What Is the Most Common Sales Force Structure?
The most common sales force structure is a combination of geographic and functional alignment. This structure is easy to understand, easiest to report on and is supported by most sales, customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
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Geographic Boundaries
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A geographic sales territory may combine zipcodes or states. A geographic structure aligns sales territories based on groups of zip codes, states, or portions of a country, such as the "southeast" or "northwest".
Functional Structure
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A functional structure aligns sales force team members based on the type of selling responsibilities. Sales representatives who primarily sell over the phone may be part of an inside sales or telesales team. Sales representatives who primarily sell face-to-face may be part of the field sales or outside sales team.
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Other Sales Force Structure Options
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A sales department may also be structured around products, verticals and customers. These models are more complex and require more resources and layers of management.
Align Sales Teams With Best Opportunities
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Align sales reps with the best opportunities. With any sales structure, sales staff members should be aligned with the best sales opportunities. The opportunities will vary based on the company, industry, product line and business goals and objectives.
Sales Structure Tools
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There are a number of software tools available to help sales leaders align and optimize the structure of their sales force. These include ProAlign, AlignStar and TerrAlign.
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References
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