Module 1: Designing the Team

Sales Team Structures and Roles

Before you hire anyone or set a single target, you need to decide how your sales team will be organised. Structure determines who talks to which customers, who is responsible for each part of the sale and how work flows from first contact to signed deal. A structure that fits your market lets good salespeople do their best work. A poor one leaves customers confused, leads dropped and talented people frustrated.

The main sales roles

Different businesses use different job titles, but most sales work falls into a few roles:

Common team structures

1. Generalist (full-cycle) model. Each salesperson finds, sells to and looks after their own customers. Simple and common in small businesses. The risk is that people favour the part they enjoy, often closing, and neglect prospecting or existing customers.
2. Specialised (assembly-line) model. Different people handle different stages: prospectors book meetings, closers win deals, account managers grow customers. Allows specialisation and clear measures, but needs good handovers between stages.
3. Territory model. Sellers own a geographic area, such as Nairobi East or the Coast region. Works well for field sales and distribution.
4. Segment or vertical model. Sellers specialise by customer type (for example hospitals, schools, hotels) or by size (small businesses versus large corporates). Useful when different customers buy in very different ways.

Many teams combine these, for example account executives organised by territory, supported by a shared prospecting team.

Choosing the right structure

Ask four questions:

• How complex is the sale? Simple, low-value sales suit generalists or inside sales. Complex, high-value sales may justify specialists.
• How many leads do you have? If leads are scarce, dedicated prospectors can help. If leads are plentiful, focus on closing capacity.
• How important are existing customers? If repeat business is a large share of revenue, dedicated account managers may pay for themselves.
• How spread out are customers? Wide geography favours territories and may require field teams.

Worked example

A hypothetical Nairobi company sells water purification systems to hotels, hospitals and schools across Kenya. It has four generalist salespeople. Each one finds leads, does site surveys, writes quotes and handles servicing questions. Revenue has stalled because sellers spend most of their time on after-sales queries from existing customers.

The sales manager redesigns the team:

• One inside salesperson qualifies inbound enquiries and books site surveys.
• Three account executives, each covering a segment (hospitality, health, education), run surveys, quotes and closing.
• One account manager (a new hire) handles existing customers, service contract renewals and repeat orders.
• Quote preparation moves to a sales administrator shared with operations.

Each role now has clear measures, and account executives spend most of their time selling to new customers.

Write a role card for each role

For every role, write a one-page role card: purpose, main responsibilities, key measures, who they hand over to and from, and the tools they use. Role cards prevent overlap and arguments over who owns a customer.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Copying a structure from a large company that does not fit your size or sale.
• Specialising too early. With two or three sellers, handovers can cost more than they save.
• Unclear customer ownership, which leads to conflict and customers being contacted twice.
• Ignoring sales support. Sellers doing admin are not selling.
• Never revisiting the structure as the business grows.