Companies restructure – Sales remains

In recent years, large corporations have aggressively streamlined their structures to focus on the core business. Everything not directly contributing to value creation has been questioned, restructured, or outsourced. Support functions such as accounting, procurement, or HR have faced enormous cost pressure. Automation and offshoring – often to low-wage countries – led to significant savings and major job reductions in home markets.

Yet one department has largely resisted these efficiency measures: Sales. While support functions are often seen as cost centers with limited room for defense, Sales has managed to retain its position as a customer-facing function. But for how much longer?

Why Sales Has Been Untouchable – So Far

Of course, Sales has also undergone changes – but far less than other areas of the business. The reasons are manifold:

• Short-term performance risks: Major restructuring in Sales can immediately impact revenue and profitability.
• Immediate visibility: Unlike support functions, errors and inefficiencies in Sales are instantly reflected in the P&L.
• Lack of benchmarks: Bold decisions without clear comparisons require buy-in across all management levels.
• Strong internal networks: Sales teams are often tightly knit, with less rotation and leaders usually promoted from within.
• Direct customer impact: Support functions operate internally – Sales directly interacts with customers. Any disruption creates immediate uncertainty.
  

Support Functions vs. Sales – A Comparison

An example illustrates this difference: if a procurement unit is outsourced, costs can be reduced immediately. Even if there are initial problems, the effects are internal and often delayed or absorbed by the function itself or by others in the organization.

It’s a very different story with Sales. Reducing a large field sales team and replacing it with digital channels would carry enormous risks. While savings are possible here too, customers would immediately feel the loss of contact, revenue might drop, and competitive pressure would increase.

Why Sales Still Needs to Change

Today, large teams outside of Sales are relatively rare. Procurement, Accounting, and other operational functions have already been made more efficient or moved partly offshore. This means the pressure is mounting on Sales.

Technological progress – especially through artificial intelligence (AI) – will also transform sales. The question is no longer "if", but "how":

• Use field resources more efficiently: Expensive travel time and inefficient routines must be reduced. Omnichannel marketing, for example, can support and relieve the sales function.
• Automate transactional tasks: Customer interactions that don’t require personal contact should be handled digitally.
• Strengthen cost awareness: Sales teams must better understand their own cost structures – not just revenue.
• Embrace technology proactively: AI and data-driven tools must be actively used to increase efficiency and effectiveness.
  

The Role of Leadership: Courage to Drive Change

One of the greatest challenges lies in leadership. Sales at all levels needs new skills to adapt to evolving market conditions. This means:

• Daring to recruit new profiles: It’s no longer enough to hire only traditional salespeople with industry experience. Companies should be open to integrating talents from IT, BI, or product management – even from outside the industry. These individuals bring new perspectives and skills to strategically advance Sales.
• Promoting tech competency: Leaders must ensure their teams not only know how to use modern tools and AI-driven solutions but actively apply them. Training and change management will be essential.
• Driving cultural change: Sales is traditionally driven by personal relationships. Leaders must strike a balance between existing strengths and new, data-driven capabilities.
• Empowering responsibility: A high-performing Sales team of the future means not just better tools, but a shift in mindset. Sales leaders should encourage their teams to proactively shape cost and efficiency improvements – for instance, by deliberately not refilling open positions when structure allows.
  

Sales as a Driver of the Future – Not a Cost Driver

Companies that succeed in developing their Sales function without losing customer intimacy will gain a clear competitive edge. The key is not radical cuts, but smart optimization: extracting more value from existing structures and meaningfully integrating modern technologies. Mehr Wert aus bestehenden Strukturen schöpfen und moderne Technologien sinnvoll integrieren.

The proverbial “Gallic village” of Sales will only survive if it modernizes itself. Leadership must not only maximize revenue but also boost efficiency – before outside forces make it inevitable.

Dabei muss der Vertrieb konsequent auf Ergebnisse statt Aktivitäten ausgerichtet sein. Es zählt nicht, wie viele Kundenbesuche oder Gespräche Sales must become consistently outcome-focused rather than activity-driven. It’s no longer about how many customer visits or calls were made, but what measurable value was created. Every salesperson must be evaluated by their bottom-line impact – whether through revenue growth, customer retention, or high-margin deals. A culture of results will determine whether sales remains a powerful engine of success – or becomes the next major target of cost-cutting efforts. welchen messbaren Wert sie geschaffen haben. Jeder Vertriebsmitarbeiter muss sich daran messen lassen, was unterm Strich herauskommt – sei es durch Umsatzwachstum, Kundenbindung oder margenstarke Abschlüsse. Eine Kultur der Ergebnisorientierung wird darüber entscheiden, ob sich der Vertrieb als leistungsstarker Motor im Unternehmen behaupten kann – oder ob er irgendwann doch zur nächsten großen Effizienzmaßnahme wird.