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This guide compares four ways to organise a sales team and provides a framework for the handovers that connect sales, operations and finance.
Key points
Design around the work, the information needed and the people available.
A manager’s capacity depends on the support the team needs, not just the number of direct reports.
Every handover needs an owner, a backup and a clear way to resolve exceptions.
When should you review the organisation?
Look for quotes waiting for approval, opportunities with no clear owner and salespeople spending their time coordinating other departments. Establish how often this happens, how long cases wait and who is involved before deciding to recruit or redraw the organisation chart. See our guide to sales performance.
Map the activities before assigning roles
Follow the customer journey through prospecting, qualification, proposals, negotiation, orders, delivery, invoicing and payment, then renewal. For each activity, name the person doing the work, the person approving exceptions and the recipient of the next handover. If the same people win new customers and develop existing accounts, make the time allocation and incentives explicit.
Four possible structures
Structure | When to consider it | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
Territory | Travel and local relationships matter | Balance potential and workload, not just geographical area. |
Customer segment or sector | Needs, stakeholders and buying cycles differ | Avoid duplicating support unnecessarily. |
Sales stage | Volume supports separate prospecting, closing and account roles | Preserve customer history and clear ownership. |
Hybrid | Territories coexist with key accounts or specialist teams | Define who decides when priorities conflict. |
How many people can a manager support?
Estimate the time needed for coaching, customer involvement, recruitment and decisions, then compare it with the manager’s available time. A new team selling complex offers may need more support than an experienced team handling a standard process.
A 2020 survey of 507 SaaS companies discussed by Tomasz Tunguz provides a useful point of comparison. Its associations do not establish causation or a universal management ratio. Read the original analysis.
Organisation and assessments
Make organisational decisions with a clear assessment
Our assessments identify practical changes to help your teams and processes work together.
Make handovers explicit
Specify the recipient, required information, expected response time and treatment of incomplete cases. For example, an unknown budget need not automatically disqualify a lead: the next action may be to establish it. See lead qualification.
Handover | Next owner | Minimum information | Measure |
|---|---|---|---|
Lead to first contact | Designated salesperson | Need, context, contact details and known next step | Response time |
Request to proposal | Sales or presales | Scope, constraints and agreed deadline | Proposal turnaround |
Agreement to order | Sales operations | Accepted terms and approved exceptions | Rework rate |
Order to delivery | Operations | Sold scope, commitments and deadlines | Promised versus actual delivery |
Delivery to invoice | Billing team | Billing trigger and supporting evidence | Time from trigger to invoice |
Invoice to payment | Finance or collections | Due date, payment status and disputes | Overdue invoices and open disputes |
Name a person and a backup for each handover, with an escalation route and response times. Sending a case to another team does not mean that team has accepted responsibility.
An illustrative example
This is a fictional example, not a reported client result. Account managers in a B2B services company win business, develop accounts and chase billing complaints. The company keeps them as the customer’s contact but gives operations and billing clear responsibility for resolution, response times and feedback.
The test examines three questions: are complaints resolved faster, do account managers regain useful selling time, and can the receiving teams absorb the work? Moving a task alone does not remove its cost.
Test a limited change before extending it
Start with a defined team or customer segment. Four to six weeks may reveal whether handovers work, provided there are enough cases. Effects on margin, retention or sales outcomes may take a full sales cycle or longer to assess. Record changes in portfolio mix so that comparisons remain meaningful.
An assessment of sales operations can establish the starting point. Our lead-to-cash action plan example illustrates the sequence of changes in an industrial equipment business. It combines experience from several engagements; the gains shown are estimates.
Further reading
Frequently asked questions
When should prospecting and account management be separated?
When should prospecting and account management be separated?
When the volume and skills required justify specialised roles and customer continuity can be maintained. Compare the benefit with the cost of additional handovers. A split is not automatically more effective.
Who should prepare proposals?
Who should prepare proposals?
Salespeople can usually prepare standard proposals using approved content. Complex proposals may require presales or technical specialists. Clarify the checks and approvals needed before committing to scope, price or delivery.
How should sales and sales operations work together?
How should sales and sales operations work together?
Agree what constitutes a complete order, who handles missing information and who approves exceptions. Measure rework and delays rather than simply counting files transferred.
Should we reorganise before hiring?
Should we reorganise before hiring?
First distinguish useful work, avoidable tasks and missing skills. Clarifying responsibilities can reveal capacity, but it does not replace a necessary hire when the workload or expertise genuinely requires one.
Sources
Tomasz Tunguz, How Should You Structure Your Sales Team for Success?, 2020. Survey of 507 SaaS companies.
The comparison tables and illustrative example are Spentia methodological tools, not industry benchmarks or verified client results.
