Most businesses you acquire are leaving 20–30% of revenue on the table.

Not because of bad operations. Not because of weak demand. Because nobody ever asked the customer if they wanted more.

The Good-Better-Best strategy is one of the simplest margin expansion levers in any acquisition — and most operators never use it.

The premise is straightforward: stop guessing what customers will pay. Give them three options and let them self-select.

Good. Better. Best.

Every time. With every customer.

Here's why it works.

Your customer base is never one homogeneous group. It breaks into three segments every time:

The bandaid buyers want a quick, cheap fix. The proper fix buyers want the problem solved once, correctly. The premium buyers want the full experience — and see it as a reflection of who they are.

The margins increase at every step up that ladder.

If you assume everyone is a bandaid buyer, you'll miss your highest-margin segment entirely. If you only offer what the customer asked for, you'll never know what they would have paid for.

This isn't just a retail concept.

I've advised operators across home services, professional services, healthcare, and industrials B2B. The packaging changes. The principle doesn't.

For an HVAC business, it looks like this:

→ Good: Basic repair ($200) → Better: New unit + 1-year membership ($600) → Best: Full system replacement + 10-year warranty ($3,000)

Same product. Completely different value delivery. Margins stepped up at every tier.

The mistake most operators make.

They pre-judge the customer's budget before the conversation starts.

I recently hired an electrician for a home project. I happily paid a significant premium to have the wiring run properly through the attic, directly from the main box. The previous electrician never offered it. He quoted the cheap path and left money on the table — mine to give, his to earn.

Your portfolio companies are doing this every day.

For independent sponsors, this is a day-one value creation lever.

No new customers required. No additional headcount. No capital expenditure.

Just a structured pricing architecture and the discipline to present all three options every time.

The implementation is simple. Map your current core offering as the Better tier. Strip it down to essentials for Good. Add high-value, low-marginal-cost features for Best. Set price jumps of 20–30% between each tier. Track which tier customers choose, and that data becomes a margin optimization engine over time.

Target: 15–25% of customers choosing the premium tier. If it's lower, the Best option needs more value. If it's higher, add a fourth tier and keep climbing.

The best part — this compounds.

Price-sensitive customers who enter at the Good tier convert over time. Premium buyers self-identify immediately. And the data you collect on purchasing behavior becomes one of the most valuable assets in the business.

Most acquirers spend months hunting for operational improvements. This one is sitting in plain sight.

What's the most effective pricing lever you've used post-acquisition?

Drop a comment. Hit reply - I read everything.

See you next Thursday!

— Ahmad