The Revenue Growth Habit

What if your sales team could create steady, predictable growth—without relying on luck, price cuts, or acquisitions? In Outgrow, Alex Goldfayn provides a complete framework for doing exactly that. He argues that most companies and salespeople aren’t really selling at all—they’re reacting. They’re too busy putting out fires and answering emails to consistently reach out to customers when things are going well. The Outgrow Selling System flips this stagnant cycle by teaching leaders how to systematically develop a proactive sales culture where calling customers when nothing is wrong becomes second nature.

Goldfayn contends that growth doesn’t come from frantic activity but from steady, deliberate communication with customers and prospects. The essence of his approach is this: by showing up to help, rather than to sell, you can spark substantial and repeatable sales increases—often 20–30 percent or more annually. The system is built on mindset, behavior, and consistency, empowering teams to outgrow their competition through proactive effort instead of reactive survival.

Why So Many Companies Stay Reactive

In his consulting experience with hundreds of B2B firms, Goldfayn found that 90% operate reactively. Their sales teams wait for customers to complain or inquire before engaging. This creates a silent trap: everyone works hard, but few take the initiative to communicate when everything is fine. The author describes how even highly successful firms often depend on inflationary price increases or acquisitions for growth—rather than genuine organic selling. This reactive cycle keeps companies stuck, and customers notice. When salespeople only call during crises, calls become synonymous with bad news. Outgrow replaces this fear-based silence with confident outreach that builds trust and top-of-mind awareness.

Turning Proactivity Into Culture

At the heart of Outgrow is culture—not a project, not a temporary sales campaign. Goldfayn insists that growing companies aren’t just changing actions but beliefs. The Outgrow Culture rests on five pillars: (1) seeing selling as helping; (2) knowing customers want and need to hear from you; (3) recognizing it’s a disservice not to reach out; (4) realizing that customers are buying from competitors what they could buy from you; and (5) understanding that the rest of your company depends on this proactive growth. Projects fade, but culture—built on consistent messaging and leadership visibility—sticks. Therefore, Outgrow thrives when the CEO champions it from the top down.

From Fear to Confidence: The Mindset Shift

Goldfayn draws heavily on positive psychology (inspired by Martin Seligman’s Learned Optimism) to address why most sellers avoid proactive outreach: fear of rejection. Outgrow tackles this mental roadblock by bathing employees in the positivity of customer love. Through structured interviews with happy clients, salespeople hear—in real voices—how their work makes a difference. This simple act fuels confidence, turns anxiety into enthusiasm, and reminds them that customers appreciate their proactive efforts. Once they internalize “I’m here to help, not to sell,” behavior changes naturally. Fearful salespeople wait for calls; confident ones make them.

A System of Predictable Behaviors

The Outgrow system isn’t about scripts or manipulative pitches—it’s about repeatable actions. Sales teams ask “Did you know…?” to educate customers about other services (DYKs), or “What else…?” to uncover hidden opportunities (rDYKs). These quick questions, combined with brief follow-ups and thoughtful handwritten notes, generate measurable results. Each proactive communication is logged, tracked, and reviewed weekly. Leaders focus on swings, not hits—the controllable actions that statistically lead to predictable outcomes. Over thousands of implementations, Goldfayn’s data shows: consistent effort equals predictable growth.

Leading With Data, Rhythm, and Recognition

Outgrow companies operate on a tight, energizing rhythm: weekly huddles, monthly one-on-ones, quarterly planning, and daily encouragement. These meetings reinforce accountability and keep proactivity visible. Teams use scorecards to track calls, follow-ups, and opportunities, creating early indicators of future sales. Crucially, leaders celebrate “Successes of the Week”—short stories of wins that highlight effort, not just results. This recognition fuels internal momentum, spreading energy across the company while building a shared language around proactive selling.

A Proven Framework for Any Industry

Goldfayn’s consulting clients—from century-old lumber companies to large engineering firms—use the Outgrow system to achieve double-digit growth, often in mature, low-margin industries. Whether it’s J&B Supply breaking a 13-year flat streak or UCC Environmental’s engineers increasing proposals 52% in a year, the results share one common thread: simple, consistent, proactive communication. Outgrow provides not only techniques but a cultural blueprint for sustainable expansion. In short, it transforms sales from a reactive firefight into a steady rhythm of confident helping—a form of business growth that’s human, scientific, and long-lasting.

