While thinking about how to increase sales, changing the sales structure might have also crossed your mind. But it could be challenging to start, and you might feel overwhelmed.
Before we start developing a new sales structure, let's take a step back. To start, we must ascertain whether a structural issue exists.
Ask some questions yourself.
What is the purpose of your present structure?
Do the three to four revenue categories that are most essential to you consistently perform well?
Determine whether you have a people problem or a process problem if you are worried about performance. How did you find out?
Think about conducting a rule-of-three analysis.
Evaluate each salesperson's performance to your top three revenue indicators.
If only a small percent of your salespeople are performing below expectations, the problem is probably with the people, not the processes.
Your team has a process problem if more than one-third of them are behind. This indicates that your sales structure is probably the problem.
Once it's evident that there is a problem in your sales structure, it's time to start figuring out what your new structure should be.
1. Determine the issue - It will be simple to begin addressing problems at this point, but wait to do so until you have further explored the rule-of-3 analysis from above. Analyze the data with the sales leadership team and keep working to focus on the issue. As you go, you might ask your sales leaders these queries.
a. What aspects of your existing setup are effective? Instead of assuming, have concrete techniques to verify if it is working.
b. What, in terms of duties and responsibilities, is ineffective?
c. What modifications—big or small—should be taken into account?
d. What results would we like to see from those adjustments, and how would we quantify those results?
2. Define the problem - The three stages of the sales process are lead generation, solution selling, and client service. If your investigation revealed that many salespeople are not increasing or retaining their important accounts, the issue may be with providing clients with solutions. Another scenario is when no new business is being created and an inbound marketing approach is required.
3. Solve the problem - Once the issue has been precisely identified, it's time to start finding a solution. However, as you do so, keep in mind any unforeseen repercussions. Make sure you don't focus less on present clients by overcompensating in one area, such as new business development.
4. Launch it - The most crucial step in implementing your new structure is to consider it seriously and be aware that the rollout may take three to four months. Sales managers must hold their people accountable for adhering to the changes, and there must be a commitment from the top leadership.
Getting the right sales structure in place is as important as sales & marketing strategy at different stages of the business. Therefore, keep a close eye on achieving and retaining the right sales structure to propel your growth trajectory.
If you need any help in this aspect, give us a call.