Structuring your sales without a VP of sales: a more agile approach for SMEs

How to structure your sales without hiring a VP of sales

Hiring a full-time VP of Sales might seem like the only way to structure your sales department. However, for many SMEs, this option is expensive, inflexible, and premature. The good news is that there are now more flexible, accessible, and equally effective approaches to structuring your sales without increasing your payroll.

This article shows you how to structure your sales strategically without hiring a VP of sales, while ensuring growth, performance and clarity in your processes.

Why SMEs don't always need a VP of sales

Hiring a full-time VP of sales may seem like a logical way to structure a sales team. However, in many cases, it's a premature, even counterproductive, decision for an SME.

A high cost that is difficult to justify

A VP of Sales typically earns between $150,000 and $200,000 annually, not including benefits, bonuses, and performance-related expectations. For a growing company, this investment can quickly become a burden if the sales foundation isn't yet solid. Before investing in senior leadership, it's crucial to ensure the environment is ready to be structured.

Responsibilities that exceed current needs

A VP of sales is often recruited to manage a team, oversee processes, and develop the sales strategy. But what happens if the company has only one salesperson or none at all? Or if the sales cycle hasn't yet been clearly defined? They risk ending up executing rather than leading, which diminishes their contribution.

A lack of organizational agility

Hiring a senior manager also introduces a degree of rigidity: more layers of decision-making, an impact on company culture, and an adjustment of internal roles. In an SME where agility is a competitive advantage, hiring too early or at too high a level can hinder the natural evolution of the sales process.

What you really need to structure your sales

Before even thinking about recruitment, it's essential to ensure the foundations of the sales department are in place. Too often, managers want to hire to "solve a problem," when they haven't even defined what that problem is.



Here's what you need to put in place to effectively structure your sales, regardless of the size of your current team:

1. A clear map of your sales cycle

Do you really know what happens between the moment a client hears about you and the moment they sign? If each salesperson follows a different method, you lose efficiency, clarity… and conversions.


Mapping the sales cycle allows you to:

  • Visualize each key step
  • Identify the points of friction
  • Standardize your team's practices


This clarity becomes a powerful lever for improving your results.

2. A personalized sales plan, aligned with your reality

Having sales targets is not enough. You need a concrete strategy to achieve them.


This involves a structured sales plan, which includes:

  • Your priority targets and personas
  • Your differentiating messages
  • Channels to prioritize (networking, LinkedIn, calls, etc.)
  • Tools and scripts to use


A good sales plan gives you a clear direction, while remaining adaptable.

3. Tools that support your growth

Structuring your sales is not about accumulating software.


It's about choosing the right tools to support your efforts:

  • A simple but well-configured CRM
  • A dashboard to track opportunities
  • Templates (emails, proposals, follow-ups)

These tools are what allow us to move from an artisanal method to a reproducible one.

4. A sales culture aligned with your vision

Structure alone is not enough. The people involved must understand and buy into your sales approach.


This implies:

  • Clear training (not just a forgotten PowerPoint presentation)
  • A shared vision of what “selling well” means
  • Recognition of the sales effort, even before the sale

What you really need to structure your sales

When it comes to structuring sales, two options seem to clash: either manage it yourself, with whatever resources you have, or hire a VP of sales… which, as we've seen, isn't always realistic. Fortunately, there's a third way, better suited to SMEs: hiring an external Revenue Director.


A strategic profile, without the need for permanent employment

The Director of External Revenue plays the same strategic role as a VP of Sales, but in a flexible and targeted way. They integrate into your company for a defined period to:

  • Understanding your business reality
  • Structure your sales department (or create it from scratch)
  • Align your strategy with your growth objectives
  • Train and mentor your salespeople


Implement concrete tools to ensure results are monitored


You therefore benefit from the expertise without the burden of a permanent position, allowing you to remain agile while building solid foundations.


A tailor-made solution for SMEs

The External Revenue Director adapts to your level of commercial maturity:

  • No salesperson in place? He lays the foundations.
  • A small team to manage? He professionalizes the practices.
  • Sales are stagnating? He identifies the obstacles and corrects them.


This personalized approach makes all the difference: we don't impose a generic structure, we build yours, with you.


A growth lever… that remains under your control

The other key advantage of an external Revenue Director is that they work with you, not in your place. The goal is to transfer skills, build autonomy, and leave behind a structure that continues to generate results, even after their mission is complete.

Summary

Hiring a full-time VP of sales may seem like a necessary step to structure a sales department. But for an SME, this choice is often costly, rigid, and poorly suited to the realities on the ground.


What you really need isn't a title on the organizational chart, but a clear, consistent sales system aligned with your objectives. A structure that helps you target better, convert better, track better… and above all, sell better.


This is precisely what NOVERA offers, playing a key role in your growth: that of an external Revenue Director. In concrete terms, this means that our team acts as a strategic arm integrated into your company, to:

  • Identify your sales challenges and opportunities
  • Structure your sales approach from A to Z
  • Train your teams on solid foundations
  • Monitor the results rigorously until the desired performance is achieved.


Our expertise doesn't stop at theory. At Novera, we support Quebec SMEs on the ground, in action, with a single mission: to transform your sales into a lever for sustainable growth, without the need to hire a VP of sales.


Do you want to structure your sales intelligently, without heavy hiring or wasted time?

Novera offers you the tailor-made alternative.