If you’re looking to maximize sales productivity and the value that your sales team brings to customers, it may be time to review and enhance your sales territory plan.

Good sales territory planning provides a framework to measure sales potential, set goals, and focus your team’s sales efforts for maximum success. It provides your sales team the guidance to properly identify and understand customers and prospects, assess and measure value, and support customers in a way that leads to loyalty.

Table of Contents

What is Sales Territory Planning 
Benefits of Sales Territory Planning
Factors to Consider When Planning Sales Territories
7 Steps to Writing a Successful Sales Territory Plan
5 Sales Territory Management Best Practices to Follow
Essential Tools to Plan Your Sales Territories
5 Ways to Validate a Sales Territory Business Plan

What is Sales Territory Planning?

Territory planning is the process of creating a plan to ensure your sales team targets the right customers (and the most profitable ones).

Historically, most territories were broken down by geography, but in today’s connected world, sales territories can also be divided in many ways, including:

• Industry
• Sales potential
• Customer type

With a clearly defined territory, sales teams can work strategically to address the needs of their assigned market. A strong sales territory plan allows you to:

• Ensure your sales team’s efforts are focused on the who, what, when, where and why that offer the strongest return on investment.
• Align salespeople to the regions, segments, and/or verticals best suited for their background and expertise.
• Partner intelligently across company teams to drive corporate objectives
• Optimize customer experience by aligning accounts with sales teams that understand their unique challenges and opportunities.
• Set the stage for long-term solid customer and market relationships.

Benefits of Sales Territory Planning

If you’re doubting the value of a strong sales territory plan, consider these inarguable benefits:

More time spent selling

A strong territory plan allows organizations to maximize their sales momentum by aligning the right sales teams to the right opportunities. Studies by industry analysts consistently show a decline in sales productivity due to factors such as extensive traveling, the need to learn and understand new segments, and administrative overhead.

With a clear sales territory plan based on geography and sector, salespeople can spend less time traveling and preparing for customer engagements and more time working directly with customers.

Better customer service

By aligning your salespeople to a set of accounts that aligns to their background, expertise, and geography, they are better able to understand customer needs and build solutions that align. With consistent territories, salespeople can build long-term relationships, leading to higher customer loyalty and repeat business.

Balanced workloads

Workload is measured in time and effort required to adequately manage all accounts in a given territory. A strong territory plan compares workloads and designs territories so that each salesperson is at full capacity, maximizing their potential.

To maximize rep production, you need to do some due diligence when it comes to assigning balanced territories.

Factors to Consider When Planning Sales Territories

When segmenting territories among your reps, you want to make sure they’re allocated fairly. To ensure this, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is the workload equally divvied up between each member of the team?
• Does the territory design provide equal compensation opportunities?
• Is there a good mix of existing and new accounts per territory?
• Does the territory route allow easy travel time management?

Once you’re able to answer the questions above, it’s time to consider:

1 | Revenue Source

Current Customers. Where are your best customers and prospects located? Geographic and industry-based clusters are the most common focus because it’s easier to get new customers in an area with existing customers. Historical sales data will become your new best friend as it’s the best predictor of future success.

A sales tracking software will give you a complete history of this data.

Inbound Leads. When inbound leads convert, focus on the demographics such as geography, industry and size. Then, build a strategy to divide them as evenly as possible across your sales force.

The focus needs to be on revenue generated from inbound leads as opposed to volume of leads.

Outbound Prospecting. Sales territory design for outbound efforts begins by first laying out the territories to work, then overlaying them with prospecting territories according to how you’re allocating salespeople.

For example, you assign two sales reps to each state (two territories) and one canvasser (one prospecting territory).

2 | Rank Your Team

Create a scorecard and evaluate your sales reps to identify who your top, middle, and low level performers are.

• How much is their quota?
• Do they consistently achieve this number?
• How many current customers and prospects are in their funnel?
• How many viable prospects are located within their territory?

3 | Rank Your Territories

Most Profitable (Least Risky). Evaluate which of your territories are most successful and double down on what’s already working.

Most Growth. If you’re more focused on the long-term instead of the short-term, focus on territories that haven’t been worked yet. It’s likely to take longer to become profitable, but will generate greater growth over time.

Learning / New Markets. To establish yourself in a new market segment or determine if it’s viable, send a canvasser into this territory to accomplish a specific task. This will help determine exactly what’s needed to succeed in that market.

4 | Track and Measure Metrics

Sales metrics are invaluable in understanding the success of every sales team within the company, and entire sales department as a whole. They help you to spot trends and determine efficiencies, and inefficiencies, within the company.

With sales enablement platforms like SPOTIO, you can easily pull results for:

• Team performance in relation to your sales funnel
• Data from custom statuses and fields based on KPIs
• Graphs representing team performance, best time and day to knock, etc.
• The number of attempts it takes to establish contacts, get leads and make sales
• This data gives you the information you need in order to assign balanced workloads across your sales team.

Actionable Data and Insight

With the help of territory management technology, sales territory data helps you accurately evaluate sales performance. This information helps you design effective sales compensation plans and ensure your sales teams are performing at their maximum potential.

Clarify ownership in complex organizations

In organizations with large and complex sales teams, roles and responsibilities are often tangled. With effective sales territory planning, territories are made clear from the get-go, ensuring that salespeople are clear about their target audience and not creating confusion for the team or the customer.

Resilience to change and turnover

Organizational changes such as personnel loss, mergers, acquisitions, alliances, and relocations inevitably effect customers and internal teams. With a strong territory management plan, change is easier to manage.

A well-documented sales territory plan allows new team member’s to ramp up quickly and avoid confusion regarding roles and responsibilities.

Team cohesion and morale

Strong territory planning optimizes the role of the team. By assigning complimentary teams to each territory, you create and environment which allows team members to benefit from each other’s strengths, share workload, and also avoid conflict that arises from unclear territories and boundaries.

7 Step Plan to Write a Successful Sales Territory Business Plan

The next logical question is, where do you start? In this section, we’ll provide an overview of each planning step, along with key questions and suggestions. Depending on your offering, industry, company size, or various other factors, you may use some or all these steps when building your territory plan.

1. Analyze your business goals and objectives

The first step to drafting a solid sales territory plan is bringing clarity to your company’s landscape, defining organizational goals, and evaluating industry trends. This is a basic step to ground you and your team on what you’re trying to accomplish with your sales territory plan.

As you go through the subsequent process, you should continually refer back to this data to maintain a pulse on whether your plan accomplishes what you’ve set out to do.

To get the juices flowing, start by answering these key questions:

1. What is your organization’s most current vision, mission, and north star objective?
2. What are the key trends in your industry or market?
3. What pain do your offerings solve for customers?
4. What are your sales goals, in numbers?
5. What is your conversion rate? Based on this how many prospects should you have in your funnel at any given time to ensure that you’re meeting your sales goals?
6. Are there specific products/services that you are selling more than others? Why?

2. Analyze your prospects and customers

The next step is looking deep into your customer base. In addition to understanding their businesses, challenges, and unique traits, it’s important to identify what makes them unique and what sets them apart from each other.

Key questions to ask yourself include:

1. Who are your most profitable and lucrative prospects and customers defined by industry, region, product, etc.?
2. What do these customers have in common?
3. Which of your prospects or customers offers the most profound growth opportunities for your company?
4. What are your customers buying today and what does this tell you about their challenges and opportunities?
5. Are their industries you serve with success? Are their industries that you’ve had less success with?
6. When customers and prospects object, what is the biggest reason why?

3. Determine your Total Addressable Market

Your Total Addressable Market (TAM) is the entire body of prospects and customers that fit your ideal customer profile. Traditionally, organizations use data including industry, location, size, and revenue to begin mapping their TAM.

While this is still important, technology and tooling makes it easier than ever to identify prospects within your TAM that may not be so obvious.

Using traditional and modern sources, even tools like social media, look for company and industry look-a-likes that may be a suitable candidate for your offering.

Once an ideal customer profile is solidified, the next step is to figure out how large the market opportunity is that fits the description. You may use a matrix to include a range of large and small markets which present large or small opportunities.

While estimating the size of your market used to be a struggle of guesswork and complicated calculations, there are now tools available to businesses to automate the TAM discovery process.

4. Perform a SWOT Analysis

A simple way to evaluate your position in the market is to perform a SWOT (Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats) analysis. Since we all have blind spots, a SWOT analysis is best performed with the help of a broader team, including other company leadership, as well as members or your sales management and sales rep teams.

• What Strengths will you build upon?
• Which Weaknesses do you need to mitigate?
• Which Opportunities in your marketplace are you suited to take advantage of?
• What Threats in your selling environment will you defend against?

In doing this analysis, you will start to see patterns that indicate areas of your business that require more or less attention for various reasons.

For example, a strength that’s also a large opportunity may need a dedicated territory. On the other hand, an area that aligns to a serious competitive threat may require special attention to protect your company’s place in the industry.

The SWOT characteristics you identify will not always be related to revenue or geography. They may be related to more obscure things like training needs of your sales team, gaps in systems and tools, or even gaps in your products themselves.

Doing this analysis will help you be aware of other ways to think about your business and territories.

5. Determine and Document Sales Territories

Based on the work you perform in the sections above, you should have an idea of how to divide your sales territories. It’s important to document these clearly, outlining details of each territory including things like:

• Geographic Boundaries
• Industry or Segment Boundaries (including any overlap and how that is addressed)
• Revenue Boundaries
• Product Boundaries
• Anything else that may be applicable to your sales organization

6. Devise an Action Plan

Similar to the SWOT analysis, devising an action plan is a group exercise that should include various stakeholders in the company, specifically the leaders of each of your identified territories. Just as well, the action plan should be built to be nimble.

In a world where market opportunities change every day, the sales territory plan should be built to follow, ensuring that your action plan keeps up with changing opportunities and threats.

Gone are the days of an annual territory and action planning session. It’s important that change management is built into the framework to ensure your teams are not caught off guard with changes.

Within each category, you should answer the following questions:

• What is the territory’s quota?
• What is the territory’s quota stretch goal?
• What is the territory’s closed business YTD?
• What is the territory’s gap?
• How much pipeline do I have today?
• What is the territory’s pipeline gap?
• What are my goals for the year?

In addition to the overall territory, you will need to spend time looking at top accounts and where they fit in your territory plan. List top accounts and explain why they are chosen (relationships, industry fit, target profile).  For each, in one sentence, be clear and focused on the outreach strategy.

Next, create an opportunity map and make sure opportunity plans are thorough. What’s the compelling event? Why now? What’s the strategy to engage with a champion and economic buyer? What’s the mutual success plan?

Finally, close out with strategies to build your sales funnel.

In addition to being responsive to external factors, action plans should be reviewed on a quarterly basis to ensure your plan isn’t going stale unintentionally.

7. Track Performance and Stay Adaptable

Once you’ve devised and implemented your territory plan, it’s important to regularly measure success in each territory and adapt as needed.

Metric reviews should happen on a regular, defined cadence such as monthly or quarterly, and should be automated using sales performance tools to avoid making this a manual, costly, and easily avoided overhead.

Measures you put in place will vary based on your unique company situation, but some important measures include:

Gross Sales

The most obvious measurement of sales success, gross sales is the sum of all sales that a territory carries out during a defined time frame. Gross sales is a useful metric because it shows the ability of sales professionals to make sales, regardless of what the profit margin is on those sales.

Gross Profit

This is the difference between the selling price for a product and the price the business paid to develop the solution. This measurement is important for businesses that want to encourage their sales forces to focus on high profit margins rather than just sales.

Total Unit Sales

The aggregated number of product units sold within a particular territory, regardless of price, profit or commission. This method of measurement is useful when a company mainly sells a single type of product.

Conversion rate

Conversion rate is the percentage of leads or appointments that result in a sale of some kind. Sales forces with a high sales turnover number are operating at a high level of performance.

Total Commissions

This is the amount of money the sales representatives for the territory in question take home as personal income. Although this measurement does not directly correlate to the competitiveness or degree of success of the business itself, it is effective to use as a means of motivating members of the sales force to achieve higher numbers.

