Do Less, Sell More: Find the Common Thread in Your Brand
Why the brands that grow focus on fewer things, and how to find what's already working in yours
Most of the founders I work with are trying to do too much at once. Too many products, too many channels, too many tools, too many initiatives, and a lot of one-off work for every new launch.
It feels like progress. Everyone’s busy and there’s always something new going out the door, but most of the growth usually comes from a handful of things that were already working.
Signs you're doing too much:
You're launching something new every few weeks, but sales aren't growing at the same pace
Your team is always busy, but nobody can tell you the top three priorities
Every launch needs new photography, new copy and a new campaign built from scratch
You're on five social channels and none of them is working that well
Stock is building up in slow sellers while your best sellers keep selling out
You're paying for apps and agencies you don't have time to manage
If you ticked more than a couple, read on.
Find the common thread
The brands that actually grow find the common thread: the hero product or category, the repeatable formula and the channel that works best. Then they go hard at it.
The common thread is the pattern in what your customers already buy, where they find you and why they come back. Once you can see it, every decision gets easier: what to make, what to promote, where to spend and what to stop.
What the numbers usually show
A brand I work with was launching a new collection roughly every six weeks. The range had grown to more than 100 products, and the team was always flat out designing, shooting and launching the next drop.
When we ran an 80/20 on a quarter's sales, one product was bringing in over 20% of sales on its own. Around 20 products made up 80% of sales. The other 80 or so were sharing what was left and sitting in the warehouse tying up inventory and cash flow.
New collections still have their place. They're how you find your next winner. But most of the team's time, and a lot of the marketing budget, was going into products that weren't doing the heavy lifting.
More doesn't always mean better. Reducing the range and focusing on the winners, with a few experiments running alongside, will always beat launching something new all the time.
How to do your own 80/20
You can do this in an afternoon with a spreadsheet.
Export your sales by product for the last three to six months. In Shopify, the "Sales by product" report gives you this.
Sort the list from highest to lowest sales - use net revenue, after returns and discounts.
Add a running total and find the point where you hit 80% of sales. Count how many products it took to get there.
Look at your top ten. What do they have in common? Think category, colour, fabric, price point, the problem they solve and the channel they sell through.
Look at the bottom third of the list. What's taking up stock, space on your site and your team's time without earning it?
Do the same for your channels and marketing. Which channels, campaigns and emails bring in most of your sales?
Most founders already know their hero products in their gut. Seeing it in black and white makes it much easier to act on, and much easier to get the team on board.
What to do with what you find
Back your winners. Put more of your marketing, homepage space and stock budget behind your top 20%.
Look for the pattern. If your best sellers share a fabric, shape, colour or price point, that's your formula. Build your next products from it.
Cut the tail gradually. Stop reordering slow sellers, clear what's left through a sale or a bundle, and let them go.
Simplify your launches. Fewer, bigger drops built around your formula, with a repeatable plan for each one.
Use what you already have
Before you invest in another collection, a new prototype or a fancy new brand design, ask yourself: have you got everything you can out of what you already have?
There's untapped revenue sitting in every business. Some of the quickest wins I see are:
SEO: product and collection pages that show up for what your customers actually search for. Your hero products should be the easiest things in your business to find on Google.
Conversion rate: small fixes to your product pages, photography, sizing information, delivery details and checkout that turn more of the visitors you already have into customers.
Your mailing list: these are people who've already said yes to hearing from you, and it's often the most underused asset in the business. Getting your automated flows sorted and a regular email rhythm built around your best sellers, new launches, brand stories and helpful articles can do a lot of work.
Your best sellers: keep them in stock, give them the best spots on your homepage, and build around them with new colours, sizes or bundles.
Your existing customers: make it easy for them to buy again, leave a review and tell their friends.
None of this is as exciting as a new launch. It's usually faster, cheaper and a lot less risky. And often a lot more profitable than launching a new product or range.
Decide what to stop
Deciding what not to do is just as important as deciding what to do. Here's a list to start with:
Products that sell slowly and tie up inventory - cut the dead weight and free up your cash
Channels you're only on because you feel you should be - feels hard or underdone? Cut it
One-off campaigns and new creative for every single launch, when a repeatable format would do the job
Tools and subscriptions nobody really uses, aren’t leading to more revenue or making things faster
Discounting to hit a short-term number at the expense of your margin
New ideas that don't connect back to your common thread
Write your stop list down and share it with your team. It gives everyone permission to say no, and frees up time for the things that matter.
Keep a few experiments running
You can still try new things while you focus. Just test them small and on purpose.
Run two or three experiments at a time, like a new colourway, a new channel or a new email series. Decide up front what success looks like, then do more of what works and drop what doesn't. That's how you find your next hero product without putting the whole business behind a guess.
And importantly: Don’t let an experiment drag on when you already know the answer. Being too attached to an idea that’s clearly losing money and tying up the team’s time when they could be focused on the fundamentals is the fastest way to lose focus and momentum.
Consistency wins
Once you've found your common thread, the hard part is sticking with it. The brands that grow repeat what works, season after season, and get a little better at it each time: a repeatable launch formula, a regular email rhythm, and the same few channels done really well.
And always ask whether you're resourced to deliver it. Sustainable, profitable growth beats a big revenue number your team can't keep up with.
Want help finding yours?
If you'd like to work through this with someone who's done it many times before, The Reset is a deep-dive session where we look at what's working, what's not and what deserves your focus now. You leave with a 90 day plan your team can get behind.
Or start on your own with my free Go-to-Market Strategy Workshop template.
