We diagnose the real issues, not just the symptoms.
Challenges vary by company and industry, but the underlying patterns repeat: unclear strategy, weak commercial alignment, and systems that fail to reinforce performance.
Scroll to see the patterns
These problems fall into three categories: Strategic, Market, and Performance. Most companies face 2 to 3 of these simultaneously.
Strategic Roadblocks
Leadership misalignment and fragmented priorities prevent coordinated execution and momentum toward shared goals.
Behind Target Without a Unified Recovery Strategy
Fragmented priorities
“We committed to double-digit growth this year, but our current trajectory is below plan.
I see numerous initiatives across the company, but it is not translating into coordinated progress.”
Leadership Misalignment Undercuts Decisions and Impact
Leadership misalignment
“We’re launching initiatives that don’t stick. Leaders can’t agree on what drives performance, everyone has a different explanation for the results, and priorities reset every 30 days. We seem to be burning energy and budget instead of building momentum.”
Market Headwinds
Market share erosion in core markets and stalled account growth driven by competitive losses and weak value differentiation.
Share Loss in Core Markets
Market share loss
“Our core market is growing 8–10% annually, but we're flat. We’ve invested heavily in new products, more reps, more marketing, but we’re not gaining ground.”
Strategic Accounts Aren’t Expanding
Shrinking share-of-wallet
“We have deep relationships in our top 20 accounts, but revenue is flat or shrinking. Meanwhile competitors are expanding their reach into our core accounts. We have been the incumbent, but recently we’re being treated like a commodity vendor.”
Performance Decline
Operational performance falters when pricing, sales execution, or coverage models can’t convert spend into higher margin, deal velocity, or sales.
Margin Compression Despite Revenue Growth
Declining margins
“We grew revenue 12% last year, but operating margin contracted 180 basis points. We have increased prices in response to the rising cost but the price increases have not resulted into proportional profit gains.”
Sales Coverage Model Not Matching Market Reality
Coverage & productivity gaps
“Our sales capacity has grown, but productivity hasn’t. Some territories outperform while others stay chronically underpenetrated. We can't tell if the problem is coverage, capability, or design. We need a system that matches resources to opportunity and gives every rep a fair shot at quota.”
Behind Plan Without a Unified Recovery Strategy
What’s happening at the surface
- Growth trajectory below the committed target.
- Functional teams pursuing different priorities or fighting fires.
- Initiatives that do not reinforce one another or ladder up to a shared plan.
Financial impact
- Missed annual plans.
- Resources spread thin across too many activities.
- Slower decision making due to unclear priorities.
- Loss of momentum that reduces confidence among board and leadership.
Leadership Misalignment Undercuts Decisions and Impact
What’s happening at the surface
- Competing narratives about performance across BUs and product lines.
- Initiatives launched without shared value-creation roadmap.
- Disconnected execution across functions.
- Slow decisions due to lack of one and shared fact base.
Financial impact
- A year of effort without meaningful value creation.
- Investment wasted across diffuse initiatives.
- Leadership credibility challenged internally and externally.
Share Loss in Core Markets
What’s happening at the surface
- Customer acquisition slower and more expensive.
- Pipeline volume growing but conversion softening.
- Competitors gaining momentum in segments where you should lead.
- Investments creating activity, not outcomes.
Financial impact
- Multi-year share loss becoming structural.
- ROI on sales, marketing, and product spend under scrutiny.
- Strategic flexibility decreases as market momentum shifts.
Strategic Accounts Aren’t Expanding
What’s happening at the surface
- Share-of-wallet stagnation.
- Competitive encroachment during renewal/expansion cycles.
- Strong operational ties, weak executive engagement.
- Account expansion initiatives inconsistent or ad hoc.
Financial impact
- Top accounts producing minimal net expansion.
- Declining lifetime value despite retention.
- Heavier reliance on net new logos, increasing volatility.
Margin Compression Despite Revenue Growth
What’s happening at the surface
- Revenue growth masking profitability deterioration.
- Inflation + competition amplifying each other.
- More promos to protect volume.
- No unified margin visibility.
Financial impact
- 200+ bps margin leakage.
- Loss of shareholder and board confidence.
- Valuation pressure if margin erosion persists.
Sales Coverage Model Not Matching Market Reality
What’s happening at the surface
- Territory sizes and opportunity potential aren’t aligned.
- Some reps sit on excess whitespace while others are overloaded.
- Coverage models built around historical patterns, not current market reality.
- Productivity varies widely across reps and regions with no clear root cause.
Financial impact
- Revenue left on the table in underpenetrated territories.
- Higher cost of sales from inefficient deployment.
- Slow overall growth despite increasing headcount.
- Pressure to hire more reps instead of optimizing current capacity.
Bring clarity to what’s holding your performance back and where to focus next.
If these challenges resonate, we can help you translate them into a clear path forward for your organization.