In a tough economic climate, many businesses struggle to hit growth targets. A practical route to value creation for Private Equity clients and their portfolio companies is often overlooked: Sales Effectiveness.
This article, developed with Strategy&, PwC’s global strategy house, shows how private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies can get more from their sales teams and go-to-market model. We focus on four growth levers - retain, grow, acquire, enable - and five capability pillars - people, structure, process, technology, strategy.
By improving how you sell, you can strengthen margin control and set up for sustainable growth.
Signs of untapped growth potential
The Sales Effectiveness objective is capturing all available growth - not just some of it. Any one of these signals that growth is being left on the table.
Heavy discounting or poor pricing visibility
Inconsistent performance across sales reps
Sales, Marketing and Operations working in silos
Low retention and upsell
No clear ideal customer profile
Declining productivity and win rates
Sales Effectiveness means balancing four growth levers (the “what”), and five capability pillars (the “how”).
Four levers for sustainable growth – the “what”
Sustainable growth depends on four interconnected levers. Weakness in one lever forces over delivery elsewhere to hit targets – rarely sustainable.
Capturing all available growth requires the agility to recognise imbalance, shift focus, and improve execution.
Retain
Keeping customers longer to protect recurring revenue
Grow
Increasing customer spend through cross-sell and upsell
Acquire
Winning the right new customers, those most likely to stay and spend more
Enable
Increasing team productivity through the right tools, focus and support
Behind these “what” levers sit five capability pillars - the “how” of growth.
Five capability pillars to master – the “how”
Our Sales Capability Framework helps leaders consider how to find value, align the business, and equip to win.
- Strategy
- Structure
- Process
- People
- Technology
Strategy
Clarity on where value is created
- Ideal customer profile
- Customer segmentation
- Route-to-market
- Value proposition
- KPIs for growth
Structure
Align the organisation to value
- Organisation structure
- Role design
- Coverage model
- Span of control
- Commercial agility
Process
Consistent, scalable ways of working
- Sales process
- Governance
- Forecasts and pipeline
- Lead management
- Account planning
People
Equip, incentivise and manage performance
- Incentives and quotas
- Attainment and performance
- Talent management
- Training
- Leadership and culture
Technology
Integrate tools, data, and analytics
- CRM
- Enablement tools
- IT infrastructure
- BI and dashboards
- AI readiness
Our Sales Maturity Assessment
To help answer these questions, we use two complementary tools.
1. Sales Maturity Assessment
Benchmarking current capabilities against best-in-class, helping leaders see their gaps and target the actions that unlock the greatest growth.
2. Revenue Analytics
Analytics on the four growth levers, helping leaders identify trends, drivers and quantify effectiveness opportunities.
What outcome to expect
Our client experience typically shows 5–20% revenue uplift, and up to 50% in turnaround scenarios.
The difference between average and high-performing sales organisations often comes down to execution.
Software vendor
Annual Revenue: £400 -500m
Rebuilding the sales engine for growth
Situation:
Growth targets were being missed; roles and territories lacked clarity; sellers were being pulled into support work.
Approach:
Rebuilt the commercial model:
- Clarified roles
- Centralised inside sales
- Redesigned territories
- Prioritised key accounts and prospects
- Realigned quotas and incentives
Outcome:
Delivered an estimated +15% uplift in bookings potential.
Marketing services
Annual Revenue: $500 -600m
Restoring margin control and positioning for growth
Situation:
10% annual revenue decline and margin erosion from an outdated GTM model and inconsistent pricing.
Approach:
- Developed pricing governance
- Refreshed playbooks
- Introduced rigorous performance reviews
- Optimised customer segmentation and sales coverage
- Integrated sales & fulfilment
- Redesigned incentives
Outcome:
Identified $105M in revenue opportunity, including $20M (3%) in quick wins.
Health infrastructure
Annual Revenue: £50 -60m
From sales cuts to a value creation roadmap
Situation:
Turnaround scenario, with revenue and EBITDA decline; leadership considering cutting sales headcount.
Approach:
- Eliminated wasted prospecting
- Improved targeting with data
- Redesigned the sales model with specialised roles
- Supported entry into high-potential sectors
- Introduced P&L accountability
Outcome:
The board-approved plan identified a +45% revenue uplift and +58% EBITDA improvement.
Sales Effectiveness isn’t a one-off fix - it’s a strategic lever. Contact us for a tailored Sales Effectiveness assessment.
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