The Pros and Cons of the Most Popular Types of Sales Management Structures

ChelseaWilliams
By Chelsea Williams
Senior Copywriter
Jun 15 2023 read
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Stellar sales talent is essential to any team’s success, but it isn’t everything. Even the most skilled reps can flounder if they aren’t operating within an effective organizational structure.

If, for example, you take someone great at selling cybersecurity solutions to tech companies and have them switch to marketing hospital technology, they likely won’t perform as well. Your sales management process must be optimized for your staff, and vice versa.

What Is Sales Management Structure?‌

A sales management structure — or sales organizational structure — is the design of your sales team. Your management structure takes into account whether you’re using an inside or outside sales model, your territory approach, your product model and more. Pairing an effective structure with data from a sales management CRM system can result in an incredibly high-performing team.

The Benefits of a Good Management Structure‌

Salesforce's 2023 State of Sales report revealed that sales reps spend only 28% of their week selling, compared to 34% in 2018. That means they're spending too much time on mundane work. High-performing sales teams are relieved of distractions by strictly enforced, automated or closely monitored sales practices put in place by management.

‌When a sales team is well-structured, there are clear lines of communication to help reps make quick decisions and get deals over the line. Each person has a full understanding of their responsibilities. Collectively, this leads to reduced conflict between team members and increased engagement with prospects.

The Most Popular Sales Management Structures‌

There are four types of sales structures commonly used by today’s businesses:

Which one you’ll choose will depend on what you’re selling, how many people are on your team and who your clients are. 

Geographic territory structure‌

This approach assigns each rep a specific territory demarcated by geographic location. It lets each person on your team become very familiar with their assigned segment of your audience. 

That familiarity fosters building relationships with local businesses and vendors, tracking sales targets and keeping an eye on competition in the given region. A geographic approach can also make it easier for managers to track a rep’s performance by examining the numbers by region. 

Geographic structures are organized with a sales manager at the top of the chain. Under them are territory managers in charge of reps for their specific region. The sales reps on the ground comprise the bottom level. 

Pros: 

  • Lower cost 
  • Less duplication of effort when properly managed

Cons:

  • Can lead to a silo effect, with reps not performing well across different functions
  • May result in uneven distribution of accounts for certain types of businesses

Product or service line structure‌

Rather than a geographic area, people on your team are assigned to specific products and services. They become experts in that offering, and that deep knowledge aids them in their work. 

This structure type has a sales manager at the top with direct reports grouped by product line. There are no intermediary managers in this case. 

Pros:

  • Lets reps develop deep expertise in a product or service, whereby they can outline detailed use cases and advantages for the customer
  • Management has more of a hand in guiding sales efforts 

Cons:

  • Reps can focusing more on product features than on customers' wants and needs
  • Can require a higher level of coordination when multiple reps are working in the same region

Customer or account size structure‌

Dividing reps by customer type or size of account is another popular way to structure sales teams. Given that it takes different skills to sell to a small business versus an enterprise-stage one, it wouldn’t make sense to assign all sales reps to every account regardless of size.

The goals and budgets of these accounts will be different, as will the questions they ask. You have to be attuned to each stakeholder's needs and decision-making power. This sales structure allows your reps to become experts in their respective accounts.

As with the product or service line structure, groups of reps report to a sales manager with no intermediary. Each group of reps handles a different size of account — usually divided into small to medium, mid-market and enterprise.

Pros:

  • Reps can engage in thorough discovery
  • Possible to develop expertise in one type of prospect

Cons:

  • May be more difficult to manage resources
  • Requires constant communication with team members

Industry or vertical structure‌

This organizational structure makes the most sense for companies that have a product or service used by clients in multiple industries. Reps become experts on their assigned industry verticals, making them well-positioned to offer your solution in a customized way. 

This structure is similar to a regional organizational chart. At the top is the main sales manager and under them are vertical leads, to whom the reps on the ground report.

Pros:

  • Reps can sell effectively to a variety of businesses in a given vertical
  • Opportunity to develop industry-specific playbooks

Cons:

  • Potentially one of the most expensive ways to organize your sales team
  • May make day-to-day management more difficult for small teams

READ NEXT: Why Your Pipeline Might Be Drying Up and What To Do About It

‌Make an Organizational Flow Chart‌

Once you’ve nailed down which sales structure your company needs, visually illustrate it. Visual representations help everyone at your business track the chain of command. They also help other departments know who to communicate with if the need arises. 

➡️ You don’t need to sketch your flow chart with pen and paper or haphazardly render it with text boxes in Word. Platforms like Lucidchart let you map out a flowchart in no time.

Streamline Any Structure With Sales Automation

No matter which of these organizational structures works best for your team, there are ways to make everyone more efficient. If you haven't automated opportunity tracking, quoting, follow-up notifications and more, get inspired with these sales automation success stories.

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About the Author

ChelseaWilliams

Chelsea Williams is Senior Copywriter at Accelo, where she shares unique insights with service professionals and tells user stories via blogs, eBooks, industry reports and more. She has over 15 years of B2B and B2C writing experience — primarily in tech, sales, education and healthcare. Chelsea is an AWAI-certified Master Copywriter trained in brand storytelling and microcopy.

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