or scale
Read two learning cycles. Revert if buyer quality or efficiency gets worse.
Self-serviceSignal · 30 to 90 daysTeam · Cross-team
Play 05 · Paid searchScaled
Brand, non-brand, and rival demand as a portfolio
Readout: One rival segment converted at 0.14%, which made the cut case clear.
Why it may work: A campaign total can hide a weak segment that takes funds from a strong one.
The test
Tag each ad by demand type. Hold back one weak group and move its funds to the best control.
What to read
Buyer conversion, lead quality, payback, and volume by demand type.
Stop or scale
Keep the move only if it adds buyers without hurting cohort quality.
Self-serviceSignal · 30 to 90 daysTeam · Owner + 1
Play 06 · AffiliateScaled
Affiliate forecast and fee review
Readout: A 36-month seasonal forecast led to a successful fee review.
Why it may work: A long view can show fee terms that a monthly report hides.
The test
Model three years of use, fees, and seasonality before the next contract talk.
What to read
Total fees, net savings, partner output, and payback.
Stop or scale
Keep the current terms if the new structure does not win across the full forecast.
Self-serviceSignal · Under 30 daysTeam · Owner + 1
Play 07 · Creator channelIn flight
Paid-community creator partnerships
Status: Paid-audience history set the entry gate before spend.
Why it may work: A creator who has earned paid trust can carry more intent than raw reach.
The test
Pick two or three creators whose audience has paid them. Run a flat-fee pilot.
What to read
Activated partners, qualified starts, buyer cost, and payback.
Stop or scale
Stop if the pilots do not beat reach-led creator lists on qualified action.
Self-serviceSignal · 30 to 90 daysTeam · Owner + 1
Play 08 · VerticalScoped
Vertical wedge through a rollup ecosystem
Status: The play was scoped. No result is claimed.
Why it may work: A real compliance edge can open a full vertical stack.
The test
Find one rollup, one services arm, and one need that the general vendor cannot meet.
What to read
Sponsor access, partner fit, qualified pipeline, and time to first value.
Stop or scale
Do not start without a real product edge, an anchor path, and an executive sponsor.
Status: The plan joins trust, member reach, and a durable directory path.
Why it may work: One trusted group can open many warm buyer paths at once.
The test
Pair an endorsement with useful member work and directory access. Do not buy booth space alone.
What to read
Member-to-partner conversion, referred buyers, and renewal value.
Stop or scale
Read one member cycle. Renew only if the durable path produces action.
Both motionsSignal · 90 to 180 daysTeam · Owner + 1
Play 11 · FieldShipped
Named-account field program
Readout: The named target list came before the field spend.
Why it may work: A field event works harder when the team knows who must be in the room.
The test
Build the target list first. Pick the lightest event tier that can earn the needed meetings.
What to read
Booked and held meetings, partner activation, pipeline, and follow-up speed.
Stop or scale
Skip the booth if the named list cannot support the meeting goal.
Sales-ledSignal · 30 to 90 daysTeam · Cross-team
Play 12 · CompetitiveScoped
Forced-migration switcher campaign
Status: The play was scoped to an external deadline. No result is claimed.
Why it may work: A forced move gives the buyer a real reason to act now.
The test
Join search, partner notes, and a simple migration path around one public deadline.
What to read
Deadline traffic, migration starts, qualified talks, and buyer source.
Stop or scale
Stop if deadline traffic does not beat the evergreen path on qualified action.
Both motionsSignal · 30 to 90 daysTeam · Cross-team
Play 13 · CompetitiveIn flight
Review-led rival displacement
Status: The message kit and target data reached sales.
Why it may work: Buyer reviews can expose a sharper angle than an internal brainstorm.
The test
Mine reviews, prove one product edge, arm sales, and send a clean target set to one owner.
What to read
Sales use, rival win rate, objection change, and buyer response.
Stop or scale
Pause if the kit does not move win rate after one or two sales quarters.
Both motionsSignal · 90 to 180 daysTeam · Cross-team
Play 14 · Organic growthIn flight
Niche compliance content moat
Status: Product parity gates each content brief before work starts.
Why it may work: A narrow page wins when the product can solve a real gap that rivals cannot.
The test
Build a small hub for one hard vertical, such as agriculture or clergy. Prove product fit first.
