Sales reps spend only one-third of their time selling and a mere 53 percent actually hitting their quotas, according to a Time Management study published by Forbes. What many businesses do not know is that by simply re-evaluating and optimizing their sales territory management strategy, they can create a concrete plan to boost their profits. Through sales territory planning, businesses can assign territories to qualified reps and hit their territory quotas at a higher rate. They can also communicate more efficiently with clients and track their performance over time. For maximum profitability, consider the following key tips for planning and managing sales territories.
5 Helpful Tips For Profitable Sales Territories
Effective sales territory plans must be well-balanced and sales managers must set attainable quota goals. Together, this can create the perfect combination for increased sales performance and larger revenue goals. While most sales teams understand the importance of having a strong sales strategy, few know how to properly implement these plans. According to a CSO Insights World-Class Sales Practices study, just 37 percent of surveyed participants reported that their sales coverage model effectively aligned resources to consumer needs.
The following are five effective tips for planning and managing profitable sales territories for your business:
Analyze Potential Prospects
Before matching sales reps with customers, it is important to consider why a business’s solution is needed in the first place. This involves getting to know prospects and clients to better address their unique needs and the challenges they face. When analyzing potential sales prospects, take the time to find out which prospects and customers are the most lucrative in each particular region. Also, look at what these prospects have in common and what problems or opportunities they may be facing that led them to need a particular good or service. Businesses should also consider with which industries have they experienced the most success, and which have seen less success.
Perform A SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis refers to a strategic planning technique used to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a business. Businesses often use a SWOT analysis as a way to evaluate their position within the market. When performing a SWOT analysis, it is important to consider what strengths are able to be built upon, which weaknesses should be mitigated, which opportunities should be taken advantage of and what threats should be defended against. Through SWOT analysis, businesses are able to better spot patterns and pinpoint areas that need more attention.
Track Performance
Creating a sales territory plan is just the first step. Businesses must also track their performance over time to ensure that the territories are well-balanced and that the plan is showing profitable results. Ideally, metric reviews should be scheduled on a monthly or quarterly basis. Automated sales performance tools can be used to save time and avoid high overhead costs. When tracking performance, companies will want to look closely at several elements, such as gross sales, gross profit, total unit sales, total commissions, and the number of return customers. Some sales teams may find that the numbers produced a result in the need for adjustments to the territory plan.
Understand Your Customers
When businesses fully understand their customers, they are able to market their goods and services more effectively. Understanding customers is a necessary step even before the sales territory planning phase begins. Customers should be divided into various segments based on criteria like location, purchase history, vertical, and other relevant characteristics. Once customers have been segmented, sales teams can take note of which verticals are experiencing the most success. It is also important to look at other aspects of sales, such as what customers are buying, why they are buying, which events have resulted in purchases, which events have led prospects not to buy, and what is the sales team’s conversion rate.
Explore New Avenues For Leads
When sales become stagnant, businesses must look outside the box to discover new leads. There are countless avenues for leads yet many businesses stick with the same strategies for attracting new customers. Today, it is important to consider both online and offline sources; for example, email marketing campaigns can be an excellent way to generate new leads over the internet. Modern businesses should also optimize their web pages for conversions and deploy inbound and outbound marketing. Offline, new leads can be found through direct mail, print ads, hosting events, and similar avenues.
Speak With Sales Territory Mapping Professionals
Sales territory maps allow businesses to better prioritize and create plans for reaching their goals. A sales territory map lays out all targets and resources in a clear and concise way to achieve improved profitability. To learn more about planning or managing profitable sales territories, reach out to the sales territory mapping experts at Geographic Enterprises.