GHD Digital's Sales Transformation: 450% ARR Growth
GHD is a global leader in professional services with nearly a century of success in civil engineering, architecture, energy and urban development. Known for its deep community focus, GHD partners with governments and public sector clients to address complex infrastructure and sustainability challenges. But as GHD’s relatively new Products and Platforms division emerged, the company faced a critical question: How do you build a high-performance SaaS startup within a legacy engineering consultancy?
Results at a glance
- 450% increase in ARR over two years
- 125% increase in average deal size
- 140% improvement in YoY revenue growth from 2023 to 2025
The Challenge
GHD Digital was poised to meet rising demand for digital solutions but was anchored in go-to-market (GTM) motions that did not fit the dynamic realities of SaaS business models.
The sales organization lacked standardized separation of sales development, account executive and customer success roles, hindering proactive business development and account growth. It also struggled to reward new logo acquisitions due to inefficient compensation models.
Most crucially, without a unified sales methodology, sellers defaulted to individual styles and lacked a consistent process for discovery, qualification and advancement. Successes were impactful but isolated, not scalable.
GHD Digital’s revenue team, led by Ali Carden and Roland Griesmayer, recognized the need for a full sales transformation, one that would blend GHD’s community values with the urgency and precision demanded by a digital-first economy.
Business issues
- Identify and scale best practices with an easy-to-follow, value-based sales framework
- Restructure the sales org to meet the demands of a high-growth SaaS model
- Introduce a standardized sales process and data-entry to improve sales forecasting
ValueSelling is a game changer—it aligned our entire GTM team, helped us accelerate deal velocity, improve forecast accuracy and drive consistent revenue growth.
The Solution
Ali Carden and Roland Griesmayer began by restructuring the organization to ensure efficient business development and a consistent customer experience (CX) across GTM roles.
Next, they equipped the team with a common language and shared framework. Under their leadership, GHD Digital implemented the ValueSelling Framework®, standardizing how sellers engaged clients in value-driven conversations. Ali and Roland prioritized training a cross-functional cohort of revenue leaders first, ensuring tight alignment across all go-to-market motions and top-down reinforcement.
Finally, they built a culture of autonomy and accountability, empowering individuals while fostering a high-performance environment. Coaching, mentorship and targeted workshops reinforced the new mindset—one that rewarded initiative, transparency and ownership. Thanks to Ali and Roland’s leadership, GHD Digital moved beyond legacy models to build a resilient, customer-centric team ready to lead in a digital-first world.
The Results
The transformation at GHD Digital delivered measurable, lasting impact: Annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew by 450% over two years, fueled by a structured sales motion and a proactive engagement strategy. Year-over-year (YoY) revenue increased 140% from 2023 to 2025, reflecting the team’s ability to land, expand and retain public sector clients at scale. In addition, pipeline growth surged 160% year-over-year, while the division’s close rate climbed to 32%, marking a major improvement in both efficiency and forecast reliability.
Beyond the numbers, GHD Digital’s relationships with government clients evolved. Sellers shifted from transactional vendors to trusted advisors, aligning GHD Digital’s solutions with broader community and business goals. Internally, the sales organization became more agile, more accountable and more collaborative—laying the foundation for sustained growth in their marketplace.
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