Sales Territory Guide: Plan, Manage & Optimize in 2024

Sales territories are the backbone of any successful sales organization. By dividing your market into manageable segments, you can optimize coverage, set realistic targets, and maximize revenue potential. In fact, research shows that companies with well-defined sales territories achieve 30% higher sales compared to those without.

But what exactly is a sales territory, and how do you create an effective plan? In this comprehensive guide, we'll break down the concept and walk you through the steps to design, implement, and optimize your sales territory strategy. Whether you're a sales leader or a rep looking to crush your quota, you'll find actionable insights and best practices to take your performance to the next level. Let's dive in!

The Basics of Sales Territories

A sales territory is a defined geographical area or segment of customers that a sales rep is responsible for managing. The rep handles all sales activities and revenue generation within their assigned territory.

Sales territories allow companies to:

• Divide their total target market into manageable segments
• Provide focused coverage to high-potential accounts
• Improve sales efficiency and productivity
• Eliminate rep burnout by balancing workload

Sales territories can be defined based on various factors such as:

1. Geographic region (e.g. Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
2. Industry vertical (e.g. healthcare, finance, technology)
3. Company size (e.g. SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise)
4. Product line (e.g. software, hardware, services)

For example, a SaaS company may create territories by assigning specific reps to handle SMB, Mid-Market and Enterprise accounts respectively. Or they may have dedicated reps for different product lines like CRM, Marketing Automation, and Customer Service.

The goal is to create balanced territories that align with the company's go-to-market strategy and provide optimal coverage to target customers. Well-defined sales territories form the foundation for driving scalable revenue growth.

The Sales Territory Planning Process: A Step-by-Step Guide

Creating an effective sales territory plan is essential for maximizing sales coverage and rep productivity. The process involves analyzing market potential, assigning the right reps, setting goals and incentives. Here's how to do it:

1. Analyze Market Potential and Prioritize Segments

Start by gathering data on your total addressable market and the sales potential of different segments. Look at factors like industry size, growth rate, competitive landscape, and buying behaviors.

Prioritize the segments with the highest revenue potential and strategic importance. For example, a SaaS company may decide to focus on the financial services vertical due to its large market size and increasing adoption of cloud software.

2. Assign Territories to Reps Based on Skills

Match reps to territories based on their skills, experience, and relationships. Consider factors like:

• Industry knowledge and contacts
• Track record with similar customers
• Ability to hunt new business vs. grow existing accounts

For instance, assign reps with enterprise sales experience to territories with larger companies. Place reps with strong product knowledge in territories selling to technical buyers.

3. Set Goals, Quotas and Incentives for Each Territory

Establish sales goals and quotas that align with the potential of each territory. Use historical data and bottom-up forecasting to set realistic but challenging targets.

Design incentive plans that reward reps for meeting territory goals. Consider using a mix of base salary, commission, and bonuses tied to quota attainment or strategic objectives. Ensure comp plans are fair and motivate desired rep behaviors.

4. Create Territory Sales Plans

Have each rep develop a territory plan outlining their strategy to achieve their number. Key components include:

• Target account list and selling motion for each
• Partnership and marketing programs to generate demand
• Initiatives to penetrate new market segments

Review plans to provide coaching and ensure alignment with overall sales strategy. Treat territory plans as living documents to update regularly.

The foundation of successful sales territory management is a well-designed planning process. By analyzing opportunities, assigning the right reps, and providing clear goals and incentives, you set the stage for your team to execute effectively.

Streamline your sales territory process by using automated workflows from Bardeen. Save time and achieve better results.

Next up, we'll explore best practices for implementing your sales territory plan and managing day-to-day operations. You'll learn how to arm reps with the right resources and use metrics to track performance.

Implementing Sales Territory Management: Best Practices for Success

Effective sales territory management involves aligning sales processes and resources to each territory's needs, tracking key metrics to measure performance, and leveraging tools to improve efficiency. Here are some best practices:

1. Customize Sales Processes for Each Territory

One-size-fits-all doesn't work in sales territory management. Tailor your sales process to the unique characteristics of each territory, such as:

• Types of customers and their needs
• Length of the sales cycle
• Key decision makers and influencers

For example, if one territory has many small businesses, reps may need to focus more on product education. But a territory with large enterprise accounts may require a more consultative selling approach.

2. Align Resources Based on Territory Potential

Allocate your sales resources - people, budget, tools - based on the revenue potential of each territory. High-priority territories with large deals in the pipeline should get a bigger piece of the pie.

