Case study · Validate · Rapid System Read^™ / Build · People System Build / Resolve · HR Investigation and Resolution

How one business kept two key people and got its exit back on track

An industrial services business preparing for a PE-backed exit had a stalled sales team, two strong performers on notice and a leadership risk nobody had named. Within six weeks, both performers had stayed, the team was aligned and the exit was back on track.

The situation

A UK-based industrial services business was preparing for a PE-backed exit. The commercial opportunity was clear, the customer base was strong and the growth story was credible. But the path to a clean exit was being quietly undermined from the inside.

The sales team had stalled and decisions weren’t being made. Two strong performers handed in their notice within six weeks of each other. Teams that depended on each other had stopped communicating, and the operational setup couldn’t support the volume the business needed to hit its exit targets.

The Sales Director could see it clearly and had tried to address it, but it hadn’t moved. He needed external authority and something credible to bring to leadership, so he brought Culture Craft in to start where he had control: his own team.

What we did

We started with a Rapid System Read^™, a structured, evidence-led look at how the team really worked under pressure, through conversations at every level, one-to-ones and thematic analysis. It produced a prioritised plan with two workstreams running in parallel.

A People System Build sprint created the sales team’s operating system with the team itself. Backcasting workshops built a 12-month strategy, value mapping aligned priorities across stakeholders, and action planning secured buy-in from the ground up rather than imposing change from the top.

Alongside it, discreet HR Investigation and Resolution work helped the Sales Director frame the leadership risk clearly and bring decision-ready insight to the board.

What we found

The system, not the people

The team wasn’t underperforming because of individual capability. The system around it was creating the friction. The read confirmed what the Sales Director already sensed and gave it commercial language.

No rhythm, no shared ownership

Unclear priorities, no operating rhythm and no shared accountability meant decisions escalated rather than got made, and teams that relied on each other had stopped talking.

A risk at the top

The read also surfaced something the brief hadn’t anticipated. A leadership dynamic at the top of the business was creating legal and operational exposure the board hadn’t yet named. The read gave that risk a shape and the evidence needed to act on it.

The results

Both workstreams came together within six weeks.

• Both strong performers who had resigned reversed their decisions.
• OKRs, an operating rhythm and an accountability framework were introduced and shaped with the team.
• The business achieved 100% alignment on priorities and direction across leadership and sales.
• Long-standing cross-functional friction that had slowed decisions for months was resolved.
• A new leadership structure was put in place, with the board acting on clear evidence.

The exit path that had been quietly stalling was back on track. The business was better led, more commercially focused and more credible to a buyer than at the start of the engagement.

In their words

“Bringing Lou in was a turning point. Not just for the sales team, but for the business. When we set out, the brief was simple: help me shift our sales team from transactional to strategic. But what Lou delivered went far beyond that.

The result was a reset at the top, a clear path forward, and real momentum toward our exit goals. She didn’t feel like a consultant. She felt like a trusted partner, delivering high-stakes outcomes with precision and pace.”