From data to dollars: Connecting profitability, sales enablement, and value creation

In today’s market, private equity (PE) firms are holding portfolio companies (PortCos) longer than planned. With exit timelines extended, the critical question becomes: How can we improve PortCo performance while we wait for the right exit opportunity?

At Elliott Davis, we help sponsors and management teams answer this question. Too often, leaders can’t explain profitability and sales teams lack the data to understand what drives growth. By delivering custom dashboards alongside sales enablement strategies, we equip PortCos with the tools needed to uncover margin, accelerate revenue, focus growth efforts, and strengthen accountability.

Why This Matters

Middle-market PortCos often have motivated teams but lack the structure and insight needed to make value-based business decisions. Without clarity, leaders risk leaving growth untapped.

Strategic enablement changes the equation by helping PortCos answer:

• Which products deliver sustainable margin?
• Which salespeople are consistently driving growth?
• Where are the high-yield opportunities hiding?
• What’s getting in the way of a repeat sale?

What Strategic Support Looks Like in Action

A few years into its hold period, one PortCo faced stalled revenue, outdated systems, and no way to extract meaningful analysis from decades of data. The CEO and sponsor knew it was time for a change. Data-driven sales enablement became the catalyst for both top-line and bottom-line growth, directly linking performance to investor outcomes.

Key challenges included:

• Disconnected CRM, ERP, and operations tools
• No visibility into product-level profitability
• Sales activity lacked consistency and real-time tracking
• The CEO couldn’t explain how decisions were made
• The sponsor lacked data to guide investment and strategy

The solution began with shared, reliable data to enable better communication and a more unified, results-oriented approach. With the right tools, the management team could refine go-to-market plans, spot gaps, and measure impact.

We launched a short discovery sprint that included interviews, diagnostics, and focused listening to identify quick wins and define next steps. These included:

• Establishing a live SQL connection to the CRM for automated daily data refreshes
• Building a custom data model for real-time insights
• Co-creating dashboards with leadership to track outreach, pipeline, and forecasts
• Integrating systems to eliminate silos
• Training internal teams on Power BI dashboards for fast, informed decisions

Illustrative dashboard examples:

The dashboard above reveals sales seasonality and trends, for example, Category B leads in Q1, while Category A dominates the remainder of the year. Users can filter by industry, account, category, or manager to uncover patterns and pinpoint performance drivers.

Key outcomes included:

• Greater visibility that enabled sales leaders to monitor outreach, track growth opportunities, and forecast revenue with confidence
• Clear identification of high-margin products and untapped, high-yield opportunities
• Targeted coaching informed by performance trends, supporting both underperformers and high-potential team members
• A scalable foundation that equipped the sponsor with insights to guide investments and prepare for exit

As a result, PortCo management gained a clearer understanding of sales team performance, deeper insight into product margins, and a data-driven approach to optimizing revenue. The sponsor also gained the information needed to assess progress and drive value creation.

A Framework for Smarter Decisions

Making informed choices starts with defined goals, access to the right information, and the tools and skills to act on it. When organizations prioritize evidence over intuition, data becomes a catalyst for growth.

To help PortCos and sponsors move from raw data to strategic insight, we recommend the following steps:

1. Define the Objective

Identify what specific questions need answers to support a new investment, organic growth, or revenue optimization. Once the objective is clear, determine where the answers live, whether in internal systems like sales records and financial reports, or external sources such as market research and industry benchmarks.

2. Build the Foundation

Use data analytics and visualization tools to process large datasets and uncover insight. Equip teams with the skills to interpret and analyze this data effectively.

3. Activate and Align

Break down data silos and encourage sharing across departments to improve decision-making and accelerate innovation. Set clear data management policies to promote data accuracy, security, and compliance. A fresh perspective can inspire new ideas, especially when working with advisors who specialize in data strategy and analytics.

We Can Help

At Elliott Davis, we work closely with PE firms and their PortCos to bridge the gap between sales activity and sustainable growth. Whether you’re mid-hold, preparing for exit, or simply keeping options open, the best time to position a company for a stronger valuation is now.

Our team blends technical expertise with business insight to help companies move faster, smarter, and more profitably. We support:

• Revenue growth initiatives with data-driven tools
• Product-level profitability analysis to identify real winners and losers
• Salesforce accountability and enablement through connected dashboards
• Cross-functional alignment between finance, operations, and sales
• Power BI training and implementation to drive measurable outcomes

This approach enables sponsors real-time visibility into PortCos operations, supporting decisive action, intentional capital deployment, and sustained enterprise value growth throughout the hold period.

Let’s talk about how we can unlock value today and prepare your business for whatever comes next.

The information provided in this communication is of a general nature and should not be considered professional advice. You should not act upon the information provided without obtaining specific professional advice. The information above is subject to change.