Return Customers

A sign of true development and sustainable growth in a sales territory is the tendency of buyers in that territory to come back and buy again.

For this reason, one important measurement to make is the amount of revenue or profit coming from clients who have bought before. This amount may be expressed as a gross number or as a percentage of gross sales, gross profits or commissions. 

With each review, it’s pertinent to ask your leadership whether the data being measures indicates the need for an adjustment to your territory plans. If you’re proactively monitoring and adjusting, you will maintain a plan that keeps you relevant with your customers and industry.

5 Sales Territory Management Best Practices to Follow

Managing a sales territory is a skill that needs constant development. Moreover, you should adjust and adapt to changes in your area. With summer underway, you have half a year left to grow your business. Propeller suggests four sales territory management best practices for you to implement this week.

1. Using a call rotation schedule to keep in touch with accounts

During the strategy phase, you and your team determined how often to call on each account based on their needs.  Also, note whether it is a phone call or an in-person meeting. Put these in a CRM or a calendar to keep your schedule on track.

2. Note the seasonal account trends

Another essential part of managing sales territories you addressed when building strategy was to determine which accounts were the seasonal business. It’s an excellent idea to check in before the season arrives and reconnect, so you are in touch when the account is ready to buy.

3. Keep the focus on the long-term, account-based goals.

New business is fantastic; however, it should not distract from the goals set for the targeted account-based marketing goals you set. Teaching the team to balance new business development with account management is a vital skill for any salesperson.

4. Explore new ways to divide the leads.

Many sales territory plans are set up by geography, and the leads from that area go to that sales territory rep. However, not every sales territory plan needs to be geographical; the location of the lead is not always the best way to go.

In cases where your sales reps do not have in-person meetings, you can try dividing new leads based on account type (i.e., verticals) or the referral source. Some people divide leads based on the product in which the lead is interested or by the size of the account.

5. Look for cross-selling opportunities.

Analyze the products that an account buys and look for natural partner-products or services, i.e., the “Would you like fries with that?” strategy. Many times, customers might not realize that you offer the full suite of products and services and can make their lives easier by ordering from one supplier.

Essential Tools to Plan Your Sales Territories

Like any job, when you are planning sales territories, you need to have the right tools. The right tools will help you plan, build, and execute a sales territory plan. There is a multitude of options available.  Here are three essentials you need to set yourself up for success, improve productivity and close the best deals.

CRM: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a how your company keeps track of its customer information and history. Many CRM applications also offer data analysis to help companies with customer retention and account growth. CRM compile data from several sources, including live chat, social media, and email correspondence, among others.

CRM is a significant source for successful sales territory planning.

Spreadsheet: Spreadsheets are data organizers in a tab form that takes data entered in cells and leverages that into different calculations and values, including simple math as well as complex financial and statistical figures. When you have data from various sources, such as a CRM and online sources as an example, you can assemble all the data available in a spreadsheet for quick access and comprehensive analysis.

GPS: Geo Productivity Software (GPS) are software applications that combine standard geolocation and route optimization functions with CRM data to help salespeople address their most relevant and profitable account first. Moreover, the features help salespeople optimize their selling time with customers instead of traveling to and from customers.

Some of the more sophisticated systems incorporate traffic and weather in the optimization of the scheduling.

A 7-Step Template to Create Profitable Sales Territory Plans

Without a strong sales territory plan, your sales team might become disorganized. As a result, you reps may not produce the best results for your customers or your organization. This is obviously a problem. Fortunately, this seven-step template is the answer! Simply follow the process we outline below to build a profitable sales territory business plan.

1. Analyze Your Business Goals

What do you want your sales territory business plan to achieve? Answer the seven questions below to help define and understand your organization’s objectives in this area:

• What is our current vision?
• What are key trends in our industry?
• What pain do we solve for customers?
• What are our sales goals, in numbers?
• What is our current conversion rate?
• How many prospects do we need?
• Which products/services are most popular?

2. Study Your Customer Base

Now that you know what your goals are, take a moment to study your customers. When you understand this unique group of people, you can serve them more effectively.

• Who are our best customers?
• What do these customers have in common?
• Which customer segments offer the biggest growth opportunities?
• What challenges and/or opportunities do our customers meet every day?
• Which industries are we most successful in? Which are we least successful in?
• What are the most common objections our sales reps deal with?

3. Determine Your Total Addressable Market

Your Total Addressable Market (TAM) is the entire body of prospects and customers who fit your ideal customer profile. Use this formula to determine your company’s TAM:

• (Total # of Customers) x (Annual Contract Value) = TAM

Imagine you sell machinery to manufacturers in Texas. To find your annual contract value, multiply your average sales price ($1,000) by the average number of sales you make to each customer per year (3). In this scenario, your average contract value is $3,000.

There are roughly 17,000 manufacturers in Texas. So, your TAM would be $51M, because 17,000 manufacturers multiplied by an average contract value of $3,000 equals $51M.

4. Perform a SWOT Analysis

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Ask yourself the following four questions to perform a SWOT analysis for your organization:

• What Strengths can my company build on?
• Which Weaknesses does my company need to mitigate?
• Which Opportunities is my company able to take advantage of?
• What Threats in the industry can my company defend against?

A SWOT analysis will help you determine which sales territories need your immediate attention.

5. Document Your Sales Territories

Now it’s time to either create or redefine your sales territories. Once you’ve taken this step, document the details of each territory to keep things organized. These questions will help:

• What location boundaries define my territories?
• What industry boundaries define my territories?
• What revenue boundaries define my territories?
• What product boundaries define my territories?
• What other boundaries will define my territories?

6. Devise an Action Plan

You’ve almost finished building your profitable sales territory plan. The next thing you need to do is outline specific data points to collect and goals to strive towards for each territory you create.

• What is the territory’s quota?
• What is the territory’s quota stretch goal?
• What is the territory’s closed business YTD?
• What is the territory’s gap?
• How much pipeline do I have today?
• What is the territory’s pipeline gap?
• What are my goals for the year?

7. Track Performance

Finally, take time to evaluate your efforts on a regular basis. That way you know if your territories are performing the way you want them to, and can make necessary changes. To make things easier on your team, commit to tracking a few key metrics, like:

• Gross Sales
• Gross Profits
• Total Unit Sales
• Conversion Rate
• Total Commissions
• Return Customers

5 Ways to Validate a Sales Territory Business Plan

Measuring your progress toward your goal is a crucial part of managing sales. By looking at specific parts of your process, you can determine what is working on your behalf and, perhaps more importantly, what is not.

Here are five questions you should ask to validate a sales territory business plan courtesy of Steve Andersen, President and founder of Performance Methods Incorporated (PMI).

1. Is your growth of strategic customer relationships on target?

It is critical that the customers you focus on provide new sales opportunities and growth, so ensure you picked the correct ones.

2. Are you adding to and advancing the opportunities in your pipeline?

Systems build excellent account management, and every salesperson should have a system for developing and moving accounts through their pipeline.

3. What is your close rate on targeted opportunities?

Close rates are the number of sales you get divided by the presentations you made. For example, if you close three deals for every eight presentations you make, your closing rate (or closing ratio) is 38%. The higher your close rate on targeted opportunities, then the more valid your sales territory business plan is.

4. How accurate is the sales forecast?

The ability to correctly predict the sales your territory will produce is a vital skill for managing a sales territory.

5. Do you have the right resources deployed to help your team?

Managing resources is significant in the overall strategy of a sales team. The right resources along with the right motivating activity can be the key to success in a sales territory business plan. Ensure you have both deployed appropriately.

Sales territories tells salespeople where they can do business. Proper sales territory planning by you and your team can help them take care of business. Work with your team in a collaborative way to help them target the right accounts that give them best results and you have built a foundation for success that benefits the salesperson’s, the company’s and your bottom-line.

And who doesn’t want that?

A 7-Step Template to Create Profitable Sales Territory Plans

Without a strong sales territory plan, your sales team might become disorganized. As a result, you reps may not produce the best results for your customers or your organization. This is obviously a problem. Fortunately, this seven-step template is the answer! Simply follow the process we outline below to build a profitable sales territory business plan.

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Questions or comments? Contact SPOTIO at info@spotio.com or comment below.

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In this post, we’ll explain how to create a winning sales territory plan, share 10 best practices for sales territory management, and finally, we’ll introduce tools that are helpful for managing sales territories of any size.

What is Sales Territory Management?

Sales territory management is the process of organizing and managing customers and prospects and sorting them by segment (such as geography, industry, or role). It helps sales teams stay organized, evenly distributes workloads, and improves sales productivity.

Types of Territories

In addition to geographical area, territories can be based on other sales data such as:

• Account type
• Industry segment
• Market potential
• Number of customer accounts

Many field sales teams don’t prioritize sales territory planning; even when they do, they often have trouble adapting and revising based on sales performance.

Why is Territory Management Important for Outside Sales Teams?

An effective sales territory management plan helps sales managers allocate resources and improve opportunities for sales teams. These are some of the key advantages of territory management:

Cover territories more strategically

Sales territory management helps your reps be more productive and ensures your best reps work the top territories and accounts. When reps have clear territories, routes, and objectives, they can spend less time planning their days and more time selling.

Assign balanced workloads

Defining territories can help you distribute work evenly across your sales team. Keep in mind, though, that sales territory management is an ongoing process. You may need to realign territories based on new objectives, personnel changes, or other factors.

Build stronger customer relationships

You can plan your territories to match reps with prospects and customers based on specific characteristics, such as personality or customer lifecycle.

8 Steps to Create a Winning Sales Territory Plan

1. Analyze Your Customers

You can plan your territories to match reps with prospects and customers based on specific characteristics, such as personality or customer lifecycle.

Some points to note about your customers are:

• Their locations
• Their budgets
• The products or services they purchase from your business
• What types of problems your products or services solve for them
• What types of events lead customers to buy (or not buy) your products or services
• When was the last time they purchased from you
• How often they purchase products

It’s also important to identify needs within the market that aren’t currently being fulfilled. This can help you to develop targeted messaging about your products or services.

2. Analyze and Develop Your Team and Resources

The next step is to analyze your business’s resources and personnel. You should have an accurate picture of the type and volume of customers that your business can handle.

Note the strengths and weaknesses of your team so you can develop and utilize strengths while simultaneously working to improve any weak areas.

3. Set Measurable Goals

Using the information you gathered about your customers, team, and resources, you should develop goals for your business.

Some goals to consider are:

1. Income generated per month
2. Number of sales attempts per week or month
3. Number of closed sales per week or month
4. Ratio of leads to sales closed per week or month

After identifying goals for your sales territory plan, you should create a measurable strategy for meeting each of these goals.

Each goal strategy should include:

Goal statement: Putting a goal on paper transforms it from abstract to concrete. The goal statement should address what you’re planning to achieve with various sales activities and what’s at stake.

Key milestones and deadline: The road to achieving a goal is much clearer when you break it into several smaller milestones. For example, if your goal is to attain $9k in monthly revenue for a given product, you can track progress by breaking the goal into smaller milestones, such as $3k by day 10, $6k by day 20, etc.

Metrics for measuring success in the field: Metrics such as leads created, leads contacted, and leads closed, available on the SPOTIO sales dashboard, offer great insight into productivity and can reveal how your sales team is working toward goals.

Goals should be realistic and manageable, but at the same time, they should push your sales team to expand and grow.

Need help hitting your goals?

4. Define Sales Territories

Based on the work you performed in the steps above, you should have an idea of how to divide territories.

It’s important to define the details of each territory, such as:

• Geographic boundaries
• Industry or segment boundaries
• Revenue boundaries
• Product boundaries
• Anything else that may be applicable to your sales organization

SPOTIO’s mobile Route Mapping feature.

5. Use A Territory Route Mapping App

Sales territory mapping ensures your sales team has time to visit all accounts in their territory. Planning routes used to be a manual process, but the most efficient sales teams use a route mapping app for this important function.

6. Assign Reps to New Sales Territories

Once you’ve determined your new sales territories, you’ll need to decide which reps will cover them. Start this process by looking at the workload of your current team — you may already have the people you need to cover the new territories, or you might need to hire additional staff.

