Turnaround Management
Turnaround management doesn't save a company by cutting costs everywhere. It isolates, in weeks not months, which part of the GTM still generates value and which is just burning cash without return.
“Cutting 20% of the sales team without knowing who generates margin and who doesn't isn't a turnaround. It's a bet with data you already had.”
Otto GTM ObservatoryWhere to look before cutting
An effective GTM turnaround starts with a rapid margin analysis by segment, channel, and rep: which customers generate positive margin, which acquisition channels have unsustainable CAC, which reps close deals on terms that erode margin.
This analysis, if conducted in a few weeks with already available data, allows cuts to be concentrated where the most value is being destroyed, preserving the parts of GTM that generate real margin instead of applying linear reductions that indiscriminately hit the best and worst functions.
Anti-patterns
Common mistake: applying a linear percentage cut to all commercial functions without prior margin analysis, eliminating resources that generated value alongside those that destroyed it.
Second mistake: communicating the turnaround plan only internally without showing measurable results to investors and the board within the first two quarters, losing the credibility needed to complete the plan's later phases.
Practical Application
A struggling company cuts 20% of its sales team linearly, distributed across all territories. Revenue drops 31% the following quarter because among those cut were the 3 reps with the highest margin per deal. In a comparable case, prior margin analysis by rep identifies the least productive 20% (not the most recent or least liked), and the equivalent cut produces only a -4% revenue drop with a 12% margin recovery.