CASE · PE-BACKED FOOD DISTRIBUTION PLATFORM · NORTHEAST · THREE ENTITIES · ~$60M
The plan budgeted $2.4M of cross-sell. Zero had shipped.
A three-entity food distribution platform built through acquisition. A sales operating system installed in nine months.
THE SITUATION
A private equity sponsor assembled three regional food distributors into a single platform. The deal model budgeted $2.4M of first-year cross-sell revenue between the entities. At year end, cross-sell revenue was zero.
Not a talent problem. A steering problem. There was no shared growth target; different leaders gave different numbers when asked. The CRM had decayed since the one person who owned it left. Reps were spending a third of the working day on order triage instead of selling.
THE INSTALL
Seven moves, one system.
01 · SALES PLAYBOOK SHIPPED
Five-stage sales process with exit criteria, roles and responsibilities, a qualification scorecard, a discovery framework, ideal target profile, value messaging, objection handling, and competitive battlecards. One selling system across three entities that had never shared one.
02 · SALES CAPACITY REPORT · SHIPPED
Rep-by-rep load versus capacity across the full roster. The finding: the existing team could carry 25 to 35% more accounts with structure and support. A segment-to-rep targeting map built from each rep’s actual domain strength.
03 · ACCOUNT PRIORITIZATION MATRIX · LIVE
All 1,778 accounts scored on current revenue against modeled potential, coded into nine priority tiers with explicit time-allocation rules. $35.8M of expansion opportunity quantified account by account. A 122-account win-back register built from lapsed relationships, scored at $3.7M of recoverable revenue.
04 · CRM REBUILD AND OUTBOUND · LIVE
Pipeline structure, account ownership, and sequenced outbound restored inside the client’s existing CRM, with a named internal owner so the system survives this time.
05 · WEEKLY CADENCE, AI-ASSISTED COACHING · RUNNING
Weekly rep reviews built on real activity data, piloted with a new hire who now generates his own weekly review before the meeting starts. Coaching from evidence, not gut feel.
06 · TARGET ARCHITECTURE · LOCKED
One plan of record, one documented stretch, one sales operating plan, written into the engagement as a signed addendum with dated deliverables and a weekly data-access obligation running both ways.
07 · UNIFIED QUARTERLY SCORECARD · STAGED
A sales maturity instrument with a monthly activity tracker and a sponsor-ready dashboard, so the board sees trend lines, not anecdotes.
THE RESULTS · NINE MONTHS IN
$35.8M
EXPANSION OPPORTUNITY QUANTIFIED, ACCOUNT BY ACCOUNT
$3.7M
WIN-BACK REGISTER: 122 LAPSED ACCOUNTS, SCORED
9
PRIORITY TIERS ACROSS 1,778 ACCOUNTS, WITH TIME RULES
12 MO
RE-SIGNED FOR A SECOND FULL TERM, JULY 2026
Cross-sell went from zero to live: the acquired entity’s specialty line sold into the platform’s newest market for the first time, including two national-flag hotel properties and an established independent restaurant, with four more pilot accounts opened in the first push.
The focus-list test worked on contact: one rep handed a 20-account priority list booked orders from roughly a quarter of it on the first pass of outreach.
The cadence stuck: the pilot rep runs his own weekly review, unprompted, every week, and the template is rolling out across the broader team.
The client re-signed for a second 12-month term, on signature, with performance obligations written in on both sides.
The playbook isn’t a binder. It’s your source code.
THE MODEL
Installed, then operated until it compounds.
MXL doesn’t deliver a binder. We install the system: ICP, lead engine, CRM, cadence, coaching. Then we operate it alongside the team until it compounds without us.
INSTALL · OPERATE · COMPOUND
Book a portfolio conversation
THE DIAGNOSTIC IS $15,000 · THREE WEEKS · CREDITS TOWARD THE FIRST INSTALL