Navigating the CEO Transition

Failing to strengthen the sales function can undermine the growth of a newly acquired business, a CEO stumble made worse in a leveraged environment, three veterans of the lower-middle-market tell Search Party.

Founder-led small businesses often lack structured, scalable sales systems—and the ETA searchers-turned CEOs who acquire them must rapidly diagnose and improve how EBITDA is generated, according to a panel of experts convened for a Search Party conversation. 

The need for a sales plan is of particular importance to Entrepreneurs-Through-Acquisition (ETA), who search for, acquire, and run lower-middle-market businesses, in most cases as first-time operators. 

These CEOs must also navigate the realities of a leveraged environment. Katie Walker, a Principal at Plexus Capital, highlights the added pressure of servicing debt while investing in growth. "Hope is not a strategy," Walker says. "Many of these businesses grew at 10% per year under a founder. But that’s not a plan—that’s just inertia. Counting on that same trajectory post-acquisition is dangerous."

Walker urges CEOs to stress-test their growth assumptions and be realistic about sales investments. Many underestimate the time and resources required to build a functional sales operation. "Without a structured, high-performing sales team, growth stalls," Walker warns. "And in a leveraged environment, that’s a real problem."

Dustin Sellers, a Managing Partner at ETA private equity firm Next Coast Legacy, explains that many of these businesses have grown on relationships and referrals, not disciplined sales execution. But following an acquisition, growth isn’t optional—it’s necessary to meet the demands of debt service and investor expectations. "Most first-time CEOs have never sold anything," Sellers says. "They come from top business schools where they studied branding, pricing, and marketing—but not sales execution. And now, they must create a revenue flywheel, fast."

Mark Mullins, a sales consultant specializing in private equity-backed businesses, warns that new CEOs often fail to grasp their own sales organization’s weaknesses. "They know finance, they know ops—but they assume their sales team must be doing something right," he explains.

Mullins says he often meets CEOs who say, "We need more sales," but can’t articulate why they’re selling what they’re selling—or why they’re not selling more. By digging into the details—reviewing sales calls, analyzing customer conversations—Mullins often finds a fundamental lack of accountability and process. "Many legacy salespeople simply aren't A-players—and they never will be," he says. "New CEOs need to decide quickly: Can they improve? Or do they need to be replaced?"

Sellers notes that the best CEOs acknowledge their blind spots early and bring in sales expertise fast. "The ones who hire a sales leader quickly are the ones who scale successfully," he says. "The ones who try to figure it out themselves often find they’re a year in—and two quarters behind plan."

ETA CEOs are often skilled in operations, finance, and strategy, but without a clear, repeatable sales playbook, they risk stalling their company’s momentum. "You're not being asked to reinvent sales," Sellers says. "You're being asked to execute on the basics. And if you don’t, the business won’t grow."

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