Ensure reps have the right experience for your new territories. For example, if you have a new territory that includes several warm leads, you might want to assign your best closer to that territory.

7. Monitor Rep and Territory Performance

To ensure you have the right people covering your new territories, you’ll need to review certain sales targets, such as:

• Sales per client — the dollar value of each rep’s sales per client
• New contacts — the number of contacts your sales reps are bringing into pipeline
• Client acquisition rate — the percentage of leads that sales reps are converting into customers
• Event rates — this could be the number of appointments or calls scheduled, follow-up visits, etc.
• Average deal size — this is the average dollar amount per deal

8. Use Field Data Entry – “Notes as you go”

As you implement your sales territory plan, keep an accurate and up-to-date record of its outcomes using your CRM. This record will help you to track successful aspects of your plan, in addition to what parts of the plan are ineffective. Using this information, you can adjust and optimize your best sales territory plan as needed.

Often, reps have multiple meeting blocks and forget valuable nuggets of information they learned from each meeting. With a sales tool like SPOTIO, reps can jot down/add voice notes using their mobile device and sync them directly into Salesforce.

These mobile field notes are immediately available to your entire team, so reps have complete insight into all communication with prospects and clients.

10 Sales Territory Management Best Practices

1. Set Territory-Level Sales Goals

Using the data you’ve gathered about new sales territories, you can define sales goals. These may be specific, quota-based goals — like closing a certain number of deals within a specific time frame or number of visits — or open-ended goals, such as building relationships.

Setting goals is important because it will keep your reps on track. They’ll always know what to work towards next, and you’ll better understand the sales activities they complete every day.

Goals will also help you evaluate your sales department’s efforts. Is your team succeeding? Compare how successful your reps are to achieving the goals you’ve set for them. (Note: to properly track goals, you need to establish specific metrics and KPIs you can use to evaluate individual performance.)

Finally, goals will help you diagnose problems within your department. Are reps failing because they don’t have the necessary skills? Or are they slacking on the job? The right metrics will help you answer these questions. You can then implement a plan to help your reps achieve more team-wide objectives.

2. Prevent Territory Conflict

As a manager, how can you fairly assign territories? And once assigned, how do you ensure reps aren’t poaching accounts from fellow reps? To reduce the risk of territory conflicts, consider the following:

Number of accounts. The reps who perform better with smaller businesses need more accounts than reps who work with large accounts. Although the number of accounts varies, the total possible revenue goal for each rep should be equal.

ZIP Code. Make sure sales routes include a reasonable number of stops, in an order that minimizes travel time between appointments.

Vertical. Some people connect better with specific industries. Once you identify each rep’s strong suit, give them more accounts with the business types they prefer.

3. Prioritize the Most Valuable Territories

Assign your top performers to high-priority territories.

Keep in mind, the term “top performer” is relative. Your rep with the highest sales-per-client may not be right for a territory containing several small businesses that are slower to make purchasing decisions.

The question is how do you match reps to territories? Start by evaluating your salespeople. What are they good at? How much experience do they have? If you were to rank each rep in terms of ability, how would they stack up to each other? And which products do each individual sell the most of?

Next, consider the customers in each territory. Who are these people? What kind of businesses do they run/manage/work for? What’s their potential budget? And are they able to buy right now?

Finally, take what you know about your reps and the potential customers in each territory and find ideal pairings. For example, you might put your most prolific seller in a territory with buy-ready leads because the short sales cycles will help them close a ton of deals in a minimum amount of time.

Then you could put your second best seller in a territory with the highest-value prospects. They might not close as many deals as your top rep, but they’ll come close. And this configuration will allow each of your top sellers to excel, which will maximize overall revenue numbers for your organization.

4. Track Mileage and Expenses

Outside reps with a lot of ground to cover should receive some degree of compensation for their travel expenses (gas, meals, and basic vehicle maintenance).

Not sure what reimbursement plan is best? We’ve got you covered:

Mileage as a tax deduction

Full-time sales reps and independent salespeople can claim mileage as a tax deduction. The mileage works as an expense, and those with intensive sales routes can write off the standard rate for every mile they drive for work.

Standard mileage reimbursement

Mileage rates are subject to change in each tax year. The standard rates are determined based on market research that determines normal expense ranges for using a vehicle. The 2024 IRS rate for normal business use is 67 cents per mile.

Reimbursement based on sales routes

Salespeople are often reimbursed for mileage using the standard rates or a rate increase based on individual company policies.

Tracking mileage

Diligent mileage tracking is critical for reimbursement. Sales reps must document every mile to receive reimbursement or claim a tax deduction.

A spreadsheet that lists the date, starting mileage, ending mileage, total miles, and notes is easy to store on a clipboard and update daily. Mileage-tracking phone apps are also convenient; they track trips and allow sales reps to make notes about each trip. The best way to track mileage, however, is to use an automated feature — like SPOTIO Mileage Tracking — that records all trips without sales reps needing to remember to log their miles.

5. Create a Rotating Schedule for Contacting Customers

Your reps should contact customers regularly to ensure that their needs are being met. Create a schedule that defines when to contact prospects and customers, and specify the medium — phone call, email, or in-person visit.

SPOTIO’s scheduling and status view.

6. Meet Needs of Current Accounts While Finding New Leads

The best sales territory management plan should have a dual focus of providing services to high-value accounts while developing relationships with potential new accounts.

High-value accounts are those guaranteed to bring in a higher volume of sales in shorter amounts of time, compared to other accounts. While high-value accounts require attention, it’s also important to cultivate new accounts that will help your company grow.

7. Consider the Seasonal Needs of Customers

Depending on the type of products or services your business provides, your customers may have more seasonal needs. Consider this when deciding when to contact customers and prospects.

Identifying Seasonal Trends

Does your business change based on the calendar? If you’re in solar sales, for example, sales might dip in the winter months, though this likely depends on where your customers are based.

A potential customer in Montana, where the days are short and the snowfall is measured in feet, might not see the benefits of solar in January. But a customer in Arizona, where the sun always shines, will.

This is just one example. There are plenty of other seasonal trends you should watch out for. When you find one or two, apply them to your sales process to see how it affects your bottom line.

Strategic Planning

Identifying season trends is one thing. Adjusting your sales strategy to accommodate your findings is another. You need to get strategic and put your sales reps in the best position to succeed.

Don’t be afraid to change tactics, reconfigure sales territories, or even abandon certain areas altogether if they don’t produce sales. Sales reps can always revisit old territories in the future when they have a better chance to close a deal. Put thought into where your reps should be at all times.

8. Ensure Reps Can Access and Update Data In Real Time

Use technology that allows your sales representatives to update and access customer data in real time. That way all reps can view the most current customer information when needed.

Benefits of Real-Time Data

For our purposes, real-time data can be described as immediate information related to sales activities. Once you and your team have access to real-time data, you’ll enjoy a few benefits:

• Better Engagement: Real-time data will tell reps when prospects take specific actions, like visiting a website or clicking on a link in an email. They can then cater their sales tactics accordingly. This will lead to better prospect engagement, and eventually, more sales. Speaking of which…
• Increased Revenue: Real-time data allows sales reps to engage with prospects at opportune moments. This will help them close more deals, which will produce more revenue. Reps can also use real-time data to take advantage of upsell and cross-sell opportunities.
• Improved Forecasting: Real-time data will give you the information you need to make accurate sales forecasts. You’ll always know which stage of the pipeline prospects are in, and crucially, how long it typically takes prospects to progress to later stages. This will make forecasting easier.
• Sales Coaching Opportunities: Finally, real-time data will tell you how your reps perform in the moment. You can use this information to adjust your coaching efforts. A rep might generate tons of leads, for example, but close very few of them. If so, you can teach them new closing techniques to help them make sales at a consistent clip and increase revenue for your company.

9. Keep Thorough And Up-To-Date Customer Notes

Any communication with customers should be documented and accessible to sales representatives. Notes may include personal information such as the customer’s favorite food, in addition to more sales-specific information such as the customer’s budget.

SPOTIO’S note-taking function.

10. Monitor Sales Territory Performance

Frequently review the performance of sales territories and look for trends that might indicate adjustments are necessary. A territory that’s not performing as expected may be a sign that some fundamental factors about it have changed (such as businesses in the area closing or relocating), or that the territory quality is not ideal.

6 SPOTIO Features For Effective Sales Territory Management

1. Customer Mapping

What it does: Customer mapping software allows you to create a map of your territories. You can drop pins on specific locations, which allows you to track routes within territories.

SPOTIO’s territory management view with colored map pins.

Why it’s important:Customer mapping software can help you optimize sales routes. With SPOTIO’s Precise Location Tool, you can drop pins on a map, creating a visual way to design the most logical sales routes. This saves valuable time and money and helps your reps introduce more customers to your product or service.

2. Sales Tracking

What it does: Outside sales tracking enhances the sales process by providing real-time updates about the locations and activities of sales representatives in all your different territories.

Another view of SPOTIO’s sales tracking feature.

Why it’s important: This feature saves managers time by providing a quick and easy method to map out and assign territories to sales reps. It also helps managers quickly recognize areas where sales reps may be struggling and highlight any need for additional coaching or training.

3. Territory Manager

What it does: The SPOTIO Territory Manager enables managers to create custom maps of different territories for assignment to sales reps.

SPOTIO’S color-coded sales territory management view.

Why it’s important: The ease with which territories can be created, assigned, and viewed means that managers will no longer have to spend hours reviewing physical maps and manually drawing out territories.

4. Route Planner

What it does: SPOTIO Route Planner simplifies routes, making each day in the field as efficient as possible.

Why it’s important: This tool lets reps focus on driving and what they’re going to say in their next meeting. In addition, it can help them avoid unexpected delays by automatically rerouting to account for street closures or heavy traffic.

5. Lead Machine

What it does: Lead Machine is a lead management tool that organizes information related to leads and provides it to users in an easy-to-understand format.

Why it’s important: This tool helps to generate more sales by ensuring that leads are organized and easy to access.

6. My Reports

What it is: My Reports is a SPOTIO feature that lets managers and reps easily create reports using a variety of metrics. Once you set up your reports, you can store them in the cloud and share them with team members.

Why it’s important: This new feature allows users to zero in on the KPIs that are most important for sales territory management and access reports via mobile when in the field. Create reports by sales territory, by sales rep, or for specific metrics across your entire organization.

FAQ

How should I divide sales territories?

While managers generally consider geography when splitting up territories, you may also want to consider factors such as prospect company size, number of opportunities, and short-term versus long-term potential. Also, consider the strengths within your sales teams. One sales rep may be a great closer, while another is best at fostering new relationships.

How do you manage territories in Salesforce?

Managing territories in Salesforce is easy, with SPOTIO’s integration features. (See our blog post on this topic for more information).

Will SPOTIO integrate with my CRM and essential business apps?

SPOTIO integrates with more than 2,000 apps, including Zoho CRM, HubSpot CRM, and Netsuite ERP.

Our business has national, regional, and local territories. How would I set up those territories in SPOTIO?

With SPOTIO, you can set up territory hierarchies, giving managers access to all territory data, but restricting sales rep access to any parent territory data.

Simplified Sales Territory Management

Sales territory management can help your business grow by collecting and organizing all information and automating administrative tasks.

SPOTIO’s cloud-based territory management software gives you the insights you need to effectively manage your sales team and helps reps keep track of important information when they’re in the field.

________

SPOTIO is the #1 field sales engagement and territory management app to increase your revenue, maximize your profitability, and increase your team’s productivity in just 2 weeks.

Want to see a product demonstration? Click here to see how SPOTIO can take your sales game to the next level.

With a sales territory plan, you can improve the efficiency of your field sales team and ensure no one is working overlapping areas or duplicating sales efforts.

In this post, we’ll look at the sales territory mapping process— what it is, what it entails, and how sales managers can improve it.

What Is A Sales Territory Map?

A sales territory map is a visual layout of your sales territories. You can manually create maps or use territory mapping software to define territories and assign them to the reps that are the best fit for each one.

