The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

In the fast-paced and competitive business landscape, an effective sales structure is crucial for organizations to achieve revenue targets and drive growth. However, many companies face challenges in designing a sales structure that aligns with their objectives and maximizes their sales potential.

Typically, when it comes to sales structure, common challenges may include inconsistent performance, misaligned roles and responsibilities, or too many people on the team not achieving their overall revenue goals to name a few. First, you have to identify the problem you are trying to solve.

Revenue performance in a sales organization is a crucial metric that measures the financial success and performance of the sales team in terms of the revenue generated from sales activities. It includes metrics such as total revenue, revenue growth, sales targets, quotas, and the percentage of sales goals achieved.

The importance of revenue performance cannot be overstated, as it is the lifeblood of a company. It is the primary source of income for a business, and without strong revenue performance, a company may struggle to meet its financial goals and remain competitive in the marketplace. It also is closely tied to the performance and effectiveness of the sales team.

Selection is defined as the action or fact of carefully choosing someone or something as being the best or most suitable.

It's Monday morning, and a seller has just told you that they are resigning. Maybe that's a good thing, or maybe it isn’t, but either way, you find yourself with the need to fill a position.

But before you do that, you need to know what you are looking for in order to find it. The first step should be to have a job analysis process that clearly defines exactly what you need in your open position. To determine that, you may ask yourself these kinds of questions.

Have you ever set a goal for yourself to run a race?

Whatever the motivation, you decided to do it. It may have been on a whim, but nonetheless, you realized there was more to it than showing up the morning of the race and running. You probably found a race that suited your ability, recruited a friend to join you in the adventure, set a training schedule, and off you went.

By no means did you show up for registration the morning of with no prep at all. Well, I hope not anyway. If you did, it probably didn’t go as well as you would have liked. You may have looked back and asked yourself what you could have done differently to change the outcome. I’m guessing the answer is, almost always, more training, so you were better prepared.

Strong sales leaders often think about how to have better business outcomes in their organizations.

And while thinking about ways to improve sales performance, the idea of changing the sales structure has likely come to mind. It may seem overwhelming, and you may be wondering where to start.

Imagine this.

You go to make a big purchase or do a major renovation such as a kitchen remodel. It's something you've been saving for now for quite some time. You've conducted exhaustive research on the colors you want, the styles you like, and the decorations you want to include. You've even made a visual board for ideas.

The time comes to get estimates and timelines from contractors. You go with the rule of 3’s for estimates, and after meeting with them, you finally make the decision. You understand that there will be a payment due upfront, and you agree to those terms.

The work finally starts, and surprise, there are costs that should have been included in the estimate that wasn’t. You feel trapped and frustrated.

"The end depends on the beginning (and everything in between)."

Yes, we have heard this a thousand times, but no truer words have been said when it comes to developing proposals.

I had an epiphany pretty early in my sales career. I had been on a sales call to a restaurant, and they asked for a proposal. I rushed back to my desk so excited with the opportunity to get to present, only to stare at my computer for what seemed like an eternity. Crafting that proposal took a lot longer than it should have.

Later, when looking back, I realized it was because I didn’t have enough information. I had missed the mark on a number of things. Here's a little advice on how not to make the same mistake.

“Why interview if I can’t hire?” This is a frequently asked question this year — and understandably so. Recruiting top sales talent takes time and energy, and it feels pointless if you’re a company experiencing a hiring freeze. Let’s pause there for a minute.

While not under a hiring freeze, college football teams are limited to the number of players that they can have on the roster. However, that doesn’t stop recruiters from scouting more players than their roster can accommodate in search of top recruits. They’re actively recruiting the best talent to build a winning team for future seasons to ensure the best replacement for this season’s graduating players. Plus, they know that not every player to whom they offer a position will accept.

In the business world, the same rules apply. Building a winning legacy depends on having top talent on your staff and top talent ready to join in a moment’s notice. Because we know turnover is inevitable. It isn’t a matter of if it will happen; it’s a matter of when.

Employee engagement, collaboration, talent retention, and client satisfaction are all essential elements of company culture. And studies show that each has a significant impact on revenue growth.

When performance numbers aren’t where expected, where do you default your thinking? Most sales managers agree that when sales performance suffers, they think more activity is needed, the right people aren’t on the team, or the processes are broken. Rarely does company culture come to mind.

What happens to revenue when your team lacks clarity and engagement?

How do you know if you have a sales structure problem? Too often, sales organizations are evaluated single-handily by their results. If your company isn’t hitting targets and sale goals aren’t being achieved, the blame falls on not having the right salespeople. But, is the source of lost revenue really a “people” problem?

Underperformance is easily blamed on salespeople because data often helps support the claims. However, while we always seek to improve the performance of sales teams, there are a few indicators that show you may have more than a people problem.