Delineating sales territories, whether by traditional or more out-of-the-box means, has the same purpose: effective allocation of sales opportunities that create focus, accountability and results.
Sales territory management training experts suggest multiple ways to go about drawing the lines that you should not cross…by geography, by product, by customer, by market segment, etc. But these do not always work as intended…especially in today’s global and technology-dominated marketplace. It might be time to think more creatively about how you set up opportunity arenas for your sales folks.
Here are some innovative suggestions for you to consider:
- Assign leads in a round robin fashion as they come in. Yes, some will be more productive than others but odds are that the leads will even out in the end and no one can claim that you are playing favorites.
- Try a combination of named accounts and a pool of accounts that are free for the prospecting. Each sales rep gets the same number of accounts but can work the pool as well. The only caveat…pool contacts are owned but accounts are not until an opportunity has been fully developed.
- Experiment with a pool where leads are lined up and can be used by reps to build their call list. There is no “ownership.” This more extreme approach maximizes market coverage and can work well in some industries.
No approach is 100% perfect. But maybe it’s time to think differently about territory and expand the possibilities if your current alignment is not producing the desired results for you, your team or your clients.