At the heart of Outgrow is a deceptively simple truth: your team’s behavior will never outperform its mindset. Goldfayn dedicates much of his work to showing how confidence—not scripts, funnels, or tactics—is the real engine of growth. The average salesperson avoids proactive outreach because they fear rejection, a deeply human reaction to risk. By reframing selling as helping, Outgrow changes the emotional equation. Confidence replaces fear, and action replaces avoidance.

Why Fear Dominates Sales Behavior

Goldfayn explains that salespeople live in a cycle of stress and rejection. Every day brings problems to fix and deals that fall through. Over time, this trains the brain to expect failure and seek safety in reactivity. Like Seligman’s concept of “learned helplessness,” they begin to wait for the customer to call rather than risk reaching out uninvited. This mindset isn’t laziness—it’s self-protection.

The Cure: Positive Feedback Loops

Outgrow interrupts this loop by flooding the environment with positivity. Goldfayn has companies conduct short interviews with their happiest customers—recorded and replayed for the team. When employees hear real people praise their reliability, creativity, or kindness, something shifts. Self-doubt gives way to recognition of impact. As one client’s engineer said after hearing a testimonial, “I didn’t know I made that much difference.” Those are the moments Outgrow thrives on—turning unseen value into confidence fuel.

Teaching Perseverance and Optimism

Confidence leads naturally to perseverance, which Goldfayn calls a “sales superpower.” Citing psychologist Martin Seligman, he notes that perseverance is twice as important as talent in predicting success. In practice, this means not giving up after a no—or after 20 consecutive nos. One of Goldfayn’s own clients signed a contract after 10 years of gentle persistence. This level of optimism isn’t blind faith; it’s the math of consistency. The longer you stay in the arena, Theodore Roosevelt once said, the higher your odds of victory—a metaphor Goldfayn echoes throughout the book.

From Mindset to Daily Practice

Goldfayn grounds this emotional work in specific rituals. Each week begins with a “Monday Outgrow Huddle,” where teams discuss customer lists, personal goals, and wins. Regular sharing of uplifting customer stories functions like a psychological IV drip, continuously nourishing optimism. Over time, these small habits form a culture of confidence that resists the pull of negativity and fear. In essence, Outgrow transforms confidence from a fleeting feeling into a system.

Goldfayn stresses that projects end, but culture endures. Outgrow succeeds only when it becomes a way of life rather than a time-bound initiative. For leaders, this means shifting from launching to living the work. The difference between a sales project and a sales culture is the difference between a gym membership and a fitness lifestyle—one fades, the other defines you.

Led from the Top

The Outgrow system starts at the highest level. The CEO or owner must be the head coach, modeling energy, curiosity, and commitment. As Goldfayn writes, “People only do what they think is important to their boss.” Leaders don’t have to manage every detail but must stay visibly engaged—celebrating wins, reviewing scorecards, and ensuring Outgrow remains part of the company’s daily language. Without executive sponsorship, the culture reverts to its reactive default.

Empowering Managers as Multipliers

Mid-level managers act as Outgrow’s linchpins. Their buy-in determines adoption across locations and teams. As one case study shows, when two out of five managers didn’t embrace Outgrow, their teams quickly fell behind peers. Managers function as position coaches—running weekly huddles, leading one-on-one reviews, and reinforcing that proactive behavior is the new normal. When they engage fully, results multiply.

From Meetings to Rhythms

A true culture operates through rhythm. Every Monday starts with quick huddles focused on opportunities, not problems. Once a month, managers meet one-on-one with their team members for ten-minute Monthly Reviews, discussing actions taken and opportunities uncovered. Every quarter, leadership hosts a 90-minute Outgrow Planning Meeting to reset goals and refresh energy. These short, consistent touchpoints form the heartbeat of the system—sustaining momentum without adding bureaucracy.

