Margins Doubled in a Year by Automating the Expensive Processes
Bart Bartlett doubled DemandZEN's margins in about twelve months, at a firm growing 50% a year, and credits no transformation program at all. Just one question, asked process by process.
August 25, 2026
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1 min read
Bartlett, CEO of DemandZEN, a roughly $10M demand-generation firm, is by any measure far down the automation road. Asked how the firm got there, he was almost dismissive of the mystique around it.
That was the whole playbook, repeated. Pick a process. Price what it actually costs to run. Ask whether a machine can do it. Move to the next one. No re-platforming, no head of AI, no firm-wide initiative with a name.
The result he puts on it: margins doubled inside twelve months, the firm is, in his words, ridiculously profitable, and growth is running at 50% a year.
Why it matters to you.
The margin is not in the technology, it is in the ranking. Most firms automate whatever is easiest or newest. This one automated whatever was most expensive, and the order is the entire difference to the P&L. You do not need a tool decision to start. You need a cost-ranked list of your own recurring processes, which most boutiques have never written down.
“"There was no magic. There was no magic AI pixie dust. It literally was, we looked at a process and said, this process is expensive, can we automate it?" - Bart Bartlett, CEO, DemandZEN”
Your one thing.
List your five most expensive recurring processes by fully loaded hours per month. Take the one at the top and ask Bartlett's exact question: this process is expensive, can we automate it?
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