Consider creating a territory scoring model that ranks territories based on key attributes like market size, competitive landscape, and sales rep experience. This helps you make data-driven decisions about resource allocation.

3. Choose the Right KPIs to Track Sales Performance

Measuring the right key performance indicators (KPIs) for each sales territory is critical for spotting issues and optimizing results. Some important metrics to track include:

• Sales revenue and growth rate
• Customer acquisition cost
• Average deal size and sales cycle length
• Lead response time and conversion rates

Make sure your KPIs align with your overall sales goals. And give reps visibility into their territory metrics so they can self-manage their performance.

4. Use Territory Mapping Software to Boost Efficiency

The right sales technology can take your territory management to the next level. Sales territory mapping software helps you:

• Visualize territories to identify coverage gaps
• Create balanced territory workloads
• Optimize rep routing and scheduling
• Realign territories as needed based on real-time data

Automate manual tasks so reps can spend more time selling and building relationships. Look for a tool that integrates with your CRM and provides mobile access for reps in the field.

By customizing sales processes, aligning resources, tracking the right KPIs, and leveraging territory mapping software, you can successfully implement your sales territory plan and drive better results.

Stay tuned for our final installment on how to continually optimize sales territories to adapt to changing market conditions and maximize your team's performance. We promise it will be worth the wait!

Optimizing Sales Territories Over Time: The Key to Sustaining Sales Growth

Sales territories are not static entities. Market conditions, customer needs, and your sales team will change over time. To sustain strong sales performance, you need to regularly review and adjust your sales territory definitions and assignments. Here's how:

1. Conduct Annual or Semi-Annual Territory Reviews

Sales leaders should assess their sales territory plan on a regular cadence, either annually or semi-annually. Look at the performance data and trends for each territory, such as:

• Total revenue and growth rate
• Customer acquisition and churn
• Sales activity levels and conversion rates

Identify which territories are thriving, which are lagging behind targets, and dig into the underlying factors behind the results. Based on the insights, determine if you need to realign territories and reassign reps.

2. Realign Territories When Market Conditions Change

Major shifts in your market or industry may require more frequent territory optimization. Common triggers include:

• Launching new products or entering new customer segments
• Acquiring another company or being acquired
• Expanding into new geographical markets
• Facing new competitors or market disruption

When these occur, reevaluate your territory definitions and coverage model to ensure they still enable sales reps to be successful. Don't wait until the next planned review cycle.

3. Collaborate with Sales Reps on Optimization

While sales territory management is a leadership responsibility, getting input and buy-in from reps is critical. After all, they know the territories, customers and what's happening "on the ground" day to day.

Involve reps in the territory review and realignment process by:

• Surveying them on what's working well and pain points in their territories
• Collaborating with them to redefine territory boundaries
• Getting their feedback on new optimization ideas before implementing them

This ensures reps feel heard and that the territory changes will actually help them sell more effectively.

4. Learn from Sales Territory Optimization Leaders

Many companies have mastered the art and science of ongoing sales territory optimization. Look at examples like:

• Coca-Cola, which dynamically adapts its territory coverage model across 200+ countries to local market needs
• Salesforce, which continually aligns sales reps to accounts based on customer lifecycle stages to maximize revenue
• IBM, which uses advanced analytics to optimize global sales territories and quotas

Use Bardeen’s sales automation tools to streamline your sales processes. Automate tasks like lead enrichment and list building to save time and focus on closing deals.

While your company may be smaller in scale, these leaders illustrate the importance of regularly tuning and evolving sales territories over time. It's a never-ending journey.

By conducting regular territory reviews, realigning for market changes, involving reps in the process, and learning from industry leaders, you can optimize sales territories to drive sustained revenue growth. Your efforts to continually adapt and improve territories will pay off in motivated reps and strong sales performance over the long-term.

Thanks for sticking with us through this comprehensive guide to sales territory management! While we can't promise it will make you a sales territory genius, the tips and best practices will definitely help you avoid flying blind into territory decisions. Your revenue targets will thank you.

Conclusions

Understanding sales territories is crucial for optimizing your sales team's performance and driving revenue growth.

This guide covered:

• The fundamentals of sales territories, including definitions, benefits, and examples
• The step-by-step process to create an effective sales territory plan
• Best practices for implementing and managing sales territories
• Strategies to continually optimize sales territories over time

Don't let disorganized territories hold back your sales potential - put these insights into action today! To further enhance your sales efforts, learn about recognizing buying signals and how they can improve your outcomes.