What Is Sales Territory Mapping?

Sales territory mapping is the creation and assignment of sales territories based on factors like geography, revenue potential, and the individual expertise of sales reps.

Territory planning also incorporates the size of accounts to ensure a fair balance. For example, two large accounts might be equal in revenue to four smaller accounts, so managers might want to rebalance territories to ensure reps have equal opportunities to hit their sales quota.

The Old Approach to Sales Territory Mapping

Territory mapping with Google Maps and a highlighter leaves room for error and confusion. You have no way to determine how many prospects you’re assigning to each rep, how many customers you have in each territory, or whether prospect demographics in each territory align with your ideal customer profile.

Not to mention once you send a rep out with their printed sales territory map, you’ll rarely get it back — and therefore have no idea where you’ve worked or haven’t worked.

Consider this situation:

1. A rep made a sale outside of the territory you assigned them, claiming they weren’t sure where it ended.
2. The rep who was assigned to that territory lost the opportunity to make that sale.

Who do you give the sale to — the rep who closed the deal, or the rep who covers the territory where the sale occurred?

The same issues can occur with other legacy solutions like Streets and Trips and MapPoint. Today, sales organizations can use software to design sales territories, prevent territory disputes among sales teams, and gather the insights sales managers need to adjust territory boundaries or reassign reps.

The Benefits Of Modern Sales Territory Management

Modern sales territory mapping tools help managers:

Assign territories strategically

You wouldn’t assign a junior sales rep to your highest-value territory. With the multiple data points available in territory mapping platforms, you can segment sales territories and assign reps to territories that align with their experience level. This approach to sales planning and territory management ensures your best reps are working the most valuable territories.

Balance workloads

To maintain harmony among your sales team, you should be mapping sales territories in a way that balances the workload. That means looking at more than just the geographic area of each territory — a small territory could contain just as many leads as a territory that spans two ZIP Codes.

Increase rep selling time

The way you map sales territories can help reps maximize their selling time. For example, you might find that shifting the territory boundaries gives each rep a simple sales route, with little distance between stops. Route optimization is one of the best features of territory mapping apps.

Boost rep productivity

In the days of analog territory mapping, field sales reps wasted countless hours jotting notes on paper and marking up maps to keep track of their progress. Digital territory maps integrate with CRM data, giving reps instant access to important data when they’re in the field. And they can update notes from their mobile phones, which eliminates the need for manual entry and increases sales productivity.

4 Ways To Create A Sales Territory

To save time, be more efficient, eliminate confusion, and increase performance, create territories for your sales team using the following strategies:

1. Target Market Demographics

One of the most effective strategies for territory management is to gather market demographics before sending your team out to knock on doors. This will minimize unproductive time for your reps in the field.

Using a tool like SPOTIO’s Lead Machine will help you to identify key territories, target qualified customers that match your ideal customer profile (ICP), and ensure that your team is targeting prospects that have real buying potential.

You’ll also have the ability to track the progress of each of these leads in your sales pipeline through the app. This prevents leads that you’ve spent money on from slipping through the cracks and increases the return on your investment. (This is one of the main features SPOTIO offers that causes many outside sales reps to switch from the competition).

The more information you have about your current customers, the better. You can understand where you’re having the most success and identify higher-quality potential customers with a greater chance of buying.

Download this resource to learn more:

2. Include Current Customers In Each Territory

Your current customers are extremely valuable to your business, and not just because they purchased your product or service.

Your customers can provide you with some of the highest converting and cheapest leads: referrals. You just have to ask.

Start by generating a list of all of your current customers. If you use a sales tracking app like SPOTIO, it’s simple to upload this list into your account, or you can simply sort the pins in your account by the status you created to signify a closed-won deal.

If you’re not using a sales tracking app, you’ll have to map these addresses by hand individually. It will be a much longer process, but well worth it.

Once you’re able to see all of your customers on a map, draw out territories for your reps to work based on these locations.

There are two strategies for this approach:

1. Evenly distribute the number of customers in each sale’s reps territories.
2. The other option, if your customers are more spread out, is to assign a couple of smaller territories to each rep, but still distribute them as evenly as possible.

The goal is to use your current customers as references when pitching a new prospect. You can also have your team visit satisfied customers to ask for referrals.

3. Distribute By Number Of Prospects

Making sure that sales reps have enough prospects to visit is essential to their performance and production.

Without sales territory mapping software, you can spend hours on this process. Sales territory mapping software significantly simplifies this process, saving you many hours and ensuring greater accuracy.

Create and assign territories based on the number of contacts you want each rep to work.

As you start drawing out a sales territory plan in SPOTIO, the app will tell you the estimated number of prospects in that territory.

Using territory mapping software will allow you to create equitable territories for your entire team in less than 10 minutes.

4. Distribute By City/ZIP Code

Creating territories by city or ZIP Code is a little bit trickier because of the size of the area. Even so, distributing territories by city or ZIP Code is one of the easiest methods because there’s no room for misinterpretation.

You can tell a rep, “This is your ZIP Code, and if you get a lead or sale outside of your territory, it’s going to the rep that territory belongs to.” Creating territories this way eliminates a lot of the conflict and guesswork for reps.

These territories won’t be quick to work through and shouldn’t be changed frequently like smaller territories.

How To Evaluate And Optimize Sales Territories

You’ll need to periodically review your sales territories, because circumstances change. Your prospects might move to a new area, a competitor may begin working in your territories, or your staffing levels may increase or decrease.

Review Your Rep Count

If you’ve gained or lost reps or customers since you first defined sales territories, you’ll need to reevaluate. You may need to adjust or merge territories quarterly or yearly.

Consider Your Team’s Skills

You may have new hires with expertise in a certain aspect of sales that makes them a good fit for a territory, or you may find you need two people to cover one territory if you’ve lost the superstar who once covered it.

Analyze Existing Territory Performance

An underperforming territory might not be a result of sales performance. B2B and B2C prospects might have shrinking budgets or new priorities, or a competitor might be luring your prospects away. An underperforming territory always merits closer inspection.

Reassess Market Potential

Has the spending potential within your territories changed? That’s an important question to consider as you review your territory design. Review your sales data for the past year to detect any trends that may help you forecast market potential.

3 Common Mistakes To Avoid In The Territory Mapping Phase

1. Using Limited Data – And The Wrong Territory Management Tool

If you don’t know your client and/or account data, you can’t gauge how well the sales rep is doing, let alone make improvements.

Refrain from making continuous changes to sales territories, as it will negatively impact client engagement. However, you will want the ability to modify territories occasionally.

Find the best sales CRM tool to aid you in this process.

2. Failing To Include Your Sales Team

In order to be effective in territory mapping, you need to involve your sales teams and reps and take their experience and talents into account. If reps feel they have a say in territory planning, they are more likely to feel satisfied in their roles.

3. Relying On Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets won’t help your reps see their territory boundaries. If you want to win in sales performance and motivate your reps/teams, you must incorporate the right tools and applications that improve territory visibility.

8 Reasons To Use Sales Territory Mapping Software

According to an MIT study, 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual. It’s no surprise that visual territory management tools are especially helpful for sales teams.

Sales territory mapping software provides a simple way for sales teams to visualize geographical areas and ensure:

• Territories are a manageable size for reps
• There is no overlap between reps
• Sales leaders and managers are thoughtfully and strategically assigning the top performers to the right territories

Here are eight reasons to use sales territory mapping software:

1. Prevent Deals From Falling Through The Cracks

If one rep has too many leads to manage, some of them will fall through the cracks. Sales territory planning software helps you balance territories and ensure reps have the capacity to manage all leads in their territory.

2. Uncover New Leads In Existing Territories

The temptation to expand to new territories is only natural. But it’s likely that your team hasn’t covered all potential leads within their existing sales territories.

With sales territory management tools like SPOTIO, you can use insights about your territories to reveal new leads in your existing territories.

3. Save Hours With Segmentation

Without territory mapping software, sales managers often have to spend hours creating sales maps.

Solutions like SPOTIO make it easier to categorize areas or regions by:

• High or low sales potential
• High sales volume
• High-quality leads

These features make it easy to map territories quickly while providing a simple-to-use interface for the reps in each territory.

4. Improve Close Rates With Data-Driven Area Assignments

Sales territory mapping solutions help sales leaders place their reps strategically.

With integrated key insights like sales performance, geographical history, total revenue earned, and leads converted, sales leaders can use SPOTIO to place people where they can make the most impact.

Whether this is about placing high performers where they’re needed most, or placing average performers in an environment that allows them to reach their potential, consider your team’s strengths and opportunities as you’re creating a sales territory plan.

5. Optimize sales routes and improve productivity

Without an effective and comprehensive system, territory mapping and sales route planning tend to be two separate activities.

Using smart features like those offered by SPOTIO, you can quickly see which territories landed the most accounts and where the highest-value clients are.

Sales route planning is adjustable on the fly. When new leads arise, the app helps users adjust their route and plan efficiently.

6. Measure Sales Data Across Territories

The best sales territory mapping software solution makes it easy to measure and compare sales data across multiple territories.

For example, using SPOTIO’s smart reporting features, you can quickly see which territories landed the most accounts, where the highest-value clients are, and which territories are underperforming.

This gives you strong visual data to understand where to invest as well as how sales reps are performing by region.

7. Boost Team Morale

When sales territories are unevenly distributed, sales goals may be unattainable for some reps, and morale may suffer. Whether a territory is too small and lacks potential, or the territory is too big for a rep to manage, a workload imbalance can cause frustration and resentment among your team.

With the data you gather from smart sales territory mapping software, you can closely monitor the level of work required to support each territory and allocate your sales team accordingly.

8. Help Your Team Succeed

Most sales territory mapping tools are part of a field sales enablement platform (like SPOTIO). That means you get a suite of tools that reps can use to:

• Add notes about prospects and leads using their mobile device
• Drop real-time location pins as they move through their territories
• Automate reminders to follow up with leads
• Sync data to your CRM remotely
• Share notes and reports
• Access a complete history of all interactions with leads and prospects
• Review essential steps in your sales process

All of these features help reps work more effectively — and reduce the need for time-consuming manual data entry.

Supercharge Sales Productivity And Increase Revenue With Sales Territory Mapping

Organize and divide territories: Define and reorganize territories in just a few minutes with SPOTIO’s intuitive interface.

Visualize lead and customer data: SPOTIO lets reps color-code map pins based on any data point, such as previously contacted leads, new prospects, and existing customers.

Monitor territory performance: Click on a territory to see performance data for sales teams and sales reps, and run reports that show performance metrics for all territories.

Find out how SPOTIO helps field sales teams stay organized, increase productivity, and close more deals. Request a demo today!

So what is a 30-60-90 day sales plan, and what should it include? Read on to learn how to create a three-month sales plan for any outside sales career.

What is a 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan?

A 30-60-90 day sales plan explains the measurable goals for a new hire’s first three months on the job and demonstrates their commitment to personal accountability. More importantly, a 30-60-90 day plan shows management that new hires will be focused on results, even during the onboarding process.

Ultimately, the plan helps sales reps and managers agree on what success will look like in the first 30, 60, and 90 days. It leaves very little ambiguity for measuring a successful transition.

Why Do You Need A 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan?

Sales managers and new sales reps both benefit from a 30-60-90 day sales plan, because it documents progress, challenges, and wins.

Sales leadership can use this plan to ensure sales team members are growing in their role, and to identify any need for additional training or guidance. For both managers and employees, documenting goals and accomplishments is helpful for the sales performance review process — both parties can see details that they might’ve otherwise forgotten over time.

What to Include in a 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan

Whether you’re creating one for yourself or for a new employee, each phase of your 30-60-90 day plan should detail a specific focus, priorities, sales goals, and a plan for measuring success.

Consider the following when creating your plan:

Align with team goals

To set your own priorities, you must first understand your team’s goals. These are typically defined by management.

During the interview process, ask questions about sales team goals, the strategy for achieving them, and what success looks like for the team.

