A sales due diligence checklist ensures no part of the revenue engine is missed under deal pressure. This is the structure we use to assess whether a mid-market business can deliver its growth plan.
Five areas, one question each: can this company build pipeline, convert it, keep customers, and scale the team that does it?
Treat each area as a hypothesis to disprove. The goal is not to tick boxes but to find the two or three things that would genuinely put the plan at risk — and to size the upside where the engine is stronger than the price implies.
| Red flag | What it often signals |
|---|---|
| Revenue concentrated in a few reps | Growth isn't systematised — key-person risk |
| Chronic forecast misses | Weak pipeline discipline or wishful qualification |
| Heavy end-of-quarter discounting | Pricing power and process problems |
| Rising churn masked by new logos | A leaky bucket the model doesn't show |
| CRM that no one trusts | You can't manage — or diligence — what isn't measured |
A checklist finds the issues; a plan fixes them. The output of a good sales DD is not a scorecard but a prioritised set of workstreams — the beginnings of a value creation plan.
A pre-deal assessment of the ability of a company to sell — pipeline, methodology, acquisition, retention, team and tooling — to test whether the sales plan behind the model is real.
Typically five areas: pipeline and forecasting, methodology and conversion, acquisition and channels, retention and account growth, and people, incentives and tooling.
Revenue concentrated in a few reps, chronic forecast misses, heavy quarter-end discounting, churn masked by new logos, and an untrustworthy CRM.
Senior operators who have built and scaled sales functions themselves — at Altius, two senior experts per mandate, no juniors.
We tailor our work around your needs. Let's discuss how we can help you understand — and grow — the revenue engine.
