When a large European industrial group came to us, the question on the table was a familiar but uncomfortable one: was the sales organization actually sized and structured correctly for the business it needed to win? Leadership had instincts about where the soft spots were – but instincts are exactly what tend to break down once headcount, territories and history get involved.
Instead of starting the restructuring conversation with opinions, we started it with a Commercial Talent Assessment across the entire sales force: a structured, objective evaluation of each role and each person's commercial capability, fit and potential, mapped directly against what the territory and account portfolio actually required.
This reframed the whole project. Rather than "who do we feel should stay," the conversation became "where is verified commercial capability strong, where is it duplicated, and where are we paying for roles that don't match what the market needs."
The assessment-driven restructuring led to a roughly 20% reduction in sales headcount – concentrated in roles and territories where capability and workload were genuinely misaligned – while protecting and in several cases strengthening coverage where it mattered most. The result: savings of more than €1 million per year, achieved without the guesswork and politics that usually accompany a restructuring of this size.
The bigger lesson generalizes well beyond this one case: when restructuring decisions are based on verified data rather than gut feel, organizations get better outcomes with far less internal conflict along the way.
Let's find out together where capability and workload are misaligned in your organization.
