Re-Structure Your Sales Team for Intentional Growth

It's time to take a hard look at the structure of your sales and client-facing teams to ensure your company can achieve meaningful growth. If you're like many printing company owners, you may have some hesitations about making a transition. You likely have a solid team of experienced sales professionals who have built strong relationships and brought in some great accounts over the years. These salespeople have played a key role in your company's success, delivering the service your clients expect and deserve. However, your frustration may stem from the lack of proactive new business development.

Here’s the reality: If you want your business to grow, relying solely on legacy accounts or the occasional referral won’t cut it. Ask your sales team to list the significant new clients they’ve intentionally brought in—not from referrals, friends, or former clients who followed them from previous jobs. While those accounts are valuable, a thriving business requires a focused strategy to actively pursue new opportunities. Growth doesn’t happen by accident—it’s intentional.

Many sales reps, after years of chasing new accounts, settle into a comfortable routine of managing their prized clients. And while these accounts are important to your business, nurturing them alone won’t drive future growth. To thrive, you need both the stability of your legacy accounts and the excitement of capturing new business.

In my observations, only one or two out of every ten salespeople consistently bring in new business while also managing existing accounts. The rest tend to relax into account management. This isn’t unique to your sales team—it happens in organizations across industries, including leadership. But every day, we face a choice: to make things happen, watch things happen, or wonder what happened. For sustained growth, your business must make things happen.

Client retention is essential, but so is client acquisition. If you’re falling short on either, it’s time to rethink your approach. Trying to convert all of your account managers into business development stars is often a futile effort. Companies have tried this for years without much success. Instead, take a lesson from other industries, where sales teams are often divided into specialized roles: customer service reps, account managers, and business development reps. In some cases, there's even a team that steps in to close high-potential accounts—a "strike team." Each role is clearly defined, with staff positioned where they can excel.

Making this shift is challenging, especially for printing companies that haven’t changed their sales model in years. But the payoff can be significant. The goal is not to lose your valuable accounts or your talented salespeople, but to align your team for growth. Consider restructuring your sales force into two distinct groups. One group focuses on bringing in new business—provide them with a clear path, a strategic plan, and a compensation model that rewards their success. You may even need to expand your business development team to support this effort. The second group focuses on nurturing and enhancing relationships with existing clients, delivering world-class customer service. They, too, should have a clear roadmap to success.

How you support each group—especially through customer service—will depend on your company’s specific workflow and the types of accounts you’re targeting.

There is more to be done, including market strategy, marketing, or lead generation, and it all starts with a foundation of client retention and acquisition. Businesses need to excel at both – if you’re not growing in both areas, it’s time to restructure. Doing nothing is an option—but it’s not the one that leads to growth.

Mike Philie can help validate what’s working and what may need to change in your business. Changing the trajectory of a business is difficult to do while simultaneously operating the core competencies. Mike provides strategy and insight to owners and CEOs in the Graphic Communications Industry by providing direct and realistic insight and advice, not being afraid to voice the unpopular opinion and helping leaders navigate change through a common sense and practical approach. Learn more at www.philiegroup.com, LinkedIn or email at mphilie@philiegroup.com.