Is your sales coverage strategy holding back your growth? If your organization experiences roller coaster sales patterns that consistently hit the same revenue ceiling, it may be time to redesign your sales coverage model.

Many companies find themselves in this frustrating position: they have a proven go-to-market strategy and winning sales playbook, yet they can’t scale their growth sustainably.

The culprit is often an outdated territory or coverage structure that worked for their previous growth stage but isn’t designed for their next-level objectives.

The structure that got you here won’t get you there.

When you reach the business juncture that requires revisiting your sales coverage model, three critical considerations will determine your success:

• Consider growth implications across ALL areas of the business – Your entire organization must scale to support increased sales demand.
• Prepare comprehensive communication plans – Address your sales team, extended organization, and customers with clear messaging about transition benefits.
• Stay positive during the adaptation period – Change brings temporary challenges, but proper execution delivers lasting bottom-line impact.

Don’t underestimate the critical impact sales coverage changes have on organizational structure, employee satisfaction, and customer retention.

This article illuminates three essential areas you must address when redesigning your sales coverage plan. Navigate them poorly, and you risk customer retention decline, sales rep turnover, and costly company-wide disruption.

Company-wide Sales Scaling Readiness

Sustainable sales growth requires scaling all dependent business areas simultaneously. Your sales organization realignment is just one piece of the puzzle—the other is aligning your entire organization to support accelerated growth trajectory.

When guiding companies through these transitions, I engage their entire leadership team to assess each department’s capacity and expansion capabilities.

As your sales organization drives stronger growth patterns, your ability to meet increased demand must scale proportionally.

This might mean adding production shifts, investing in warehouse space or equipment, automating manual processes, or implementing other operational accommodations. The key lies in your leadership team’s collaboration, planning, and execution effectiveness.

While organization-wide change carries inherent business risks, proper execution of a well-designed plan creates lasting positive impact on your bottom line.

Through my traditional VP Sales career and current Fractional Sales Leadership practice, I’ve guided companies across various industries through successful sales structure transformations.

Whether you need hands-on support or strategic guidance, the principles remain consistent.

Sales Coverage Design Considerations

Before implementing changes, thoroughly evaluate your current sales coverage design. Determine whether you’ve outgrown your structure or simply need additional resources to fuel your existing model.

A common root cause I discover when evaluating clients trapped in stagnant revenue patterns is overwhelmed sales team members spread too thin.

This prevents strategic account growth focus and diminishes their ability to win new accounts consistently.

Scaling doesn’t necessarily mean complete restructuring. Changes might be incremental:

• Segmenting sales territories more strategically
• Implementing or evolving assigned account methodologies
• Incorporating dedicated or outsourced sales development (SDR) functions
• Exploring other targeted expansion models

Tailor your sales coverage plan to match customer demographics and purchasing trends. This provides the guidance needed to choose the right expansion approach for your organization.

Understanding how and why customers buy from you helps develop strong communication plans that mitigate customer retention risks during structural transitions.

Critical step: Remap your sales process alongside coverage design changes. You’ll need to adjust roles, responsibilities, and key accountabilities at various opportunity stages. This topic warrants an article in itself given its critical impact on both the sales process and customer lifecycle. Stay tuned for guidance in my next article!

Communication Plan to Create Buy-in

No one-size-fits-all model exists for sales team restructuring. Every business has unique needs and goals, so successful approaches vary significantly.

Once you’ve designed the right structure, the next critical element is packaging and communicating changes to those most affected: your salespeople. How well your sales team embraces structural benefits ultimately determines implementation success.

Your top performers will naturally evaluate changes through a personal lens first. Common concerns include losing accounts, control, income, or job security.

Your rollout must effectively demonstrate how new territory or coverage plans create opportunities for impacted sellers.

This requires more than verbal reassurance. It’s important to provide tangible evidence.

Demonstrate benefits concretely:

• Use plug-and-play compensation calculators showing higher earning potential
• Highlight new career path opportunities
• Showcase benefits that foster long-term employment satisfaction

Transform your salespeople into advocates for the new sales coverage plan. This ensures they’ll effectively create buy-in when introducing changes to customers.

Your communication plan should also address:

• How customers will be informed of changes
• Clear articulation of customer benefits
• Smooth transition processes and introductions to new support team members

Ready to Transform Your Sales Coverage?

When executed properly, sales coverage redesign becomes a powerful catalyst for sustainable revenue growth. The companies that succeed treat it as a comprehensive organizational evolution, not just a sales team adjustment.

Whether you need hands-on involvement or strategic guidance, I’m here to help navigate your sales coverage transformation. Contact me through any of these methods: (512) 808-6691 or Js@cleardirectionsd.com or book a call through my Scheduling Tool.

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I am part of a national group of Fractional Sales Leaders who collaborate to share insights like the examples shown in this article. We formed because of our shared passion to help business leaders exponentially expand their revenue.