Measure progress and success

A plan is not a plan without a clear way to measure success. Include a way to measure each objective in your 30-60-90 day sales plan. Depending on the activity, your goals should tie to one of the following:

1. What you’ve learned
2. How well you’ve adjusted and integrated into your new sales team
3. How ready you are to perform your role without extra support

If, like most successful sales professionals, you have at least one mentor you can count on for advice, ask them to share their own 30-60-90 day sales plan example with you for inspiration.

Five Scenarios That Call for a 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan

A 30-60-90 day sales plan takes some time to put together, but you won’t have to do it often. Following are four scenarios in which you may need to create such a plan:

During the interview process

Most sales job interviews today involve multiple steps and stakeholders — from the initial screening with an HR generalist, to the final meeting with high-ranking decision-makers. If you clear the first hurdle in the hiring process, you should start working on your sales plan.

A hiring manager may informally ask you how you would approach your first 30, 60, and 90 days on the job. That’s your opportunity to make a great impression — instead of simply answering the question, you can present a copy of your formal plan that shows you’re thinking ahead and serious about the job.

First week on the job

In some cases — especially if you’ve earned an internal promotion — you may not need to present a 30-60-90 day sales plan until your first week on the job. Even if you’re not asked to provide a plan right away, doing so can help you demonstrate your commitment to your new role.

New territory assignments

If your role is expanding to include management of new territories, create a 30-60-90 day plan for new sales territory areas . Your plan should define geographic boundaries for territories, which sales reps are responsible for those territories, and the metrics you’ll use to evaluate territory performance.

Onboarding new sales managers

A 30-60-90 day sales plan is also useful if you’re onboarding a new sales manager. You can show new sales managers what sales processes or systems they’ll be learning about in the first 30 days, define expectations for the first three months, and explain how you assess performance and communicate feedback.

Building Sales Skills

Companies may expect their sales reps to be continuously improving upon their skills — and to identify opportunities for doing so. Once you’ve settled into your new role, you might need a new 30-60-90 day sales plan that defines:

• How you’ll research new technology that improves your efficiency
• Your timeline for implementing new technology
• How you’ll share new knowledge with your team

You might also use a three-month sales plan to outline your goals for improving your sales strategy, and the sales quota you’re aiming for.

Key Steps for Writing an Effective 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan

Ready to get started on your plan? Follow these action steps:

1. Create an outline. Begin by sorting your ideas based on each 30-day increment:

• Onboarding/learning (first 30 days)
• Executing your plan (days 31-60)
• Improving upon your plan (days 61-90)

2. Define your goals. Be ambitious — but realistic — about what you want to achieve personally, and on behalf of your employer, in your first 90 days on the job.

3. Define your metrics. How will you measure your goals? In the first 30 days, your “metrics” may be as simple as “Review employee onboarding videos,” or “Complete CRM platform training.” Metrics will tend to become more granular as you settle into your new role.

The details of your plan will depend upon your role. For example, a 30-60-90 day business plan for sales managers is likely to be more external-facing, with a focus on how to learn about the daily routines of your direct reports. If you’re joining a company as a new territory sales rep, your 30-60-90 day plan should focus more on how you will develop your skills.

Milestones for a 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan

Now that you understand the value of a 30-60-90 day sales plan, let’s talk about the appropriate milestones for each phase.

30-Day Plan

You’re starting from scratch, and should begin by answering, “What does success look like in the first 30 days?”

In many cases, the first 30 days should include completing your company/role training plan, understanding the target market, mastering the company’s products or services, and getting to know your colleagues.

Here’s a sample checklist of points s to consider for the first 30 days:

• Have you completed all required company training?
• Do you understand the high-level priorities for your company and team?
• What are the goals your company plans to achieve in the next year?
• Do you have a complete understanding of the target market?
• Do you understand your company’s key products and/or services?
• Do you understand what makes your company unique?
• Do you understand the competition?
• Have you developed connections within the organization?
• Do you have a clear sales plan?

This part of the plan should be heavy on information gathering.

For each of the items in the plan, and any others you add, schedule weekly checkpoints to track progress. This may be a 1:1 with your manager or mentor. At the end of the first 30 days, be prepared to report back on your completion of the plan.

If you didn’t complete a key commitment, that’s OK. As you become more familiar with the job, items on your list may be deprioritized and rolled into the next phase.

60-Day Plan

During the second month, new sales reps are able to spend more time in the field. During this phase of the plan, the focus should be getting to know the market, nurturing relationships with prospects and clients, and understanding the customer experience, including what’s working well and where the team can better support customers.

During the 31-60 day period, you should ask for feedback from your manager, team, and customers about what you’re doing well and what you can improve.

During this time, you should also be looking for opportunities to learn from your peers and identifying ways to work more efficiently. This shows your sales manager that you are eager to keep up with the team and that you want to help move the company forward.

Here’s a sample checklist of points to consider for your 60-day plan:

• Have you introduced yourself to key clients and prospects?
• Have you completed a customer experience and satisfaction review?
• Have you participated in adequate job shadowing with peers and management?
• Have you completed all formal training requirements?
• Have you started developing new leads?
• Do you have a tool to help you map out sales routes?

By the 60-day checkpoint, you should be able to show that you can handle the workload and that you’re ready to succeed on the team. Between days 31 and 60, you should have enough of an understanding of the business to speak up, ask questions, share ideas, and engage in discussion.

90-Day Plan

Days 61-90 are all about building on what you learned during the first 60 days and making an impact. This may mean you start optimizing your prospect list with larger, more strategic clients. It may also mean revisiting cold leads to see whether you can initiate new conversations.

Your plan for days 61-90 should cover how you’ll establish and build relationships with clients and prospects, as well as how you’ll implement feedback to become better at your job and help support your team.

Here’s a sample checklist of points to consider for your 90-day plan:

• Have you met all key accounts and started developing relationships?
• Have you started prospecting for new leads?
• Have you actively asked for feedback from your peers and management?
• Have you used feedback to adjust your strategy and approach?
• Have you established a schedule that works for you, your clients, and your team?
• Have you established credibility within the team?
• Do you feel successfully “on board”?

At 90 days, you should feel confident in your new role. While nobody will expect you to be a seasoned expert, you should know enough to perform critical sales tasks without a lot of guidance.

4 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Building A 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan

You should be off to a great start in developing your 30-60-90 day sales plan. But, as with anything, things can easily get derailed.

In this section, we’ll cover common mistakes and how to avoid them.

1. Failing To Include Details

As you’ll recall, the most important function of your plan is to clearly outline your objectives. Make sure that your plan has no room for misinterpretation. Include specifics in your plan such as dates, percentages, and other figures.

2. No plan to measure success

It’s not really a plan if there is no way to measure success. Within each phase of your plan, be specific about what constitutes successful completion of a task.

3. A fixed mindset

When you start a new role, you have a lot to learn. By the time you start executing a plan, you’ll likely find some of your assumptions incorrect, and you’ll need to adjust the plan accordingly.

Don’t let this bog you down, or worse, stop you from following through. Make sure your plan is flexible enough to make adjustments as needed.

4. Not Following Up With Your Manager

A 30-60-90 day sales plan requires ongoing two-way communication between employee and manager. Without ongoing feedback, there’s no way to know if you’re truly meeting expectations.

Ready. Set. Plan.

Your 30-60-90 day sales plan should serve as a tool to establish yourself in a new role and organization, and to promote your growth and development.

Coming to the table with a plan is the best way to hit the ground running, build credibility, and show team members you are eager and prepared.

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Questions or comments? Contact SPOTIO at info@spotio.com or comment below.

SPOTIO is the #1 sales acceleration software designed to increase your revenue, maximize your profitability, and increase your team’s productivity in just 2 weeks.

Want to see a product demonstration? Click here to see how SPOTIO can take your sales game to the next level.

Think about the last time you wanted to buy something on the web. Chances are, you spent hours scouring the internet for people’s reviews on the products you want to buy. But, let’s say there were no reviews. This could put a damper on your purchase as no one likes to buy something without knowing what previous buyers thought about it.

Suppose your brand is in this category where your products have little to no reviews, or the ones left by the customers are not as captivating. Then, it is time to implement a strategy that will bring more customers to your website and increase sales.

You can start by creating B2B video testimonials strategies on your website. Using video reviews brings a human touch to your products as customers can relate to the person reviewing the products. We are in an era where everything is digital and from the look of things, video testimonials dominate the business world, so why not give video testimonials a try.

You may get the impression that taking a video and posting it is easy. But that’s not the case, as a lot goes into making powerful and engaging video testimonials. Let us explain what B2B video testimonials marketing is and why you should use it.

A customer video testimonial is a video that shows your customers speaking honestly about their experience using your products and services.

So, what are the benefits of having video testimonials in your business?

• It helps show customers that your brand is credible and trustworthy
• The customer helps explain how to use the products, benefits, and experience, which can appeal to your target customers.
• Improves conversion rate
• It is natural and user-friendly. It is easier to believe a person than an ad.

Here are eight tips to use when making B2B video testimonials. First, before filming, find the right customers, those who wholeheartedly love your products.

1. Do Not Use a Script

Customers rely on video testimonials because they are authentic, so when you post a scripted video review, your customers and potential clients will know. This might make it hard for them to trust your brand.

Do not push the person making the video to speak the way you want as it might stress them and make them nervous. You can view some video testimonial examples to give you an idea of what other businesses are doing.

2. Humanize the Video with Real Emotions

The best B2B video testimonial is when your customers tell a personal and emotional story on how your products and services impacted their lives. It’s best to start with an issue that had plagued their lives, but became history after using your products. Then, you can use these video testimonial examples as your inspiration.

3. Keep it brief

Keep your video testimonial short and to the point. Nobody likes to listen to someone speaking about something for hours. A brief video will capture the attention of your viewers while getting out your message across.

Therefore, ensure that your video is about 3 minutes long or less. In addition, it would be best to caption your customer’s name and experience on the video to increase the time they spend talking about the product’s benefits.

4. Tell a Story

Present the testimonial in the form of a story. Try and make the story interesting for the listener irrespective of the interviewee’s age. To make the story authentic, write the questions following a particular order.

For example, you can start by asking what problem they were facing. How did they find out about your products? How did your products help them solve their problem?

The way they communicate the answers will create a narrative that is relatable to everyone watching.

5. Keep it Simple

Do not complicate your video testimonial by using complex terms. Use simple language and words that are understandable to your target market. You can incorporate data and statistics in your testimonial, but keep it short.

6. Send Out Questions Before the Interview

Make sure to provide your interviewee/customer with the questions before the scheduled interview. This allows them to familiarize themselves with the questions and avoid any awkward moments during the filming.

This does not necessarily mean that they need to memorize the answers for the recording. Instead, it gives them an idea of what to expect, be present, and humanize their responses.

7. Make it interesting

Don’t just set the camera only to capture the speaker’s face; it would be interesting to show his/her face at different angles, enhancing their expressions by zooming in and zooming out. This will help viewers get a perspective of the speaker’s emotions.

However, it is not a must since it requires several cameras to achieve this and a large crew, which would be expensive. That’s why it might be best to outsource the task to specialists for remote video testimonials to get the best outcome.

8. Don’t Interrupt

When filming, do not interrupt the speaker because it might appear scripted. Let them go with the flow when filming. Before posting, edit the video to remove the parts you feel are unnecessary. So no matter what the situation is, do not interrupt.

Suppose you are a small business and do not have the resources to film or hire a video testimonial service. You can request your loyal customers to send videos of themselves talking about your products or services, then ask for permission to post them on your website.

Ensure to end your video with a call to action and ask your viewers to share their experiences in the comment section.

Now let us see how to boost sales using video testimonials.

How to use B2B video testimonial in marketing to drive sales

After creating a powerful customer testimonial video, you must position it in a manner that is going to boost sales. For example, a survey conducted in December 2020 shows that 84% of consumers are more likely to buy a product after watching the brand’s video.

In addition, the survey found out that after three days, people remember about 10% of what they heard but still retain about 65% of the images in the video. This clearly shows that B2B video testimonials are a powerful marketing strategy for any business looking to boost sales.

Where should you use the B2B testimonial videos?

