Build a 5-person sales department

Series 1 tip per week for B2B sales - lesson 2

I have met quite a few companies operating under the B2B model that do not have the orientation to build a sales department, including both size and team structure. Here are some suggestions:

1. No matter what stage the company is in, even CEO-led-growth or MVP, it must have a sales team - don't wait until the product is complete to start It's too late to sell

2. Always have at least 2 sales people (can include the CEO if the CEO goes to sales), to divide the work, play the role of boss-employee, have superiors and subordinates to handle work more effectively and customers also more calm

3. Pay attention to the ratio "OTE (Total Sales Income): Quota (Expected Revenue)" of each industry. For example, in the software/SaaS industry, the ratio fluctuates between 1:5 or 1:10. Looking at the number of sales, you can immediately know the revenue of each company: if a company has 10 sales, the revenue will be around 30-50 billion. If the CEO is not ambitious and is satisfied with SMB scale, there is no need to increase sales. If you are ambitious, you must invest in this room

4. Compared to other positions in the company, Sales is a very safe position for businesses in terms of cost risk factor, because only when reaching numbers do you have to pay a lot (commissions, bonuses). Every programmer/operator has to pay almost all of their salary no matter how the company does, but with sales, you only get a lot if you do well. Therefore, always consider recruiting a little more.

In my opinion, with a company size of 20 employees, a sales team of 5 employees is relatively nice. So with these 5 heads, how should the structure be:

1. Model: 4+1

a. 4 sales staff. Divided by industry, or/and field, or/and geographical location of customers. These employees do all the steps in a sales process but have expertise and in-depth understanding of each customer group they manage.

b. 1 team leader. If the standard management index is 1:8 (1 manager has 8 employees), then there will be no need for a manager. Therefore, with a scale of 4 sales staff, there are 2 options:

- Team leader will manage the sales department and experience other departmental functions. Usually the CEO will be this person.

- Team leader will be senior, specializing in handling large/complex cases or customers. And this Team leader will receive numbers like other sales people. Re-emphasizing that the team leader is not the Manager (source raised to Manager when the company has a larger sales team size), the management of Sales strategy still lies in the hands of the CEO/BOD.

2. Model: 2+2+1

a. 2+2. Divide into 2 groups, each group of 2 people, divided by customer size: Enterprise/SMB, or Hunter/Farmer business opportunity creation method. Enterprise will need more experienced sales people, while SMB can use young people with 1-3 years of experience. Hunter will need customer hunting skills, while Farmer needs more considerate customer care skills.

b. 1 team leader. Similar to the 4+1 model.

Note:

- The 4+1 model can be flexibly transformed into 2+1 and the 2+2+1 model can be transformed into 1+1+1 when the sales team is still on a small scale

- Consider using BD/SDR/BDR (follow my previous articles if you don't know these terms). For example, in the 4+1 model, there could be 1 BD + 3 Sales + 1 team lead, or further investment, 1BD + 4 + 1

- Should a 3-5 person sales team use CRM or not? It's so good. Small teams should get into the habit of using CRM early on. When the scale increases, everyone understands and masters it, making it easier for the team to grow and scale.

- Small sales teams should consider using OplaCRM's Freemium package. Register via Link.k below in the comments to get on the waiting list and have the opportunity to become the first users to experience "Gamification CRM".