What is your preferred org design for your sales team? Do you like to divide teams based on which product they sell, which territory they cover, or a blend of both?
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That's determined by the company's value proposition + the ideal client profile (ICP). The infrastructure of any Team is built around the strategic market approach.
I believe it's a balance of expertise, industry and geographic disposition depending on the strategy implied for travel and coverage.
The priority should be balanced in the following order:
1. Business value (Industry specificity)
2. Service/product capability/speciality
3. Geographic location of your sellers.
We have regional and industry-related sales-guys....not product-specific....
Our team is currently split by product sold, but we are seeing increased external pressure to verticalize. No decision has been made, but our marketing is messaging vertically and sales alignment could better serve the client. Sales would have a knowledge gap to close.
To get the most out of it, that should be always the target. There is no right or wrong, but it depends on the market, the customer structure and the products. When you split it in products and they are similar, the sales force eventually contact the same customers from different point of views and of course different personal targets. What could happen is an internal competition within one a the same customer, dangerous. I have been always a friend in giving them the entire portfolio, split in clear reasonable districts/areas and involve the team always when creating sales activities - that in a bi-weekly rhythm.