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We’ve always had clearly defined sales territories. Not that we always had a
full-time sales person working each one, but we are always careful to divide the territories to make them more organized and workable. We call our territories ‘hyper’ territories and they are usually comprised of areas minimizing drive-time.
Our current territories are small enough that you can drive from one end to the other in under 45 minutes in most cases.
Advantages to arranging a territory
Even if you’re by yourself in an area with no other reps, it still pays huge dividends to organize your territory. The following are just a few of the benefits:
1) Keeps you focused By knowing and learning as much about your prospects as possible, you’ll stay focused. We’ve watch reps (who didn’t use territories) get strung out and waste a huge amount of time. By organizing a very compact,
area-based territory, you can stay focused on a smaller, manageable group of target d.m.’s
2) Prevents long, ineffective drive time If you don’t stay focused on a smaller, manageable area, you’ll find yourself driving all over the place (anywhere you suspect a prospect may be.) Without even noticing, you can soon be wasting 3 to 4 hours a day of drive time! Having a compact, well organized territory keeps you in charge of your day!
3) Builds name recognition within your focus By focusing on the same core businesses or prospects each month, you’ll eventually start building relationships with people (secretaries and the actual d.m.s’) Even if a d.m. isn’t currently interested, by ‘calling her back’ every 90 days or so, you will eventually have a shot at getting her as a client! Without a compact, defined territory, you might literally be so ‘across the board’ that you’d NEVER have the chance to call a prospect back!
4) Enables use of rapport for selling By staying in the same area, your names will work! Everyone knows everyone else, which builds instant credibility for you! If you work too big of a territory, you’ll be a stranger- your names won’t work!
5) Provides efficiencies Just having a smaller space to focus on will make you incredibly more efficient- everything from doing a few extra demos between appointments, to being able to return home without a 3 hour drive! Remember, ‘windshield’ time is a sales person’s greatest enemy!
I watched countless rookies try to persuade me to ‘increase’ the size of their area. It seems almost every sales person equates ‘bigger’ with ‘better.’ But what they don’t realize is that it’s the exact opposite. Most sales people fear not having enough business in an area. But I’ve repeatedly found the converse is true. There’s literally more business in a smaller territory than ANY sales person can handle! If a sales person only need 50 to 100 great accounts per year, then you quickly find that even trying to work a medium-sized territory may be alot to
handle.
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