The traditional model of throwing more people at revenue targets is not only inefficient, it’s a distraction from what really drives growth: a smarter, more agile sales function built around impact, not headcount.

Growth today doesn’t come from brute force, it comes from precision. The best sales functions operate more like elite special forces than sprawling battalions: they’re lean, focused and capable of achieving more with less. For many organisations, growth has historically meant growing the sales function, but in today’s market simply adding headcount rarely equates to better performance; a large team where only a small number consistently deliver isn’t a sign of scale, it’s a sign of inefficiency.

The smart approach is to build leaner, more resilient sales functions, by shifting the focus from size to structure, which means the emphasis moves – profitably – from quantity to quality.

The sales capacity gap

It’s a familiar scenario: a sizeable sales team, but one within which only a few individuals are meeting their targets. This imbalance in individuals’ performance consumes budget, skews performance insights, and can often reflect deeper strategic issues (as well as perhaps a touch of staff dissatisfaction because of the workforce’s naturally competitive nature).

Rather than adding more people, the more effective approach is to redesign around a core team of capable, well-supported individuals. These teams operate cross-functionally, make full use of internal expertise, and have the right tools in place – from pre-sales support to project management. Key to this is to focus on people who are not just acting as ‘sellers’. Instead, these business-critical roles require people to be orchestrators, capable of working across direct and indirect channels, with a clear sense of where value lies and how to unlock it.

Optimising sales channels for growth

Sales channels – resellers, co-sell partners and integrators – are often an untapped lever for growth. They offer a way to extend reach, improve margins and build resilience without direct headcount increases.

At the heart of any strong channel strategy is mutual growth. When done right, it’s not just about extending your reach, it’s about creating an ecosystem where partners actively leverage each other’s strengths, co-develop opportunities, and increase the overall value delivered to the customer. This requires more than good intentions, it needs deliberate structures that drive collaboration, make it easy to co-sell, and create aligned incentives where everyone wins. You’re not just selling through partners, you’re selling with them – unlocking greater wallet share, deeper account penetration and higher retention for all involved. Done right, a channel-led strategy isn’t just additive, it’s transformative.

And there’s a major benefit for your customers too, since a well-integrated channel model reduces the number of suppliers they need to manage, while increasing the depth and breadth of what each relationship can deliver. That creates consistency, reduces procurement friction, and builds peace of mind – because they’re not juggling multiple vendors, they’re working with a joined-up ecosystem that feels like an extension of their team. This means faster decisions, stronger trust and greater loyalty.

This is clearly a win-win strategy for all involved.

But successful channel strategies don’t happen by accident. They need clear structures, aligned incentives and mutual accountability, and many organisations lack the frameworks or resources to manage this well.

From reactive to proactive sales

Too many teams focus their effort when it’s already too late, when buyers are in-market, comparisons are being made, and RFPs are in play. At that point, you’re no longer shaping the agenda, you’re just responding to it.

A latent sales approach engages earlier. It focuses on identifying needs before they’re formalised, framing the challenge and positioning your business as a strategic partner – not just another option on a list of companies.

Think like the SAS

The highest-performing sales teams today take a page from the elite forces playbook. Like the special armed services (SAS), they’re not the biggest, but they are the best – trained for impact, operating with surgical precision, and structured to deliver results in complex, high-stakes environments.

You don’t need to be a military organisation to adopt this mindset. You just need the discipline to build smaller, highly capable teams; provide them with mission-critical support; coordinate partner operations with seamless alignment; and take control of the engagement timeline early – shaping demand and positioning your team as the obvious strategic choice.

Key questions

If you ask yourself the following questions, and the answers aren’t as positive as you would like, it might be time to review your approach:

• Is your current sales structure aligned with performance outcomes?

• Are your partner channels underperforming or underinvested?

• Are you mostly reacting to demand, rather than generating it?

• Are your commercial investments producing consistent, measurable returns?

What sales function optimisation looks like

We work with leadership teams to design and implement modern sales functions that are more agile, accountable and scalable. Whether it’s strengthening core teams, activating partner networks, or embedding early-stage engagement, we focus on what drives outcomes – not just activity.

If you're re-evaluating your go-to-market strategy, we’d be happy to share what we’ve found works, so let’s talk.