Case Study: From Project to Permanent

J&B Supply—a family-run HVAC distributor—initially treated Outgrow as a 90-day experiment. After seven months of double-digit growth, they realized they had something permanent. Each quarter, their teams competed based on proactive actions logged, with bonuses shared across departments. Their president, Brent Jones, called it “the moment the lights came on.” Culture, Goldfayn reminds us, begins when people stop asking, “How long will we run this?” and start saying, “This is just how we do things now.”

Outgrow isn’t just a sales program—it’s an organizational mindset where everyone who touches a customer, from drivers to executives, becomes a growth agent. Goldfayn asserts that growth happens “by as many people as possible, for as long as possible.” Each conversation—no matter the role—can deepen relationships, uncover needs, or add value.

Five Core Roles

Goldfayn identifies five primary Outgrow roles: the CEO (head coach), an implementation leader, an administrative coordinator who manages analytics, team managers (the position coaches), and the frontline “Outgrowers.” Even non-sales roles—like customer service reps or technicians—become part of the system. For example, delivery drivers at some companies received pocket cards listing three products to mention casually during drop-offs, discovering opportunities hidden in plain sight.

The Power of Inclusion

Outgrow companies begin by casting a wide net. Everyone who interacts with customers joins the process. One engineering client included 600 professionals—not traditional salespeople—who doubled proposals simply by asking what else clients needed help with. By democratizing sales, Outgrow creates ownership and pride across departments. The work becomes less about closing deals and more about collectively helping customers succeed.

Solo and Small-Team Adaptations

Recognizing that many businesses lack large staff, Goldfayn also designed Outgrow Solo and Outgrow Small Business. Solopreneurs join small peer groups for accountability and structure, bringing the same rhythm—calls, tracking, and wins—to their individual businesses. The key principle holds: consistent action, tracked and shared, transforms anxiety about revenue into predictable control.

Example: Leadership in Lumber

When Zip-O-Log Mills President Karl Hallstrom tried running Outgrow alone, results stalled. But when his daughter KayCee became the implementation leader, action counts soared 136% above target in six months. The lesson? Outgrow only thrives when someone owns it daily. Once leadership attention solidified, his small four-person sales team produced 40% growth—proof that proactive coordination beats passive hope every time.

Your biggest untapped opportunity might not be new leads—it’s the customers you already have but rarely talk to. Goldfayn devotes an entire section to mapping and “reactivating the silent majority”: the 80% of customers who don’t engage regularly. Outgrow’s Customer Lists turn these forgotten relationships into a structured pipeline for predictable revenue.

The Power of Organized Lists

Most companies, Goldfayn says, have data but not strategy. Their customer records sit in accounting software like unmined ore. Outgrow converts this into actionable intelligence by categorizing buyers—those who used to buy but stopped; those with flat spending (“Revenue Autopilot”); those with decreasing revenue; and prospects who were quoted but never closed. By proactively calling these groups, salespeople uncover easy wins. The first question—“I noticed we haven’t talked in a while; how’s business?”—often yields thousands in revived orders.

Example: The “Zero Dark 30” List

One of Goldfayn’s clients, a regional distributor, coined the term “Zero Dark 30” customers—accounts that usually spend at least $10,000 annually but nothing in the last month. On calling them, reps discovered most had quietly shifted to competitors simply because no one had checked in. Within weeks, dozens returned, surprised anyone even noticed. For customers inundated with transactional suppliers, being remembered becomes a competitive advantage.

Applied Empathy, Not Algorithms

Outgrow’s lists aren’t AI-powered or tech-heavy—they’re human reminders to reconnect meaningfully. Whether the list comes from CRM reports or weekly huddle brainstorming, its purpose is to guide conversations, not spam inboxes. As Goldfayn quips, “You don’t need perfect lists; you just need lists.” Proactive communication—especially when nothing is wrong—is both radical and remarkably simple: care louder than your competition.

For Goldfayn, growth means not just adding new customers but expanding relationships with existing ones. Most clients, he explains, only buy 20% of what they could from you. They ‘niche’ you—seeing you as the vendor for one category and going elsewhere for the rest. Outgrow breaks that pattern through systematic, conversational cross-selling.

