Three Sales Forces, One Company
The Situation
ConAgra’s $1.2 billion food ingredients division had been assembled through acquisition, and it showed. Three legacy sales organizations were still operating as separate companies — different processes, different customer relationships, different definitions of a good account. Sales, marketing, and customer service each ran autonomously, with no shared view of which channels or customers were worth pursuing. Overlapping coverage was expensive. Customer experience varied depending on which legacy organization happened to own the relationship.
The acquisitions had closed. The company they were supposed to become had not.
What Was Done
The work started with analysis rather than reorganization. The $1.2B marketplace was segmented by channel and by customer to establish where the division actually made money and where it was buying revenue. That analysis drove a redefined go-to-market strategy, including the international sales strategy across Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
Only then came the structural work: consolidating three sales organizations into one, and integrating sales, marketing, and customer service through deliberate process engineering rather than a reporting-line change. Roles, responsibilities, accountabilities, and KPIs were defined explicitly — including the cross-functional handoffs where integrations usually fail. Training and supporting tools were built and delivered so the new organization could actually operate the way it was designed to.
What Changed
- Revenue up 16%*
- Profitability up 22%*
- Headcount reduced 20%*
- Measurable improvement in customer service quality and customer satisfaction
Relevant if: you have completed an acquisition and six months later you still have two sales forces, two processes, and an unclear answer to who owns which account.