Sales and GTM Organizational Structures in Tech Services
There are multiple ways in which technology services companies are organized, from marketing and sales, to talent acquisition and billable delivery teams. We want to share a summary of what we see in sales and go-to-market (GTM) organizational structures to shed some light on potential ways to organize these growth teams.
Some companies we see have more of a transactional nature in their business while others more of a longer-term relationship bias. This transactional characteristic can tilt sales efforts towards more hunting initiatives compared to a focus on growing existing accounts (“farming”).
It is common to see smaller tech services companies continue to generate new sales opportunities from their founder’s efforts. With scale, it makes sense to start to implement a sales organizational structure that unlocks more visibility and attempts to bring additional predictability to the company’s revenue streams.
New Accounts - Hunting
Account Executives (AEs) are the ones tasked with creating relationships with new accounts and bringing in new deals. In several cases, junior sales team members are paired up with AEs to assist with outreach, qualifying new prospects and other research tasks. These junior sellers can be part of an inside sales team and are typically referred to as Sales Development Reps (SDRs). If the services company has business units or portfolios of accounts, these sellers can serve as hunters for a specific BU, business segment or vertical.
Existing Accounts - Farming
Account Managers (AMs) are responsible for serving and growing existing customers. If the company has AEs, the transition period from AE coverage to AM coverage can vary depending on the service provided, the account potential and other factors.
Business Units - Coverage
Account Teams are a group of professionals with different roles that are responsible for scaling existing accounts. Depending on the services company size and the customer’s potential, this could mean two or more individuals teamed up to serve an account. For example, it is common to see a relationship role (AM) paired up with a delivery role (project manager or similar). If the account merits, there could be additional roles that help provide appropriate coverage (technical role, SME, others).
As a company transitions from founder-led sales to a professional team-based approach, each of these roles and team configuration can be considered. Management should also assess how to link variable compensation to performance for each of these roles and teams.
At Alten Capital we invest in business services and technology services companies. Our value creation framework starts with growth and GTM efforts to impact our portfolio company’s growth vector (https://alten.capital/strategy). Please reach out to us to explore potential partnerships.