How to Build a Sales Team: A Step-by-Step Guide

Building a sales team is one of the most critical steps in a company’s growth journey. However, this process is often perceived as simply hiring a few salespeople. In reality, building a sustainable and scalable sales organization requires strategy, the right structure, clear roles, measurable goals, and robust processes.

In this article, we walk through all the key aspects to consider when building a sales team from scratch or restructuring an existing one, with practical examples and step-by-step guidance.

1. Clarify the Role of the Sales Team

Before building a sales team, you must clearly answer one key question: What exactly do we expect from this team?

• New customer acquisition?

• Revenue growth from existing customers?

• Cross-sell / upsell?

• Channel management?

• Partner sales?

The answers to these questions directly impact your team structure, hiring criteria, and performance metrics. For example, a team focused on new customer acquisition requires very different skills than one focused on managing existing customers.

Companies with multiple products should also carefully consider which product group the sales team will focus on, as different products require different sales profiles.

2. Define Your Sales Model Correctly

Every company has a different sales model. When building your sales team, the following must be clearly defined:

• Will you work inbound or outbound?

• Will the sales process be self-service or one-on-one?

• Is your sales cycle short or long?

• How many decision-makers are typically involved?

• Will sales be online, field-based, or hybrid?

• Will you work with resellers, business partners, or implementation partners? Who will build these partnerships? Will your sales team be responsible for finding the right partners?

The answers to these questions determine team size, role distribution, and the tools you’ll need.

3. Define the Right Sales Roles

A successful sales organization starts with clear role definitions. The most common roles include:

• SDR / BDR: The team responsible for prospecting and initiating first contact.

• Account Executive: The team that manages the sales process and closes deals.

• Account Manager / Customer Success: The team that manages existing customer relationships, focusing on upsell and retention.

• Sales Manager / Head of Sales: The leader who sets goals, manages the team, and tracks performance.

Each role should have clearly documented responsibilities, KPIs, and success criteria.

4. Choosing the Right Profile: The Most Common Mistake

Finding the right people in sales is perhaps the hardest—and most critical—step. Simply having “sales experience” is not enough.

Key aspects to evaluate:

• Which sales model are they experienced in?

• Which industries have they worked in?

• Are they used to short or long sales cycles?

• Do they enjoy building structures or working within existing ones?

• How disciplined are they with reporting and processes?

• Can they truly listen to customers?

Sales teams built with the wrong profiles often result in high turnover, low motivation, and chaotic processes.

5. Sales Targets and KPIs Must Be Defined From the Start

One of the most common problems in sales teams is this: “Everyone is working hard, but there are no results.”

The root cause is usually poorly designed measurement systems.

Key metrics that must be clearly defined:

• Individual targets

• Team targets

• Monthly / quarterly / annual goals

• Activity metrics (number of meetings, proposals, etc.)

• Conversion rates

Targets should be both achievable and motivating. Otherwise, the team will quickly become demoralized.

6. Design Your Commission and Incentive System Strategically

Poorly designed commission systems can cause serious behavioral issues within sales teams:

• Long-term customer relationships may be sacrificed for short-term gains.

• Internal competition can become unhealthy.

• The wrong behaviors may be rewarded.

A good incentive system should:

• Be aligned with company goals

• Be transparent

• Be easy to understand

• Encourage the right sales behaviors

7. Build Sales Processes and Tools From the Beginning

The mindset of “Let’s sell first, we’ll build the processes later” usually creates more problems in the long run.

What needs to be defined from the start:

• CRM structure

• Lead management process

• Proposal and contract workflows

• Onboarding process

• Reporting system

When this foundation is built early, growth leads to scalability—not chaos.

8. Choosing the Right Sales Manager Is Critical

A great salesperson is not always a great sales manager.

The core responsibilities of a sales manager include:

• Coaching

• Performance tracking

• Giving feedback

• Prioritization

• Process improvement

Promoting the top seller to a management role often creates long-term problems.

Another common mistake is promoting salespeople who want a management role mainly for higher income. If the incentive system is well designed, top performers will want to sell more—not become managers.

9. Plan Onboarding and Training Processes

The first 30–60–90 days of a new salesperson are critical.

The following must be planned:

• Product training

• Industry training

• Sales process training

• CRM usage

• Objection handling

Unstructured onboarding causes highly motivated hires to lose momentum quickly.

10. Building a Sales Team Is a Project

Building a sales team is not a one-time task—it’s about creating a living organization.

That’s why:

• Continuous measurement is required

• Feedback should be collected regularly

• Processes must be updated

• Roles should be redefined when necessary

We Manage This Entire Process End-to-End

Building a sales team requires aligning strategy, structure, people, goals, and processes. We provide this as an end-to-end consulting model:

• Creating the sales strategy

• Designing the right sales model

• Structuring roles and organization

• Defining hiring criteria

• Building targets, KPIs, and incentive systems

• Designing CRM and process infrastructure

• Preparing onboarding and training plans

If you want to build your sales team from scratch or make your existing structure more efficient, we can design this process together.

Let’s Build Your Sales Team Together

Creating the right sales organization is not about learning from mistakes—it’s about starting with the right structure.

To learn more about our sales team building and structuring consultancy, contact us and schedule a free discovery call.

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