As a sales manager, managing your sales territory is one of the most important aspects of your job. 

Having an effective territory management plan in place is crucial and can have a major impact on sales performance. By delegating work in an organized and efficient manner, your sales reps are able to follow and implement a structured plan that is easy to understand and can be adjusted as you go.

In this blog, we will be sharing 11 sales territory management tips that your reps can use to start working as efficiently as possible in a way that maximizes their opportunities and boosts their sales.

For your reps to work to the best of their abilities, it’s imperative that they are not only working with the correct data but also that the data is both clean and accurate. 

One misspelled word or one misplaced number could send your rep uptown when they should be knocking on a door downtown. Eliminating small mistakes when uploading data can be a game changer for companies looking to gain a competitive edge.

Salesforce offers great tools that can save your reps precious time, simplifying data storage so that information is available at the touch of a button. Tools like these can allow your reps to focus more on their jobs, giving them the opportunity to liaise with prospects without getting too bogged down with data entry.  

For an even better experience, upgrade your CRM with mapping and routing. Badger Maps route planner integrates with the most common CRMs such as Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Zoho, HubSpot, and many more. Transform your current CRM into a mobile CRM with Badger Maps to keep all of your data in sync on-the-go.

Having uploaded all of your data, it’s now time to optimize your sales routes to ensure your reps are getting the most out of their work. Route optimization not only reduces the amount of time reps spend driving each day, it also increases the number of customers they are able to visit which places them in the perfect position to hit their targets.

With Badger Maps, you can optimize routes with up to 120 stops in seconds.

You can select the accounts you want to visit and automatically generate the fastest, most efficient sales route. Saving time on sales route mapping and driving will give you more time to nurture new leads, meet prospects, and most importantly, close more deals. 

Reps who use Badger Maps save an average of 8 hours per week on planning and meet with 2 additional clients or prospects each day.

If at any moment while on the road you need to add an extra appointment or make a quick stop for food or gas, you’re all covered. You can easily add or delete stops and the app will automatically re-optimize your route.

The best part? Badger Maps pays for itself with gas savings!

If you’re looking to make the most of every day on the road and cut down gas expenses, the best route planner you can get is Badger Maps. 

Sign up for a free trial today and see for yourself!

Your leads may change month to month, week to week, or even day by day. It’s always important to generate new leads and keep your list fresh. A potential client may pull out at the last minute, so it is important to have your homework done and a backup plan in place. 

If your plans fall through, which is always liable to happen, Badger Maps’ Places Tool can quickly come to your rescue.

The Places Tool uses keywords to find new leads on your map. It allows you to search for prospects by business category and view their location and contact information. So whether an appointment got canceled or you just have some spare time, you’ll find opportunities around every corner.

It’s important to jot down notes after every encounter with a new customer.

Important information on prospects’ business strategies or budgets could be deciding factors on whether they will be interested in your product or service.

Something as trivial as their favorite sports team or where they like to eat on a Friday night may not seem important at first, but it could make the difference in the kind of relationship your reps are able to forge with their clients. 

This will make your relationship with the client more personal and they will appreciate only having to tell you things once. Remembering the little, and big things, will take you a long way.

Taking notes regarding information you gather on your customers is important. Yet you also need to remember to take notes on when and where those interactions take place. By having this information at hand, you can make sure you’re checking in with customers who really need it, not the one you already called yesterday!

With Badger Maps’ Check-in feature, it’s possible to log customer interactions the moment they take place, making it easy to keep track of valuable information.

Managing a large sales territory requires an immense amount of effort and responsibility. Having the ability to delegate your workload amongst your reps is a vital element to managing your sales territory effectively. 

Different territories should be controlled by various sales reps. If possible, give your team similar routes every time they go out into the field so they can be familiar with their clients. 

As Steve Jobs once said, “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do."

It’s always important to make sure you are familiar with your customer's business operations. 

Changing seasons can mean a change in demand for certain products. For example, a clothing store will require shorts and tank tops for the summer, while warm coats and scarves will be in demand during the winter.

By knowing your data inside out, your sales team can keep up to date with the latest trends and information and use it to their advantage while out in the field.

Each meeting should be memorable. There could be prolonged gaps between your first meeting with a customer and your follow-up depending on the size of the territory being covered.

Making sure all the initial research is done beforehand while having a clear goal for each meeting can make all the difference. Having prepared sufficiently, your reps will know exactly what needs to be done and the steps they should take to achieve their goals.   

Check out our blog on how to get more qualified sales meetings (with scripts!)

Keeping yourself updated on your customers’ actions is a crucial step in effective sales territory management. 

For example, if one of your clients is in the news for opening a new office in a certain location, this should be duly noted and added to your route. This will also help inform what the company requires when the sales rep arrives.

Whenever a new market comes up, you are in a race with your competitors for who is going to get there first. If you are the first one to reach out to new customers, you will have a much higher chance of getting their business.

Never focus too much energy on smaller accounts with fewer possibilities. Instead, focus on what accounts have the most potential and are most likely to generate revenue.

Time is key when it comes to territory management, so focus on the potential clients who will earn you the most in the shortest period of time. 

Salespeople have been known to waste up to 50% of their time following up on bad leads. 

So focus on what’s important as there’s always bigger fish to fry!

Listen to Jamal Reimer’s Outside Sales Talk episode to discover how to win mega deals and grow your sales career! 

It’s important that sales managers actively keep track of their sales reps as they undertake their day-to-day tasks. Sales reps may be taking breaks at inopportune times (i.e. rush hour), which leads to missing out on possible business opportunities. See if your territory management software has ways of keeping salespeople accountable. 

For example, Badger Maps’ Verified Check-ins associates geographic location with check-ins, allowing managers to track if reps are at the customer’s location when the check-in is created. This feature gives managers valuable insight into their reps' activity in the field.

Make sure to always keep on top of your territory management. Reviewing your past meetings and generating reports on previous notes should be done on a regular basis.

Tasks should be completed with the bigger picture in mind with your overall goal of bringing the business in the right direction. Good business practices are scalable. If you do things that wouldn’t work at a company double the size, they are not solutions that will work in the long run. Set long-term goals and keep yourself accountable so you can stay motivated through setbacks.

Conclusion

Territory management is one of the most important parts of being a successful outside sales representative. Having the ability to optimize your routes so that customers are met will take you a long way toward hitting your sales targets.

It’s imperative to plan, implement, review, and also be receptive to change. As technological advances continue to evolve, all outside sales reps should keep up to date with how they can improve and get to the next level.