Territory management means a geographical or specific area over which a group of sales teams has responsibility. It is a process that helps inside sales in a particular geographical sales territory. Through appropriate territory management, we can ensure every region is well served. It helps in realizing the true potential of every region by organizing territories based on the following:
- Current consumers
- Potential consumers
- Geography
- Area code
- Product
- Industry
Try to divide the territories logically. This will help you to take advantage of economies of scale and increase your profits. You can streamline and structure the data of users of a territory.
We use sales territory management for the following reasons:
- To increase our sales and revenues.
- To reduce sales costs.
- To improve customer relationships.
- To provide an independent work area to each salesman.
- To cover the entire market area.
- To provide good after-sales customer service.
- To test the performance of the salespersons.
What happens when we don’t use territory management?
When we don’t use salesforce territory management, the following two conditions occur:
- Over-servicing: Over-servicing in a territory means when more than required sales teams are employed in an area. In some areas, where too little work and effort are needed, you employ many team members. This will lead to the wastage of precious resources. We can use these resources in other areas that need more attention. It can also lead to under-servicing in other areas.
- Under-servicing: Some areas need more attention and effort. You need to employ more team members there. But because of the improper division, you are not able to meet the customer’s needs. You don’t interact with them due to the non-availability of a proper salesforce. Due to this, consumers can switch to your competitor which will reduce your sales.
By using Territory management, you can allot proper time to every territory.
Benefits of territory management
- As a salesperson, you need to reach more consumers to increase your sales. But it is not possible to move to some faraway places at the right time. But when you create sales territory, you can create your offices there, also. Then assign that to a salesforce. This will help you to reach the customer within time.
- With Salesforce Territory management, you can provide good customer service. You can increase customer satisfaction. This will help you to keep your potential customers.
- When territories are well-defined, you can execute and implement your plans. This will lead to an increase in sales and revenue.
- It will help to reduce the client’s fatigue and burden. This is because it eliminates outreach redundancies. You can reach places easily.
- You can save your cost with the help of salesforce territory management. You can reduce your travel expenses.
- You will break the market into smaller territories, which are more controllable. You can perform the sales operation effectively in territories.
- It is easy to promote your product in a specific market. You can target a particular region as a territory and can promote your product there.
Factors to consider while creating sales territories
You have to consider some factors while creating sales territories. Following are a few to make a note of:
- Nature of your product and its demand in that particular area.
- Competition in sales territories. You should check about your competitor and their values in that sales territory.
- Proper channels for distribution and transport
- You should check the location of your salesperson from the sales territory.
- Check if there are opportunities to increase and make sales.
- Check the type of customers and their needs.
- The workload of the salesperson and the nature of the job.
Some tips to help in your Salesforce Territory management
- You should divide your routes. It means choosing a suitable route for travelling. This will save you time as well as cost. This will help you to reach consumers in less time.
- It is not easy to maintain a large sales territory It needs a lot of effort and responsibility. So the officials can delegate their tasks to other team members. Different territories can be controlled by different sales teams.
- Try to make a flexible plan. This is because market conditions change over time, so you have to keep yourself up to date. Make yourself flexible to adapt to changes after implementing the plan also.
- Always try to make your meeting count and be memorable. Use your best resources to know about your customer. When you know about your customer, you can easily target them.
- Always review your territory regularly. Make sure that you are on the right track and meeting your goals. If there is any deviation, revise your plans and make a new strategy.
Conclusion
Territory management is a good strategy to increase your sales. You can expand your reach to new and potential customers. You can save your time over less profitable areas. You can save the resources and efforts of your sales team. If you want to make this work, try to manage, align and define your territories properly. Maintain proper data of your consumers, employees, and territories. It will spread out the workload of your sales team. They can work more efficiently. You can build customer relationships and keep them for a long time. If you can meet the objectives on time, this will motivate your sales team to work harder.