Landing Page

This is the first place your customer lands upon visiting your website. Statistics show that landing pages/ homepages increase the conversion rate by 86%. Customer testimonial videos help to:

• Generate leads
• Persuade prospective client to buy your products

You can also add a testimonial page on your website where clients can go to see other customer reviews.

Social Media

Almost everyone, from teens to baby boomers, is on social media. So why not post your customer testimonial video on social media where you will have a broader reach? From small enterprises to large corporations, you will find they are all present on social media.

A Digital 2020 report, published in collaboration with We Are Social and Hootsuite, shows that digital, mobile, and social media are indispensable parts of our daily lives worldwide. Over 4.5 billion people are using the internet as of Jan 1st, 2020, while social media users are above 3.8 billion. These are all potential customers you can target.

Make a habit of posting customer video testimonials on your social media pages to increase brand awareness and drive targeted traffic to your website. You can also run a campaign on your social media pages.

Analyze your testimonials

Since the video does not provide in-depth information, make an individual case study for the client by explaining how the customer used the products to the final results. This makes it easier for your customers and prospects to follow.

For instance, many people are advertising their nutrition programs by showing their clients’ before and after pictures. While this is encouraging, it doesn’t show you the whole process or how long it took. So a case study would be best at this strategy as it would explain their nutrition and exercise in detail.

After creating the video and publishing it on multiple channels, automate some tasks, such as data entry and sales tracking. Automation will improve your team’s productivity by approximately 46%. This is because it eliminates the data entry tasks since it logs every potential interaction in real-time.

In addition, the Sales tracking feature provides you with clear insights and analytics, which show you whether your video strategy is working.

Final Thoughts

Scaling a business is easy if you know what you are doing. The way you use customer reviews to promote sales plays a crucial role in your business. As we’ve seen, B2B video testimonials are here to stay, so don’t get left behind. Get creative and start posting.

Also, be ready to tweak the videos as each channel is different from the other. Don’t give up because the first video does not convert as per your predictions. Everything takes work and time. Doing it consistently will lead to better results.

About the Author 

Sam Shepler is the founder and CEO of Testimonial Hero. 150+ B2B revenue teams at Google, UiPath, Medallia, InsightSquared, and many others use Testimonial Hero to easily create customer videos that engage prospects, reduce friction in the sales cycle, and drive more revenue faster. Twitter | LinkedIn

Follow-ups, whether it’s a call, email or visit, are one of the most frustrating things for salespeople to do. They want to close the deal now and seem to dismiss a prospect who doesn’t buy from them on their timeline. It’s like there’s a negative association among prospects who don’t make a purchasing decision on the sales rep’s timeline.

Key to Remember: Timing is everything and people buy when they’re ready to buy, not when you’re ready to sell.

Intriguing Follow-Up Stats

By now, you’ve surely seen some type of data related to the number of follow-up activities required in order to set an appointment or close a deal. Maybe it came from a coworker trying to sound smart or you read about it because “Johnny Know-It-All” tweeted it and clogged up your feed.

This data is definitely factual, especially in today’s fast paced, and social media frenzied society. Everyone appears to be glued to their smartphones, yet no one seems to be able to hit that little green button to take a call when their phone rings.

Here’s what you need to know about how few salespeople follow-up and what it actually requires to get in touch with a potential customer after an initial conversation:

• 48% of salespeople never even make a single follow-up attempt
• 44% of sales reps give up after just one follow-up attempt
• The average salesperson only makes 2 attempts to even reach a prospect
• 80% of sales require at least 5 follow up attempts after the initial meeting
• If you follow up with a prospect within 5 minutes of their outreach to you, you’re 9x more likely to convert them

[Source: HubSpot]

Why Sales Follow-Up Is So Dismal

There’s plenty of blame to go around for the lack of follow-up attempts that sales reps make. It doesn’t matter if you’re an SDR on an inside sales team or a sales rep going door to door.

The blame lies in 3 areas of a sales organization:

1. Upper-level management: VP’s / Directors of Sales / C-levels
2. Sales managers: Who sales reps report to
3. Sales reps and canvassers It’s a trickle-down effect that has led statistics like these to plague the industry. Part of the job is following-up, it’s that simple. Yet, if “persistence” is in almost every job description, why isn’t it being done?

We’ve already mentioned how sales reps and canvassers despise having to follow-up with prospects, but it’s likely due to a lack of proper training and not being held accountable. When it takes an average of 18 calls to connect with a buyer, there’s no shot in hell that one or two will suffice.

Sales managers should know the value each lead represents to the company in terms of revenue. They should create an implement a follow-up process based on actual data for sales reps and canvassers. If it’s implemented it has to be enforced, and their team has to be held responsible.

Anyone in a C-level position not looking at activities is significantly affecting their revenue and profit margins. They have the ultimate responsibility to recognize their cost per lead is rising as a result of how many need to be generated because they’re not being worked thoroughly.

They should also spot a trend in the amount of commission being paid out. It’s increasing because they’re having to pay for more leads that aren’t converting.

The Effects of Not Following-Up

You’ll only talk to about 33% of the people you visit on your first pass through a neighborhood, and you should be working that neighborhood to a 75% contact rate.

Here’s an example assuming the following:

Congrats!

Out of 500 potential customers, you only generated 6 sales and it’s not going to change. The territory encompassing these 500 houses belongs to a sales rep who’s one of the 48% of salespeople who never make a single follow up attempt.

Because this person will never be back:

• 27 leads will never hear from your company again
• 133 prospects won’t get more information about your company
• 335 potential customers who didn’t answer will never even hear about your company
• You paid commission for 27 leads that will never convert

Now – Watch what happens if the same sales rep works the neighborhood to a 75% market penetration rate using a follow up cadence. (If you’re not familiar with this, you can click the orange text to learn more about why you should make a minimum of 4 attempts in each neighborhood and how your market penetration rate and how it’s calculated)

By following-up and revisiting the houses that didn’t answer each time, 400 prospects have now heard about your company. You’ve put your company in the face of over 80% of the homeowners in this territory.

Forget about how many sales converted on the spot, this person now has an entire pipeline full of potential customers to work and you’re not leaving revenue on the table. You’ll at least be able to get an answer from a lot of these people and know that you had the opportunity to pitch them instead of wondering if any of them were interested.

There’s no doubt you’ll generate revenue if you speak with 400 consumers. It’s much easier to get a new customer in an area where you have existing customers. Neighbors talk and 9 out of 10 buying decisions are made with peer recommendations. Your company’s presence and reputation in that neighborhood will spread and lead to additional sales.

It will also lead to referrals, which are your highest converting and cheapest leads. This is significant because 92% of buyers trust referrals from people they know and 83% of customers are willing to provide a referral after a positive experience.

The importance of follow-ups extend well beyond just working a lead to get that one deal.

The Do’s of Follow-Ups

High performing sales organizations are twice as likely to provide ongoing training as low performing organizations. Because of how difficult it is to reconnect with a prospect after a presentation, it’s vital for sales reps to be trained on how to handle the conversation.

Determine the Best Method

Prior to the end of the conversation or presentation, ask the prospect what the best method to follow-up with them is. This is often overlooked and assumed. No one will know better than the customer themselves, and you don’t know if you don’t ask.

You want to know if there’s any specific information they’d be interested in and the times that typically work best for them. The method used to follow up is referencing the information that needs to be sent or shared.

Determine the Preferred Method of Contact

Along the same lines, you want to know how they like to communicate. Some people like emails more than calls, but some would prefer a text over an email. One of the most important reasons to determine how they like to communicate is to avoid being annoying. Nothing will turn a prospect away quicker.

With only 3% of buyers saying they trust salespeople (the lowest of any profession behind only car sales, politics and lobbyists), it’s essential to be viewed as a credible professional. Blowing their phone up and annoying them will only destroy the hard work you’ve put in.

Always Have a Specific Reason to Contact the Prospect

When the follow up isn’t 100% focused on the sales rep, response rates and engagements increase. It’s fine to follow up to ask for the sale, but have a reason for doing that. Track your potential customers and stay connected with them, even if you’re not actually communicating.

When it’s time to revisit them or give them a call, you’ll have something other than just business to talk about. This will help you build rapport and establish credibility. When it’s finally time to get into the nitty gritty, there will be a much lighter and friendlier mood.

Always Provide Value

One of the most important things for salespeople to do is be value focused. It goes beyond customer service. Anything that happens throughout the sales process should force the sales rep to think about how they can add value to the customer’s life, and how their service solves a problem.

Value can be anything from additional resources you thought they might like to offering a discount. Keep in mind that value doesn’t always correlate to money; you don’t have to give your service away.

End Each Conversation with a Clearly Defined Next Step

The easiest time to get a commitment for the next step is at the end of the conversation you just had. It’s almost a certainty the prospect has their schedule in front of them on their smartphone. Nothing will leave you more frustrated than trying to get back in touch with someone you thought was a quality lead.

Capitalize on this moment and lock them down to a next step by asking for it. So many sales reps shoot themselves in the foot by not being firm on this. You can’t let the prospect tell you, “Come back next week sometime in the afternoon.” Once they leave without committing to anything on their end it becomes a game of cat and mouse trying to re-engage.

One Major Thing to Avoid When Following Up on Sales Leads

NEVER JUST FOLLOW UP TO “CHECK IN” OR “TOUCH BASE”

This awful, terrible phrases mean that you have absolutely no reason to speak with them. No reason to speak with them means that they don’t have a reason to speak with you and you’re wasting their time.

If they needed to check in with you, they would have contacted you one way or another. What is there to check in on? It’s lazy and unprepared. You’re not adding anything to their life or helping them solve a problem, you’re just adding to the number of people they already don’t want to speak with.

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SPOTIO is the #1 field sales engagement and performance management software that will increase revenue, maximize profitability, and boost sales productivity.

Want to see a product demonstration? Click here to see how SPOTIO can take your sales game to the next level.

Don’t Leave It to Chance on Knowing Where or How to Canvass a Neighborhood

Even if you are just starting out in door-to-door canvassing and don’t have a customer base there are ways you can be more strategic about where you start knocking so that you have a warmer reception and a higher potential to generate good leads.

Knowing where to start, so that you can maximize your canvassing contact rate and doing a little bit of research up front will prevent you from wasting a lot of time once you get out in the field. And it will set the stage for a much better lead rate.

Options to Pre-Qualify Your First Canvassing Neighborhood

How to Canvass a Neighborhood for Sales Reps at Companies

1. Where Your Company Has Customers

Pre-qualifying neighborhoods to begin canvassing can be as simple as picking an area where your company already has some customers. It makes sense to go to an area where people are already buying – if some households in an area have had their need met by your product, it’s likely that other households would respond positively, too.

Use those existing customers as an initial reference point to define your own turf. The main, and most important thing to remember here is to make sure you aren’t canvassing on another rep’s territory.

With SPOTIO’s Territory Manager, you don’t have to worry about stepping on another rep’s toes. Pinpoint prospects and customers in a filterable map and ork territories confidently and efficiently with a clear view of what doors in each neighborhood have a rep assigned to them or not.

This can be a great place to start – you can see that sales are possible here, but if no one is actively working the area, it’s free for you to knock.

You will be much more likely to have a prospect listen to you if you can provide social proof that you have worked with people they know. Start at the houses on either side or across the street from a current customer.

Your opening statement will be something like:

“Good afternoon, my name is Trey with Amazing Company. You might have seen us over at Bob’s house next door last month installing that new incredible product and I wanted to stop by and let you know about a special we have that ends next Friday…”

That sounds a lot better than:

“Hi, my name is Trey with Amazing Company. We are in your area today letting you and your neighbors know about an amazing special we have that ends next Friday…”

2. No Customer? How About Leads

While current customers are the best, really any name is a great starting point even if it wasn’t your lead. The point is to have somebody to reference.

In this situation, your opener would sound very similar to the one above but be modified because you haven’t actually done work with the neighbor.

If you’re looking for a neighborhood to start knocking doors that you haven’t received any leads in yet, this is the time to go ask your manager for prospects from an ex-rep that used to work there.

Or, use a tool like SPOTIO’s Lead Machine to identify pre-qualified leads for you.

