Case Studies
See How Clear Direction Has Helped Other Businesses Just Like Yours
- CASE STUDY
A Texas-based food service company with over 50 years of success recognized it needed outside expertise to address growing gaps in sales infrastructure and revenue. Sales leadership had been managed directly by the President — a model that was no longer sustainable for future growth.
Just 40 days into the engagement, the global pandemic struck, testing the company’s resilience and the strength of its new strategic approach. Despite the disruption, the company stayed focused on immediate survival while positioning itself for long-term success with stronger sales leadership in place.
Challenges
- Global Pandemic
- No Sales Culture
- Sales team make up-concerned they did not have the right people on-board
- Inconsistent selling process
- Compensation plan was not clear
- Communication between sales and operations was not clear
Solution
- Assessed the sales infrastructure and sales team needs- Implemented sales infrastructure
- Restructured the sales team members during the early Covid phases, and recruited new sellers as Covid became controlled
- Executed a new Website and implemented demand generation tactics
- Identified Ideal Customer profiles and Unique Value Proposition
Final Result
- Although revenue was reduced due to many clients closing during the first year , we reduced costs, improved pricing and profitability during the shut-downs. We are growing again and adding headcount and marketing
- We returned to pre-Covid revenue in 2022 and grew double digits in 2023 ad added accounts in all five major cities.
- Installed a vibrant sales culture with accountability and cadence.
- CASE STUDY
North Carolina Manufacturer: A change in ownership and a realization that they needed an experienced sales and business leader. The company was operating from transaction to transaction without a strategy or plan. John was very experienced and able to step in right away, and the Fractional/Outsourced model was low-risk for the company.
“John was referred to us as an expert in the channel. We need his sales expertise. The scope immediately broadened to all aspects of our business, from VP of Sales to CXO! He quickly assessed where we were with our people, market and product. He simplified our offering making it easy to communicate to channel partners and customer where our company specialized. From this, we built out the organization to support this focus. We realized margin improvement, revenue improvement and a clearer direction forward, all during a Global Pandemic and supply chain challenge! Ultimately, John helped us realize our desired exit plan, found a buyer, and managed the transaction. We are delighted at the speed and effectiveness John employed to execute the exit.” -Board President
Challenges
- Message to the market was muddled and unclear why company warranted a higher price
- Poorly developed long-term strategy
- Participants had little or no channel experience or experience developing a company for rapid growth
Solution
- Assessed the company strategy, employees, processes. Presented the current state of the company.
- Determined the Unique Value Proposition and market strategy with the team
- Provided job descriptions and defined territories to the sellers.
- Established weekly Pulse call and bi-weekly one on one calls
- Established a CRM process with sales stages and tactics to develop pipeline-5X the pipeline in 6 months
- Rationalized the product offering and pricing strategy-Increased GM by 7%
- Recruited and led a marketing firm to help rebrand the company and improve demand generation
- Recruited Manufacturer's agents in most territories, trained and equipped to sell
- Recruited and on-boarded two senior sellers. Plan to add two more
- Established Sales Enablement team
- Weekly staff meetings focused on Product and business forecasting
- Provided 8-week Sales Training
- C-19 was a shock to the businesses. Managed the immediate impact and controlled for the unexpected
Results
- Stability, Value, and a Platform for Growth: The pandemic delivered a sudden shock to the business — and deciding how to respond required experienced leadership. By managing the immediate impact, controlling for the unexpected, and re-engineering every major team in the organization, we not only stabilized the company — we made it stronger. As a result, the company emerged from 2020 more valuable than before the pandemic, and positioned for rapid growth in 2021 and beyond.
- Rapid Growth — and a Successful Exit:With strong leadership and a rebuilt sales infrastructure, the company posted three straight quarters of 20% quarter-over-quarter growth — putting them on pace for over 65% year-over-year growth. Recognizing the momentum, ownership made the strategic decision to pursue an exit. Within 30 days, we identified a qualified buyer, and because the company now had scalable, transferable systems, the deal was structured as a successful tuck-in acquisition — completed within just six weeks. By building a more valuable, ready-to-integrate business, the owners were able to exit quickly and on favorable terms.
