Let’s be honest: M&A can get messy.
The headlines might say “strategic acquisition,” but anyone who’s lived through one knows what that really means: duplicate tools, two ways of doing everything, and a lot of “we’ll figure it out later.” For revenue teams, it’s not just chaotic—it can be paralyzing.
Sales doesn’t know who owns what. Marketing’s juggling platforms like a circus act. CS teams are answering support tickets for products they didn’t even know existed three weeks ago. Finance is doing way more manual work than usual. And RevOps? They’re expected to make it all work.
M&A might open the door to new markets and growth, but without the right groundwork, that door swings wide open and lets the chaos stroll right in.
Same Funnel, Double the Friction
Here’s where it usually goes sideways. Revenue leaders are told to “align,” but they’re working with:
- Two CRMs, both poorly maintained
- Three different ways to define a qualified lead
- Disconnected sales processes, territories, comp plans… and cultures
Oh, and one single target to hit.
This isn’t just an operational headache; it’s a risk to customer trust, team morale, and growth itself. Because when no one knows how to work together, momentum stalls. Fast.
Common GTM Pitfalls Post-M&A (aka The Not So Greatest Hits)
Most post-M&A revenue issues fall into one (or more) of these buckets:
- Org Chaos: Overlapping roles, unclear ownership, and a vague chain of command. You’ve got two Sales VPs and no clear answer on who’s running which play.
- Frankenstack Tools: Three MAPs, two CRMs, and a shared Google Sheet trying to run forecasting. Reporting becomes a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure of confusion.
- Strategy? What Strategy? Different ICPs, competing campaigns, and product teams speaking different dialects of “value.” You’re marketing everything to everyone…and connecting with no one.
- Misaligned Compensation: Nothing kills a deal faster than two reps fighting over who gets credit. Mismatched comp plans breed resentment and protect silos.
- Product & Pricing Confusion: Two companies, two pricing models, and a dozen ways to pitch the same product. Without a unified strategy, Sales struggles to sell, CS struggles to support, and Marketing can’t explain the value.
- Drag in Every Process: Lead routing breaks. Onboarding gets skipped. Deal desk tickets pile up. And somewhere in the middle of all that? A customer just churned without a single flag being raised.
What Does “Good” Look Like?
It’s not just about merging systems, but creating clarity. When done right, post-M&A integration become more of a lever than a chore.
You get:
- A single source of truth for customer data
- Unified goals that don’t cause turf wars
- Leaner systems with less overhead
- Incentives that drive the right behavior
- Cross-functional teams that trust each other
In short? Aligned revenue. Accelerated speed. Earned trust.
So, Where Do You Start?
Here’s the blueprint. Not a checklist, but a direction. A way to turn noise into signal and complexity into focus.
1. Organizational Structure & Roles: Rebuild the Org (Thoughtfully)
Start with a role map. Where are the overlaps? Who’s owning what? And more importantly; who shouldn’t be anymore?
Rather than continuing filling a chart, it becomes more about designing a structure that supports how you want to grow. Don’t just copy-paste what worked before.
2. Incentive Compensation & Goal Alignment: Fix the Comp Plans
Comp is culture. If your teams are incentivized to compete instead of collaborate, integration will stall. Align quotas to your new shared objectives—cross-sell, upsell, retention—and communicate those changes early.
3. GTM Systems & Process Integration: Triage the Tech Stack
You probably have more tools than you need. Run a stack audit (or full RevOps assessment with Lane Four). Identify redundancies. Then create a migration roadmap that avoids the dreaded 18-month “tool purgatory.”
Here’s where architecture comes in. Will you operate on a single Salesforce instance with shared processes, shared staff, shared pipeline? Or maintain separate instances with distinct teams and governance?
No absolute right answer here; just what’s right for your model.
4. Unify Product & Pricing Strategy: Know What and How You’re Selling
Two pricing models don’t necessarily double your chances of winning…they confuse your buyers. After an M&A, re-assess how the product lines complement each other, how pricing tiers work across the portfolio, and how you articulate the value.
Ensure Sales, CS, and Marketing are aligned in what’s being sold and what’s not.
5. Create a Unified Data Layer
That’s where Salesforce Data Cloud can step in. A unified layer that sits across orgs, surfaces customer insights, and helps teams act on real information, not stale reports.
Think: surfacing buying signals from a legacy product in Org A so the sales team in Org B knows when to jump. That’s not just data sharing, it’s GTM fuel.
6. Redefine Reporting
Pipeline, ACV, win rate…none of it matters if the definitions don’t match. Build standard Revenue Intelligence templates across instances (or unify them in one). Only then can leadership trust what they’re seeing.
It’s tempting to treat RevOps like a clean-up crew. But when dealing with post-M&A activity, they’re really working to architect the future of the company’s go-to-market. They connect the dots between tech, process, and people and they know where to cut, where to connect, and where to leave room to grow.
So if you’re leading an M&A? Pull RevOps in early. Give them a seat at the deal table, not just the implementation war room. Trust us, your pipeline (and your people) will thank you for it. Wondering where to start with your post-M&A GTM plan? We can help you cut through the clutter and will be releasing more about these strategic steps in the coming weeks. Don’t want to wait? Let’s chat.
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