How should a drinks brand structure its sales team—hiring experienced individual sales leaders, building telesales/field teams, using a fractional rep, or working with a sales agency?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer; the right approach depends on your brand stage, category, geography, and exit strategy.

**Key structural options and trade-offs:**

- **Experienced single sales leader** — Can leverage existing contacts and break even faster than junior hires (6–12 months vs. 1+ year for juniors). However, they're expensive, and even strong performers struggle in low-brand-loyalty environments. Risk is significant: you won't know if someone will deliver until 3 months in.

- **Telesales teams (2–3 days/week)** — Lower cost model, though less effective overall. Members note most sales people are not that effective regardless of structure.

- **Field/ground sales focused on on-trade wholesale** — Increasingly difficult to justify in premium spirits. Bars chase margin and deals, not brand loyalty; even winning a listing won't stick long. The opportunity cost is high and ROI is poor.

- **Fractional sales rep (covering multiple brands)** — Shared cost reduces your outlay, but dilutes focus. Better for early stage or niche categories; less suitable if you need dedicated attention. London on-trade is a brutally hard market.

- **Sales agency** — Worth exploring, especially for London on-trade focus (e.g., **Nomad Collection** mentioned, though one member found limited traction). Reduces hiring risk and management burden.

**Stage matters:**

- **Early stage:** Focus on a small geographic area, build relationships with venues, attend in-person. Hire someone passionate and charismatic, not necessarily expensive. You (the founder) will win more business than most—consider hiring ops/finance support instead so you can spend time selling.

- **National/larger accounts:** More commercial approach needed; bigger salary expectations, longer conversion, and expensive listings with heavy rebates.

**Financial reality:**

- Budget £5,000/month for a sales role. Members report send/return of ~£600/week spend → £1,750–£2,000 return; YMMV.

- Don't forget employment costs: training, pension, National Insurance, equipment, travel, expenses, and your management time.

- Regional and national teams have struggled on pure annual ROI. They're typically a longer-term investment (2+ years) and only work if you feed in larger national customers to make the numbers stack.

**Critical caveats:**

- Category and brand quality matter. Niche or difficult categories (e.g., saké) require genuine passion and product knowledge, not just sales skills. Education of the trade is slow and hard. Pure sales ability alone may not be enough if your category is unfamiliar.

- Selling exposes your brand to trade scrutiny; founders often have inflated opinions of their brand. Sales teams reveal the hard truth about your ROS and distribution readiness. This is valuable but uncomfortable.

- London is the hardest market globally. If hiring one rep for London, they must be multi-skilled in pure sales, with strong input-focused KPIs (activity metrics) to catch weakness early. Activity is a dying art.

- For on-trade, distributors may be a better option: you lose exclusive focus, but reduce outlay and benefit from portfolio scale. However, you'll also lose control and visibility—this is a moment of truth for your brand.

- Align your sales approach to your exit strategy: Are you building to sell the business one day, or to make money along the way? This shapes investment level and timeline.

- For niche categories, product and brand communication matter more than sales effort alone. Product should be easy to communicate; education is a slow path. Positioning and on-trade creativity (inspiring bartenders) can be more powerful than traditional sales technique.