Three Paths to Expansion

• 1. Offer more products and services. Through quick DYK (“Did You Know”) questions—like “Did you know we also carry X?”—salespeople expand what customers buy. One Outgrow client found 20% of DYKs generate immediate new line items.
• 2. Encourage higher volume. Offer inventory or subscription programs—regular deliveries, automatic replenishment, or maintenance schedules—that make buying easier while locking in loyalty.
• 3. Reach new buyers within accounts. The internal referral question, “Who else should I be working with?” reliably leads to additional customer contacts. Two-thirds of these requests succeed.

Case Example: Lumber and Customization

Ryan Hilsinger’s family of lumber companies—East Coast Lumber, Industrial Wood Products, and NC Lumber—adapted Outgrow across three very different sales settings. From quick B2B deals to months-long construction projects, his teams asked DYKs and rDYKs (“What else do you need quoted?”) to uncover complementary work. The result? 20% annual compounded growth and a halved ramp-up time for new sales hires. “We’re not waiting for the phone to ring,” Hilsinger said. “Outgrow emboldens everyone.”

Goldfayn insists this approach is not pushy—it’s helpful. Most customers prefer a single trusted partner. Asking “what else” isn’t sales pressure; it’s customer service. And by consistently applying it, you not only increase revenue but make your customers’ lives simpler. When you aim to help, sales inevitably follow.

The secret to Outgrow’s scalability is simplicity. Goldfayn distills selling into a handful of quick, conversational techniques that anyone—salesperson or not—can master in minutes per day. This chapter translates decades of consulting into actionable, measurable micro-behaviors.

Eight Core Communications

• The DYK (“Did you know…?”) educates customers on unpurchased offerings.
• The rDYK (“What else do you need?”) invites them to name new opportunities—80% success rate.
• The Pivot (“When would you like delivery?”) closes the thread naturally.
• The Pivot-C schedules the next conversation, ensuring continuity.
• %Biz asks, “What percent of your total business do we have?” revealing share and opportunity.
• iRef (Internal Referral) requests introductions inside a company.
• xRef (External Referral) asks for introductions to peers at other firms.
• Comm (Communicating a testimonial) shares client praise to attract new buyers.

Fast, Measurable, Human

Each action takes seconds. Reps log every effort—call, text, or question—into a simple tracking form. Success is measured by behavior, not closed deals. With decades of implementation data, Goldfayn provides clear metrics: two-thirds of voicemail-plus-text combos get a response, one in five DYKs creates a new sale, and four out of five rDYKs uncover unbought products. Over time, these small numbers compound into a predictable revenue curve.

Case Snapshot: UCC Environmental

For UCC Environmental, an engineering firm with multi-month sales cycles, Outgrow calls became early indicators of success. When the number of weekly proactive communications rose, proposals and bookings followed almost in perfect sync. As EVP Kevin McDonough noted, “The data became inspirational. People want to be at the top of the leaderboard.” Outgrow turns selling into a measurable, motivational game where effort and outcomes stay tightly linked.

Every cultural change meets friction. In the final chapters, Goldfayn addresses predictable resistance and how leaders can sustain enthusiasm beyond launch. His approach is pragmatic: assume discomfort, plan for it, and meet it with empathy and structure.

Common Objections—and Answers

• “I already do this.” → “That’s great; now let’s make it systematic.”
• “I’m too busy.” → “That’s why this only takes five minutes a day.”
• “I don’t want to lose my customer by passing them to another rep.” → “Cross-selling helps everyone—clients, peers, and you.”
• “I’ve already called everyone.” → “Then follow up—it means you’re on their radar.”

Leading Through Resistance

Goldfayn reminds leaders that resistance isn’t refusal—it’s fear masked as skepticism. The cure? Consistent coaching, celebrating small wins, and refusing to pause the initiative. He warns that letting the momentum drop even once signals “permission to stop,” which can derail cultural change irreversibly. The antidote is recognition—publicly sharing success stories weekly and coaching managers privately to maintain standards.

From Incentives to Inspiration

While financial rewards help, Goldfayn argues public recognition is often more motivating. Acknowledging effort fosters camaraderie and pride. By rewarding swings, not hits, Outgrow keeps everyone focused on controllable behaviors. Over time, accountability replaces anxiety. The program shifts from something people have to do to something they get to do—because it makes work feel meaningful, measurable, and human.