The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

What Skyscrapers Can Teach Us About Sales Structure

Imagine trying to construct a skyscraper without blueprints or support beams. Even with the finest materials and most skilled workers, the building would never stand tall—or worse, it might collapse. The same is true for your sales organization. A well-designed sales structure is the framework that supports everything your team does. Without it, your efforts might look busy but lack the stability and scalability needed to grow.

From Steel Beams to Sales Teams: Why Structure is Everything

A solid sales structure acts as the steel frame of your business development skyscraper. It dictates how efficiently tasks are handled, how well your team collaborates, and ultimately, how effectively deals are closed. Conversely, a shaky structure causes confusion, inefficiency, and underperformance—no matter how talented your team is. Just as engineers routinely inspect the integrity of a tall building, leaders must regularly evaluate their sales structure to ensure it’s supporting performance and growth.

If you're grappling with organizing your sales team or pinpointing issues in your current structure, you're not alone. Many sales leaders face these challenges, and understanding the right sales organizational structure can make a significant difference.

Determining the best way to organize your sales team is important, and you're likely looking to find the most efficient sales structure. Your sales team organization matters, because it can affect the sales that you make and the revenue you bring in.

Let's talk about what the different kinds of sales organizational structures are and list some pros and cons. Then, we can discuss how you should go about organizing your own sales team.

The structure of your sales team can make or break your success. Are you trying to organize your sales team? Are you trying to figure out what the best sales organizational structure is or trying to identify the problem within your current structure? 

Determining the best way to organize your sales team is important, and transitioning from a one approach to another model could significantly impact your sales performance. Here are some key benefits and strategies to consider as you’re exploring effective sales organization structures. 

Let’s cut to the chase—there’s no magic formula to building a successful sales team.

Unless, of course, you consider “hiring the right people” a kind of magic. The foundation of any high-performing sales structure starts with one thing: talent.

You can have the latest CRM, a killer product, and the best marketing team behind you, but you're spinning your wheels without the right people in the right roles.

Recruiting the right talent isn’t just important—it’s everything.

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.

To establish the foundation for sustainable business growth, a solid sales structure must be built layer by layer. People, resources, and processes must align and work together to produce the best results for your organization.

In an earlier post, we identified the top challenges media sales departments face and a solution that addresses them all — changing your sales structure. Restructuring is easier said than done, but if you’re going to manage a successful team, the need for change eventually hits home. When thinking about restructuring, below are four important things to know about the modern-day sales structure.