The Most Under-Rated Skill of a Great CRO: Building the Ad Sales Team From Scratch

When people talk about what makes a great VP of Sales or CRO in advertising, the conversation usually centers on forecasting accuracy, deal-making prowess, or the ability to “motivate the team.” Those things matter. But they’re not the hardest part of the job.

Arguably, the most under-rated (and most critical) skill is the ability to design and build an advertising sales organization from the ground up.

Not inherit and manage an existing one. Build it from scratch.

Done well, sales org design becomes a growth engine that can unlock tens of millions in incremental revenue. Done poorly, it stunts growth, burns talent, and creates opportunity cost that never shows up on your P&L - but shows up everywhere else.

Designing a Sales Org Is Strategy, Not Operations

Building an ad sales team is not a staffing exercise, it’s an act of strategy. Every decision, ex - how many sellers do we need, what are their roles, how are accounts allocated, which markets are we covering, etc. answers big business questions:

• Who is our real customer?
• Where do we have a right to win?
• How repeatable is our revenue?
• What does growth actually look like for this business?

Too often, companies default to whatever structure their last employer used or whatever seems “standard.” But advertising businesses are uniquely impacted by sales design because revenue is influenced by relationships, buying behavior, regional dynamics, etc.

Designing the Right Sales Structure 

One of the first, and most irreversible decisions is sales structure. Sales structure defines how revenue responsibility is organized across the market, ex- who sells to which customers, in which regions or verticals, and through what buying channels (e.g., client-direct vs. agency). It determines how accounts are segmented, who owns relationships, and how the sales motion aligns with how buyers actually buy.

Do you organize by:

• Client-direct vs. agency?
• Vertical specialization (QSR, retail, auto, healthcare)?
• Geography (regional vs. national)?
• Hunting vs. farming (new logos vs. expansion)?

There is no universal right answer, but there are many wrong ones. For example, early-stage ad platforms can often rush to a national, agency-heavy model because the deal sizes look bigger. But without brand recognition or proven performance benchmarks, agency sellers can stall for quarters. A more effective path may often be a regionally focused, client-direct team that builds proof points quickly, then graduates into agency coverage once demand is inbound.

Designing the Right Sales Hierarchy

Sales hierarchy defines how the sales organization is staffed and managed - who reports to whom, where coaching and accountability sit, and how leadership scales as the team grows. It governs decision-making, performance management, and how effectively the structure converts market opportunity into revenue.

Hierarchy matters just as much. Too many layers slow learning and ramp time. The best CROs design orgs that keep sellers close to customers, allow fast feedback loops, optimize coaching and provide clear paths for individual growth -  professionally and financially. 

Hiring: Looking for Attributes, Not Logos

Hiring is where revenue potential is either unlocked or silently destroyed. In advertising, resumes lie more than most people want to admit. Logos don’t equal impact. “President’s Club” doesn’t always mean repeatable skill. It sometimes means winning the account lottery.

Building from scratch requires leaders who can evaluate:

• Can they build demand, not just cash it in? Selling something new is very different from walking into an already-hot market.
• Do they match how you actually sell? Enterprise vs. SMB, transactional vs. consultative great reps in the wrong motion still struggle
• How fast do they learn? Products change, markets shift, and the best sellers adapt quickly instead of needing everything to stay the same.

I have many real-world examples of reps I hired from scrappier regional media or challenger solutions often outperform reps from big name ad tech firms because they know how to create demand, not just manage it.

Choosing the Right Regions  

Geographic focus is another under-appreciated growth lever. Not all regions monetize equally, especially in advertising. Some markets over-index on categories that buy digitally and move fast (QSR, retail, auto). Others look big on paper but move slowly or require heavy education.

Great sales leaders make hard calls early, e.g. - Where do we deploy our best talent first? Which regions will generate responses fastest? Where should we not invest in yet?

Focusing on a few high-potential markets instead of spreading thin across severally, or nationally, can double productivity per rep. 

Summary  

At the end of the day, building an advertising sales team from the ground up isn’t about org charts or headcount, it’s about setting the company’s growth ceiling. Conservatively, I have seen well-designed ad sales org generate 20 - 40% more revenue over 24 months versus the previous poorly designed one with the same headcount. The right structure, hires, and market focus compound over time, turning early decisions into scalable revenue engines. Get it right, and you unlock faster growth, healthier teams, and a clear path to scale. Get it wrong, and no amount of great selling can fully make up for the opportunity you left on the table.

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