Three Commercial Levers That Improve EBITDA
- Paul Bensley
- Jul 1
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 27
Improving EBITDA Through Sales Effectiveness, Alignment and Customer Journey
When leaders talk about improving EBITDA, the conversation often starts in the wrong place.
It starts with:
cost programmes, procurement savings, restructures, system projects.
Those can help - but they treat EBITDA as an accounting problem rather than a commercial one.
In most businesses the fastest route to better EBITDA sits further upstream, in three connected areas:
how well we sell, how well we align internally, and how customers actually experience us.
1. Sales effectiveness – where EBITDA is really decided
EBITDA is not created in finance. It’s created in the sales process long before an invoice exists.
Every day sales teams make decisions that determine profit:
which opportunities to pursue
what price to anchor
what to promise on scope
which customers deserve focus
Improve those decisions and EBITDA improves almost immediately.
Better qualification alone removes low-margin work that clogs operations. Stronger pricing discipline protects value before it leaks away. Consistent handovers stop margin being given back in delivery.
This is not about selling harder. It’s about selling smarter and cleaner.
2. Organisational alignment – the multiplier
Even a strong sales engine struggles if the rest of the business pulls in a different direction.
Misalignment shows up directly in EBITDA:
Sales wins work operations can’t deliver efficiently
Finance policies slow conversion
Forecasts become arguments rather than plans
Alignment is the multiplier of sales effectiveness.
When sales, operations and finance share:
one definition of a good deal
one view of capacity
one approach to margin
EBITDA rises without heroic effort because the whole machine is tuned to the same outcome.
Incentives, goals and meetings either reinforce that alignment or quietly destroy it.
3. Customer journey – the hidden profit lever
The customer journey is often treated as a marketing topic. In reality it is an EBITDA topic.
Friction in the journey creates cost:
rework
complaints
expedited delivery
credit disputes
lost repeat business
A smooth journey does the opposite:
higher win rates
better price acceptance
lower cost to serve
stronger lifetime value
Improving EBITDA is as much about removing pain for customers as it is about removing cost for the business.
Where these three meet
The real gains come when the three levers connect.
Sales sells what can be delivered profitably. Operations delivers what was promised consistently. Finance measures what actually creates value. Customers experience one company rather than three departments.
That intersection is where EBITDA stops being a target and becomes a by-product.
Practical starting points
Define a “good deal” once for the whole business Commercial fit, margin threshold, service promise.
Fix qualification before cost cutting The cheapest job is the one you never should have won.
Map the customer journey with operations in the room Most margin leaks live in handovers.
Align incentives to EBITDA drivers Revenue, margin and service must pull together.
Measure decisions, not just results Price exceptions, scope changes, rework rates.
Final thought
EBITDA improvement is rarely found in a spreadsheet.
It’s found in how effectively a company sells, how honestly it aligns internally and how simply it serves customers.
Get those three right and the numbers take care of themselves.
I’ll keep sharing practical leadership approaches that connect commercial behaviour to financial performance in my other articles on my website and here on LinkedIn.
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FAQs:
What are the main commercial levers for improving EBITDA?
Three of the most important commercial levers are revenue growth, margin improvement and cost-to-serve. Revenue growth increases the value coming into the business, margin improvement increases the proportion retained from each sale, and reducing cost-to-serve improves the economics of delivering that revenue. Strong commercial performance requires leaders to understand how these levers interact rather than managing them independently.
How can a business improve EBITDA?
A business can improve EBITDA by increasing profitable revenue, strengthening gross margin and reducing the operating costs required to generate and service that revenue. The objective should not simply be to grow sales or cut costs, but to improve the economic quality of the business.
Does increasing revenue always improve EBITDA?
No. Revenue growth only improves EBITDA when the additional revenue creates sufficient contribution after the costs required to generate and service it. A business can grow revenue while weakening profitability if growth comes from excessive discounting, low-margin customers, inefficient channels or disproportionately high servicing costs.
How does pricing improve EBITDA?
Pricing can have a significant impact on EBITDA because improvements in realised price can flow directly into gross margin when volumes and costs remain broadly stable. Businesses should therefore examine discounting, pricing consistency, customer-specific pricing, price leakage and the value customers receive rather than treating price increases as the only pricing opportunity.
Why is gross margin important for EBITDA?
Gross margin shows how much value remains after the direct costs associated with generating revenue. Improving product mix, pricing, procurement, discount discipline and customer profitability can increase the contribution available to cover operating expenses and ultimately improve EBITDA.
What is cost-to-serve?
Cost-to-serve is the cost associated with supplying and supporting a customer, product, channel or transaction beyond simply the cost of the product itself. It can include activities such as delivery, administration, customer service, order processing, returns and other operational requirements.
Why should businesses measure cost-to-serve by customer?
Customers generating similar revenue can have very different levels of profitability. One may order efficiently, require little support and accept standard delivery arrangements, while another may generate frequent small orders, special requests, returns or significant administrative work. Measuring cost-to-serve helps leaders understand the true economic value of different customers.
Should businesses focus on revenue or profitability?
Both matter, but revenue should be evaluated alongside the margin and cost required to generate it. Growth that consistently produces insufficient contribution can make a business larger without making it economically stronger. Commercial leaders should therefore focus on profitable growth rather than revenue growth alone.
How can sales teams help improve EBITDA?
Sales teams can influence EBITDA through more than simply generating additional revenue. They can improve pricing discipline, product and customer mix, conversion, retention and account profitability while reducing unnecessary discounting and commercially expensive customer behaviours.
What is the difference between revenue growth and profitable growth?
Revenue growth measures an increase in sales. Profitable growth considers whether those additional sales generate an appropriate financial return after margin and cost-to-serve are considered. A business can therefore report strong revenue growth while experiencing little or even negative improvement in EBITDA.
How can leaders identify the biggest opportunity to improve EBITDA?
Start by breaking financial performance into its underlying commercial drivers. Examine where revenue is being won or lost, where margin is leaking and where customers, products or channels create disproportionate servicing costs. The largest EBITDA opportunity is often found by identifying where commercial activity and financial value have become disconnected.
Can AI help businesses improve EBITDA?
Yes. AI can support areas such as sales prioritisation, pricing consistency, customer analysis, forecasting, administrative productivity and cost-to-serve. However, AI creates financial value only when these operational improvements are converted into measurable changes in revenue, margin or cost. This is the principle behind the AI-to-EBITDA Framework.
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