Introducing the hidden taxes you are paying on your business growth – The Growth Tax Newsletter

Are you feeling confident about hitting your growth goals in the next 12 months? What about the next five years?

Our latest research report has found that, despite the multitude of economic challenges companies are facing right now, the vast majority of business leaders across the country are feeling bullish.

As we dug deeper into the data, we identified some clear themes:

• The Confidence Gap: a massive 89% were confident of hitting their growth goals in the short and medium term, despite sluggish growth across the UK economy.
• Scaling isn’t Easy: Scale-ups were notably less confident, pointing to problems for businesses that reach this stage of their growth.
• From Boom-2-Bust: B2B organisations were also much less bullish about hitting their targets, compared to the B2C sector.

These findings led us to a crucial insight: many businesses unknowingly pay what we call Growth Taxes—hidden costs and inefficiencies that slowly erode their ability to scale.

growth tax, noun

A hidden cost or inefficiency that slows down a company’s growth rate, reducing its potential to expand and succeed in the market.

We’ve identified six categories of Growth Tax: Efficiency Tax, Differentiation Tax, Trust Tax, Unique Value Tax, Data Tax and Knowledge Tax.

Efficiency Tax

The revenue lost through inefficient processes and poorly targeted customer acquisition spend, and the future revenue lost by the constraints of immediate ROI, as well as not understanding buyer cycles or lifetime value.

How you can identify it

Your business is experiencing operational bottlenecks, struggling to make headway with implementing change, and seeing ROI fall as the business grows.

Differentiation Tax

The cost of failing to stand out in a competitive market because what you offer is neither different or distinct.

How you can identify it

You’re struggling to capture and retain customers, and find yourselves competing on price that than value, leading to reduced margins.

Trust Tax

The cost incurred when your brand fails to build or maintain customer trust post-launch, or failing to live up to your brand promise over time, affecting your ability to retain customers, generate positive word-of-mouth referrals and sustain long-term growth.

How you can identify it

New customer acquisition is slow and churn rates are high, leading to lower customer lifetime value.

Unique Value Tax

The cost incurred when the customers’ perceived value of your product or service fails to deliver unique value. This also happens when your identity positioning undermines customer perception.

How you can identify it

Your lead conversion rate is low, with potential customers choosing competitors because they perceive them as having a greater produce/service fit.

Data Tax

The cost incurred when your business fails to effectively collect, analyse and utilise data to inform decision-making, particularly first-party (or ‘owned’) data.

How you can identify it

Your marketing spend isn’t delivering ROI and your marketing team is struggling to demonstrate the effectiveness of campaigns. Your business also struggles to anticipate and quickly respond to changes in the market.

Knowledge Tax

The cost incurred when your organisation lacks the knowledge to make the right decisions and understand the long-term picture, whether that’s in regards to marketing expertise, audience alignment or the buying process.

How you can identify it

Your leadership and management team doesn’t have the answers to questions regarding growth, ROI or long-term strategy.

Want to be among the first to receive the Growth Tax Newsletter every month?

In this series, we’ll examine each Growth Tax and provide practical, actionable advice on identifying these hidden costs. We’ll also guide you through the key questions to ask within your business to determine whether you’re paying these taxes and how to eliminate them for better growth.

Subscribe below to receive the Growth Tax newsletter in your inbox every month, before everyone else.