Lead Machine provides 200+ data points on homes; data such as the age, income, credit capacity, renter or owner, etc. available at your fingertips.

Save hours on knocking homes that don’t meet your qualifications. When you have already pre-qualified your area of prospects it saves you the time of knocking doors that you would typically disqualify.

Sample opener for leads:

“Hello, my name is Trey with Amazing Company. You might have seen our ads on TV for the ridiculous deal X that we offer. Anyway, we were over at Joe’s house next door recently doing a product demo and I wanted to stop off and make sure I let you know about an incredible special we are currently running…”

3. Re-hash Old Stale Leads

For a skilled door-to-door canvasser, these can be gold. Companies hate the fact that they spent money on leads that didn’t become paying customers. The chances are that they have a ton of old leads in their system that they would love for somebody to re-hash.

You would start by going by the old leads house to see if maybe you have the magic touch to turn them into a customer. Yes? Then you will certainly be the office hero. No? You’ll be noticed for going above and beyond while looking out for the company’s bottom line.

Re-hash Opener:

“Hi Mr. Jones, my name is Trey with Amazing Company.  I’m sure you remember us from when we were out here in April?  Great, well I was in the area and wanted to let you know about a special we are running this month…”

Either way, you now have a good excuse to knock doors around the old lead. Use the opener described in situation 2 (above) to get things moving.

4. Working With The Best

No company and no leads? Well shoot; now what?

A good option to not only get into a new neighborhood, but also pick up some great learnings, is to find the best sales rep in the company and ask them if you can work for them for three days in the field in exchange for showing you a good neighborhood to work and what they do to be so successful.

This really works good in companies with low over site and training.

If you are a new sales rep, then offer to go set appointments for the seasoned pro. If you are a canvasser, ask to team up with someone better than yourself and offer to put all the appointments you generate for those days in their name.

Yes, you will be giving up some income initially but what you will learn in the process should be worth way more than any sales you would have made during that time.

How to Canvass a Neighborhood for Managers

Up to this point, we have discussed what new sales reps or canvassers at companies should do and now we are going to shift focus to managers and owners.

If you are a new manager of a team and are given little to no direction on where to work then you would be best to start on the points discussed above in the Sales Rep and Canvasser section the only difference is that you will be bringing a team with you.

Do you plan to drop your team as individuals in different areas? No problem. Just get several old customers or old leads and practice the script with your reps. Let them know what to say to best increase their chances of success.

Did you just get a business that requires you to do door to door sales or want to try out this sales method to supplement your normal sales process?  Both are good reasons to give it a try.

If you have an existing business and are just getting started prospecting door-to-door, then use the steps above to go to areas where you currently have customers.

The toughest is for a brand new owner that has zero history of customers, leads or anything. It’s going to be difficult deciding where to start.

The best thing for you to do is conduct some great market research to know exactly who your customer is.

You can do this by creating Customer Profiles. A customer profile is basically a story of who is most likely to buy what you are selling.  The more specific you can get the better.

For this example let’s say you are a company that sells painting services. Your Customer Profile will contain a house that isn’t necessarily new but probably not too old.  You want someone who cares about the appearance of their house and has the money to pay for serious upkeep.

Therefore, you would want to find neighborhoods that have houses 10 to 20 years old that are worth $250k (or whatever a middle to upper middle class house would be) and up.

How do you find these houses? One way is to use Zillow or Trulia to find houses for sale in that range and start in those neighborhoods.

A warm approach is always more comfortable than a cold approach so how can you do this without any customer?

Get some cheap door hangers printed out from Vista Print and go by the houses in the early afternoon and drop them off at the door. Once prime time knocking time comes (around at 4pm – 5pm) go back to the neighborhood and see which door hangers aren’t there anymore.

From this you know two things:

1. That the homeowner is home and
2. They have seen your door hanger

Now when you go to the door you will have something to reference to in order to start up the conversation.

A potential opener:

“Good afternoon, my name is Trey with Amazing Company. We were in the area earlier talking to some of your neighbors about our incredible product.  We left behind some information and I wanted to make sure you got it…”

Using SPOTIO to Map Territories

Mapping territories by hand is not only time-consuming and tedious, it’s also unnecessary.

Creating a sales territory map in SPOTIO allows you to easily map out target accounts and assign to reps. Create custom territories with a variety of metrics to ensure you’re going after prospects with the best chances of turning into a sale.

With SPOTIO, establish territories in a variety of ways:

• By zip code
• By county
• By state
• Or draw your boundaries by hand using the lasso tool

Once you have the territories defined, organize and visualize this data with colorized pins. This is a way for reps to stay organized and sort through their map quickly and easily. They can set the color and data points for their pins, customizing their workflow.

The benefits don’t end here.

An organized map is great, but not much value for management. Managers need to see the data in order to evaluate performance. Using performance reports, you have the ability to view data and identify trends. See which territories and reps are performing well, and those that may need a little help. In a few clicks, analyze your field sales productivity.

In Closing

With these potential ways to kick off your door knocking or canvassing campaign you should have no problem getting started. Don’t spend too much time getting ready to get ready as all of this can be done in one afternoon. The most important thing is to just Do The Work.

And no matter where you begin, remember to “start at the top and work your way down.” This could refer to a building, a street, or any other aspect of how your canvassing area is laid out.

One easy way to keep track of where the doors you’ve knocked and where you’re knocking next? The pin-dropping feature in SPOTIO’s door to door canvassing software is where this magic happens. You’ll have easy access to a visual representation of where you’ve been and where you’re going next.

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SPOTIO is the #1 field sales engagement and performance management software that will increase revenue, maximize profitability, and boost sales productivity.

Want to see a product demonstration? Click here to see how SPOTIO can take your sales game to the next level.

How rewarding? The national average salary for a medical sales rep per the MedReps 2018 Medical Sales Salary Report is just under $150,000 ($149, 544), an increase of around $2,000 from 2017.

The medical sales industry is growing, which means they will always be looking for new talent. But, do you have what it takes to be a successful medical sales rep?

Let us explore this exciting and challenging field and the opportunities it presents.

Here’s what we’ll cover in this article:

1. The responsibilities of a medical sales rep
2. What do hiring managers look for
3. Critical medical sales rep requirements
4. How to become a medical sales rep with no experience

The essential skills that will lead  to your first medical sale

What is a Medical Sales Rep?

Medical sales reps sell a company’s products, whether for pharmaceutical companies or healthcare equipment manufacturers, serving as the liaison between the customers and the manufacturer.

The sales rep also promotes the features and benefits of the company’s products, answers questions, provides consultation on the use of the product, and introduces new products as they launch.

Key Responsibilities of Medical Sales Positions

Medical sales reps handle all stages of the medical sales journey, but some places need more attention than others.

Here are some especially important responsibilities:

Identify and qualify prospects and decision makers.  Who’s on the buying committee? Are you communicating with, and convincing, everyone who has veto power? You could be talking to administrators, doctors, nurses, and therapists.

They’ll all have different questions and concerns.

Product knowledge is key. You will have to demonstrate your product formally and informally. Know your product, read the studies, and be able to provide any additional research prospects may request.

Presentation skills are needed for meetings, conferences and trade shows. Provide valuable information in every setting and demonstrate you understand their challenges and needs.

Negotiate the sales contract. This is the age of value-added care. How does your product, and your contract, provide value-added care to the buyer and their patients?

Know the HIPAA regs as they apply to business associates. You may come in contact with protected health information (PHI). Prove you’re a trustworthy professional who won’t expose your customers to potential HIPAA headaches.

Develop and maintain relationships with past, present, and future customers. Be a valuable resource. Providing useful information, like new studies or relevant news articles, is a great way to keep in touch.

What Do Hiring Managers Look For?

Hiring managers have a specific set of skills they are looking for in the ideal candidates for medical sales. Per MedReps.com, their talent acquisition strategy includes a search for:

1. Foundational Skills
2. Transferable Skills
3. Industry-Specific Skills

Let’s take a closer look at the three skill types and some examples of each.

Foundation Skills

Foundation skills are fundamentals imperative for the position. These skills are not specific to the medical industry, but are necessary for success in medical sales.

Some examples of Foundation Skills include:

Sales Skills: Medical sales reps must have new business development and prospecting abilities, presentation proficiencies that communicate features and benefits, and an aptitude for self-discipline to stay on top of new technology and research in their field.

They should also be able to set and achieve goals.

Interpersonal Skills: Candidates should be active listeners comfortable with collaborative work environments and possess excellent problem-solving tactics.

Self-Management Skills:  The strongest candidates will have adequate time management skills. They need to be self-motivated and able to set goals and create systems to achieve those goals.

They should also have a positive attitude accompanied by a strong work ethic.

Finally, they should adapt quickly to change, as the medical sales industry is always evolving.

Transferable Skills

Transferable skills are those abilities acquired through other occupations. These competencies are not specific to medical sales, but instead are work-related talents gained through experiences in different positions.

Some examples of transferable skills include:

Marketing Flair: Candidates who know how to promote the features and benefits of a product to a specific audience are in demand by medical sales recruiters.

Knowing how to use different channels to reach potential customers or expand the relationships with existing customers is key to a medical sales rep’s success.

Public Relations: Communication is significant for medical sales reps. Hiring managers want medical sales reps that can present to an audience, answer questions, and disseminate information about the products.

They also want people who can handle customer concerns and overcome objections.

Project Management: Desirable candidates will have project management aptitude. Running a medical sales territory has many moving parts, and the best candidates can develop systems to help them manage and organize their territory to meet the expectations of their organization.

Industry-Specific Skills

Industry-Specific Skills refer to those skills directly related to the healthcare industry. These might be from work experience or education.

Some examples of industry-specific skills include:

Relevant Experience: The best candidates for a job in medical sales are those that have already been in medical sales. Per Elitemed, a recruitment firm for medical sales, hiring managers often want to hire reps that already have two to three years’ experience in the field.

Healthcare Professionals: Candidates that were nurses, scrub techs, or other healthcare providers are often excellent candidates because they have industry knowledge.

Elitemed says healthcare professionals understand the hospital environment and speak the same language as the customer.

Biotechnology or Science Background: Candidates with education in scientific fields have an advantage in medical sales. MedReps suggests people with a scientific background often also have technical writing skills and can explain things well in regular language. These candidates are also familiar with research and using evidence-based claims to convince customers of the product benefits.

Do you have many of the foundational, transferable, and industry-related skills discussed here? If so, here are the steps you need to take to become a successful medical sales rep.

How to Become a Medical Sales Rep (with No Experience)

Having the right skills is only part of the equation to success as a medical sales rep. Candidates that want not only to get the job but to thrive in their new career should consider the following steps.

Step #1: Pick a Focus for Your Medical Sales Career

There are many areas of specialization in medical sales. While the sale itself is often transactional, there are times when a consultation would benefit the deal.

Medical reps that can speak the language and understand the science behind the products will have the best success. Choosing an area to master will establish you as a leader and drive you to success.

Consider the following specialties:

Medical Devices and Equipment: Reps that sell medical devices specialize in equipment or biomedical implants used by clinicians in treatment. Some examples of the products a medical device rep would represent are artificial joints like hip replacement devices or pacemakers used by cardiologists.

Pharmaceuticals:  A pharmaceutical rep would present the features and benefits of drugs that treat conditions within the clinician’s specialty. For example, a pharmaceutical rep for a company with a cholesterol reducer might call upon cardiologists and general practitioners.

Biotechnology:  A medical sale rep working in this field would represent companies that use living organisms for their healthcare-related inventions and procedures.

Like a pharmaceutical rep, there are specialties within the field, which range from drug development to mapping the genomes and other areas of micro- and molecular biology. Unlike the other specialties, this one might require a strong background and education in life sciences.

Step #2: Establish your 30/60/90 Day Plan—in Theory, and Practice

When you have somewhere to go, you need to have a plan to get there. A 30-60-90 day plan is precisely what it sounds like; it is a plan with specific goals for each period.

Not only will having a plan help you focus on what you need to do to land the job, but once you have the job it can help your transition into a new career.

