Leadership assumed the revenue gap traced back to the foundation: systems that were not built to scale, or a failure to recruit the right sales talent. The data said something different.
The situation
Leadership had already invested in sales infrastructure and a formal recruiting process, and had reasonable grounds to believe both were solid. Yet growth was not accelerating the way it should have been, pipeline forecasts could not be trusted, and deals were stalling out before they ever reached a real decision.
The infrastructure was not built to scale, or the wrong people were being hired.
What the analysis found
We put the entire sales force and sales management team through our Sales ScoreCard, an evidence and data based diagnostic that measures selling skills, sales DNA, management effectiveness, and the systems surrounding both. The results reframed the problem entirely.
Sales systems and processes scored 95 out of a possible 150. Strong enough that, with only a few targeted exceptions, the foundation was already supporting the sales force the way it should.
Recruiting effectiveness scored in the positive range across sales management, with individual recruiting competency scores as high as 85 to 100. The company was bringing in the right raw material.
The actual problem was what happened once a rep had a live opportunity.
Taken together, these findings pointed to a sales force that could get in the door but could not reliably close what it found once it got there. Reaching the wrong people, skipping qualification, and improvising instead of running a shared process.
Based on the specific weaknesses identified and the trainability of the individuals assessed, our analysis calculated a $41.1 million organic revenue opportunity, achievable in approximately 23 months on average, without adding headcount, territory or spend.
Against roughly $117 million in current annual sales, that is a path to growing revenue by about 35% just by closing the execution gaps already sitting inside the existing team.
The common mistake
When growth stalls, the reflex is to rebuild the foundation. New systems, new hiring criteria, a management shake-up. But an underbuilt infrastructure and an underdeveloped selling team look nearly identical from the boardroom, and they require completely different fixes. This company had already built a foundation that worked. What it had not built was a sales force that could consistently reach the right buyer, qualify honestly, and close.
Measure before you assume. The data is usually more specific, and more fixable, than the story leadership is telling itself.
Start the conversation
Tell us what is happening and Lori will tell you what the data would likely find. You will hear back from her directly, usually within one business day.
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