What to read
Qualified visits, vertical-page conversion, sales friction, and search growth.
Stop or scale
Do not write if the product edge fails the parity check.
Self-serviceSignal · 90 to 180 daysTeam · Owner + 1
Play 15 · AI searchPilot shipped
Open-web AI answer pilot
Readout: Open-web guides, markup, and an llms.txt file replaced app-store tactics.
Why it may work: Answer engines can cite useful pages that are open, clear, and easy to parse.
The test
Measure citation share. Then publish a small set of scenario guides with clear markup.
What to read
Citation share, cited pages, assisted visits, and qualified starts.
Stop or scale
Stop after 90 days if the owned pages gain no citation share.
Self-serviceSignal · 90 to 180 daysTeam · Cross-team
Play 16 · Organic growthDiagnosed
Search snippet repair
Readout: 448,122 quarterly impressions at 0.23% CTR exposed the gap.
Why it may work: A page can rank often and still fail to earn the click.
The test
Rewrite titles, descriptions, and internal links on pages with high views and weak click rate.
What to read
Click rate, clicks, rank, and downstream buyer quality.
Stop or scale
Revert if click rate does not rise after one or two crawl cycles.
Self-serviceSignal · 30 to 90 daysTeam · One owner
Play 17 · Paid mediaPartly shipped
Automated vertical media with a written runbook
Readout: A written theme and exclusion plan made each campaign portable.
Why it may work: Automation needs clear rules or it drifts into weak traffic.
The test
Build one vertical campaign from a fixed brief. Judge the full offer, not one lead event.
What to read
Search term quality, buyer conversion, bundle value, and payback.
Stop or scale
Stop after two learning cycles if the vertical does not beat the broad control.
Self-serviceSignal · 30 to 90 daysTeam · Owner + 1
Play 18 · MeasurementShipped
Revenue-confirmed conversion ledger
Readout: One irreversible revenue event became the source of truth.
Why it may work: A CRM stage can count hope. A paid event can count a buyer.
The test
Find the event where revenue becomes real. Reconcile every funnel report to it each month.
What to read
Overcount, match rate, revenue-confirmed buyers, and channel gaps.
Stop or scale
Do not scale other plays until the ledger and CRM can be reconciled.
Self-serviceSignal · Under 30 daysTeam · Cross-team
Play 19 · PlanningShipped
Full-funnel allocation model
Readout: The model cleared one real budget choice.
Why it may work: Shared cost and payback rules turn a budget fight into a test.
The test
Set one model for each channel. Mark every weak input, then use it for one live choice.
What to read
Buyer cost, payback, marginal return, and the result of the first move.
Stop or scale
Do not move funds while the key inputs still fail the source ledger.
Self-serviceSignal · Under 30 daysTeam · Executive sponsor
Play 20 · Paid socialIn flight
Advisor paid social with privacy-safe signal
Status: Server-side signal kept the test inside a no-pixel rule.
Why it may work: A high-value partner can support media that a direct buyer cannot.
The test
Aim at one partner role. Send the buyer event from the server and judge the partner path as a whole.
What to read
Signal match, active partners, referred buyers, and payback.
Stop or scale
Do not scale until the signal is clean and partner value clears the media cost.
Self-serviceSignal · 30 to 90 daysTeam · Owner + 1
Play 21 · BrandPassed
Audio brand test with a detection gate
Readout: The test was passed because focus and attribution confidence did not support the spend.
Why it may work: A no-go can save more than a weak test can teach.
The test
Size the smallest lift the plan can detect before the media sales call.
What to read
Expected lift, branded search, direct traffic, and the size of the control.
Stop or scale
Pass if the flight cannot produce a clear read.
Self-serviceSignal · 90 to 180 daysTeam · Owner + 1
No play fits those filters. .
The method
The page is an example of the answer.
A guided growth system gives the buyer useful choices. It uses data to lower the risk of the choice. It can end in a self-service action, a sales talk, or both.
I used this idea at Argyle to join a large set of sponsorship options into clearer buyer paths. I later built a guided growth simulation for HMP Global. This version turns the same idea into a reusable test library.
Talk to Ron
Want to turn one growth idea into a test?
Bring the buyer path and the data you trust. We can set the test, measure it, and name the stop point.