A strategic approach to a territory tends to be more successful than “just going for it.” Let’s take a closer look at each type of 30/60/90/day plan.

For the Interview Process:

It is a favorite interview question to ask the candidate what they would do if they had the job.

Hubspot suggests that having an answer to the question in the form of a 30-60-90 plan can demonstrate to the hiring manager that you are organized, thorough, and can prioritize well.

For the New Job:

Starting a job in a new company can be overwhelming and stressful. Having a concrete plan for the first three months helps you focus on one goal at a time while gaining mastery of the features and benefits of your products.

The 30-day goals are by the nature of their timeline, your quick wins. An example will be to learn about your main accounts and understand their business.

Likewise, the 90-day goals will be those that take more steps or require more experience to accomplish. Examples here could be gaining entry into a significant prospect that isn’t a customer—yet.

It is crucial, however, that you allow time for the short-term and long-term goals from day one. Otherwise, you might not lay the proper groundwork for the tasks that require the longer timeline.

Step #3: Get Familiar with the Job and the Environment

One thing all recruiting professionals like to see is the hands-on experience. The problem is you do not have any. Getting field experience is vital to improving your chances at landing your first medical sales rep position.

Job Shadow

In sales, you often learn by doing. Try doing a ride-along or job-shadow with a successful medical sales rep. Seeing the experienced medical sales rep in their day-to-day interactions will not only give you the crucial experience you need, but it will also allow you to know whether you want to do this job.

Internships

Another way to get immediate experience is to apply for an internship. Internships with medical sales companies allow you to work alongside the sales team and learn directly from the experts.

Your duties as an intern for a medical sales organization could encompass a range of sales and support activities. Some interns qualify new accounts.

They might also manage or gather additional data in the company’s customer relationship management (CRM) system. Some interns look for new opportunities to deepen relationships with existing customers or adapt current systems to a new market. Other interns travel with the sales team. Many interns will research new specialty product opportunities.

Another option is to contact the doctors’ offices directly and ask what they look for in a good sales rep. Who better to tell you what you need to do then the people that would buy from you?

Volunteering

Hubspot recommends that you also consider volunteering at a hospital or medical practice. Gaining experience can come from related jobs, too.

Working in a medical practice or at a supplier for hospitals or medical practices, even at an entry level, can give you some experience in the field that would benefit your resume.

In addition to industry-related experience, it is also an excellent idea to brush up on your transferable skills as well. You should be able to operate proficiently in most sales-related technology, like CRM, project management software, and Microsoft Office programs. You should also brush up your communication skills, including technical writing.

Transferable skills are important too. MedReps.com recommends working on presentation skills as medical sales reps are usually fielding questions and presenting scientific evidence.

Step #4: Train Yourself for Success

It’s never too soon to start training in your chosen field. Medical sales reps need to have a command of the selling process so they can hit the ground running.

Hubspot recommends enrolling in a training program on your own, even before you have a job. Many medical sales organizations have affiliations with consulting groups that have training programs in place to help candidates like you get started on their skill set to make them more desirable to recruiters.

The most beneficial training programs will teach you the language of the industry. Also, they should give you a better idea of what is expected of a medical sales rep and exposure to the typical processes and procedures with a healthcare-related supplier.

In addition to formalized training, you should read studies, press releases, and new articles. Sign up for Google Alerts, a search tool that finds articles and results related to a topic of your choosing. You will automatically get notified when there stories, products, or mentions that you should read.

You can also visit Medical News Today for breaking news of medical topics in your chosen specialty and also to use the collections section of the Knowledge Center to research developments for your specialization.

Many organizations use Salesforce as their CRM. Having an excellent working knowledge of Salesforce will not only make you a more desirable candidate, but it will make your transition into the new position easier.

Salesforce has a free online training center called Trailhead for new users. However, there are more interactive online versions, too, as well as public and private settings for training as well.

Brushing up on sales skills is also an outstanding way to train for medical sales jobs. SPOTIO has an assortment of resources articles, eBook materials, and tools that can help you learn to prospect and qualify leads, manage a territory, plan for success, and optimize your sales calls.

Step #5: Network, Network, Network

Knowing the right people is never the wrong thing to do when you are trying to break into medical sales. Networking is vital.

LinkedIn

One free and easy way to start networking is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a social network for your professional life. You create a profile and link to people you know. The site has a helpful “people you may know” section to help you build your network. You can post articles you have read, posts you have written or other professional links and news on your profile.

LinkedIn also has Groups where you can interact with other people in the group. Search for a group under medical sales and request to join to interact with others in the field.

LinkedIn also helps with searching for jobs. You can see who has viewed your profile. Then, you can message them to see if they have any questions for you. Also, actively responding to blogs posted by others in your field can help you network and find new opportunities.

You can also research companies on the site.

LinkedIn also includes photos of people that have some affiliation with you or your network. These contacts can be a starting point for your networking efforts.

Networking and Associations

Consider joining associations. Many have active memberships that present opportunities to network with like-minded professionals in your area of focus.

Online networking is only part of your strategy. You should also pursue in-person opportunities to meet people in the medical sales industry. Seminars and conferences are a great way to create connections with other attendees.

However, remember that quality connections are far more useful than the quantity of contacts. Introducing yourself to people who will quickly forget your name will not help you get a job in medical sales.

Creating unique connections with people rather than just “working the room” will yield better results.

Step #6: Create a Compelling Online Presence

LinkedIn is one of many stops you should make when building your online presence. In fact, 80% of recruiters do an online search before reaching out to potential candidates per HuffPost.

It’s essential to think about what they might see if they searched for you. The best way to find this out is to simply Google yourself and see what comes up. Then, Google a respected person in the field to see how their online presence differs from yours.

Here are a few tips on what will help and what can hurt.

Things That Help You

A Professional Headshot: A professional headshot presents you in your best possible light. Our advice is to spring for the professional, no matter how great you think your camera’s phone is.

Customized Summary of Work History: You want your work history to speak to how you match with the job you want. So be sure to customize your work history to highlight all the qualities you have that would make you a tremendous medical sales rep. If possible and appropriate, customize the summary specifically for the organization you want to join.

Just be careful that you do not eliminate yourself from other potential organizations in the process.

Accomplishments: Whenever possible, you want your work history to reflect successes, the more specific, the better.

For example, you did not just grow your territory in media sales; you increased your territory in media sales by 17% in the first three quarters of the fiscal year.

Also include any education awards, achievement-based accolades (e.g., Rookie of the year or President’s Club), and significant accomplishments outside of work, like being an Eagle Scout or on the National Volleyball Team, etc.

Skills, Endorsements, and Recommendations: You also want to make sure that when recruiters search for you online, they find their way to your skills that fall into foundational, transferable, and industry-specific categories.

Also, be sure to post any endorsements, reviews, or referrals you might have received from past employers or clients. Talent acquisition specialists like to see that you have a track record of success with people.

Things That Hurt You

Inappropriate Pictures: Seeing is believing and a picture speaks a thousand words. Scrutinize (and scrub) any photos you have on your social media sites so that when a recruiter or hiring manager finds you, they believe you have what it takes.

Let those thousand words your pictures say include,  “professional, ambitious, and successful “ first and foremost.

Crass Language: Like your pictures, what you say online is also a significant contributor to your online presence. Ensure that a search of your words will reveal a candidate who is poised and appropriate.

Mixing Personal and Business: This point can be tricky since often the two areas overlap. However, it is critical to demonstrate that you know the difference between the two and can adapt your behavior and demeanor to match the situation.

Post-Hire Success: Tips for Getting Your First Medical Sale

Let’s say you do it. You met all the medical sales rep requirements, and now you have your first medical sales rep position. Now what?

Here are a few tips for getting your first medical sale:

1. Know the Customer: Gaining a deep understanding of your customer allows you to anticipate their needs and to match features and benefits of your products to solve their challenges.

Social media and a robust internet search will often reveal a lot about your customers, mainly their professional focus and any research area in which they have a particular interest or involvement.

Also, you will likely learn more about their philosophy of care, which can also tell you a lot about their personality and values. All of this information should help you make the minutes count when you get that valuable face to face time.

2. Prospect Intelligently: Your sales will be better if you start with excellent prospects. When you qualify your potential leads, ensure that what you offer is in the doctor’s specialty and appropriate for their practice. In addition, look for indications that they might be a champion of your competitor.

Also, take a few minutes to learn more about the gatekeeper at the practice and how they handle requests for the staff’s time.

All of this foundational research will help you be more efficient with your time and reveal your best opportunities.

Tools like SPOTIO’s Lead Machine can also disclose as much information as possible about prospects to get you started in the right direction.

3. Engage in Pain-based Discovery:  Your sales discovery questions should be open-ended, and pain focused.

First, you can learn as much as possible about the prospect.

Second, you can discover the needs your prospect has. Needs-based selling is not like selling at all; it is more like problem-solving. When you know what is not working for a prospect, you can craft a solution based on what you have to offer.

Then, you have not sold a customer so much as you have helped them. The Sandler Pain Funnel has a series of questions you can use to uncover the real pain a prospect feels, which gives you a better chance of finding a real solution.

4. Follow a Follow-up Strategy: Nearly as crucial as prospecting intelligently for landing your first medical sale is following up sufficiently. Every successful medical supplies salesperson has an excellent follow-up strategy.

It should follow the three P’s: personalized, proper, and (pleasantly) persistent. Personalization shows that you listen well and understand what the prospect wants.

Having proper follow up establishes you as a professional partner for their practice. Being persistent shows that their business is important to you, and also, does not let your product slip through the cracks of a busy medical practice.

5. Set Daily (S.M.A.R.T) Goals: One way you can shorten the sales cycle is to be diligent about attacking all the essential tasks each day that can get you closer to a yes.

However, like any goal-setting strategy, they should be achievable. In other words, don’t make a daily goal that is not realistic (e.g., making your sales quota for the month by the end of the day).

Have a certain number of calls you want to make, an amount of new opportunities that you identify, a few accounts where you move the sales process to the next step, and, after you have been at it for some time, a few accounts that you think you might close.

Following the SMART guidelines, you will create actionable goals that are guaranteed to see results.

6. Learn from Your Failures: It is no secret that getting to your first yes will involve hearing a lot of no’s. It is crucial that you learn to overcome the no. Analyze what did not work and figure out why or at what moment the sale went wrong.

Then, address that moment with a new tactic next time to get a different outcome the next time.

Many sales experts will tell you that the best salespeople are lifelong learners. And they all know how to overcome objections that lead to no’s and turn them into a yes.

Medical sales is a challenging career, but it is also one of the most rewarding. With an average national salary firmly in six figures, medical sales rep jobs can be high-paying opportunities.

Medical sales is also an industry that continues to grow with almost an endless need for new talent. If you have the skills, meet the medical sales rep requirements and the ability that hiring managers and recruiters are looking for, you could be the next successful medical sales rep, even if you had no experience before.

Ready to Jumpstart Your Medical Sales Career?

By understanding what the job entails, taking the steps we showed you for how to become a medical sales reps, and ensuring that you have the right training you will have built a strong foundation for your future career. Add to it your efforts to learn the industry and customize your online presence to attract medical sales talent acquisition specialists, and you will be able to land your first medical sales position.

So what are you waiting for? You have some work to do.

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Questions or comments? Contact SPOTIO at info@spotio.com or comment below.

SPOTIO is the #1 sales acceleration software that will increase revenue, maximize profitability, and boost sales productivity.

Want to see a product demonstration? Click here to see how SPOTIO can take your sales game to the next level.

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Sources:

“2018 Medical Sales Salary Report.” www.medreps.com Web. 12 October 2018. https://www.medreps.com/medical-sales-careers/medical-sales-salary-report

“The Necessary Skills to Succeed in Medical Sales 101.” www.medreps.com. 30 October 2017. Web. 12 October 2018. https://www.medreps.com/medical-sales-careers/the-necessary-skills-to-succeed-in-medical-sales-101

“Breaking Into Medical Device Sales.” Elitemed.com. Web. 12 October 2018. , http://elitemed.com/entry-into-medical-sales-outdated/

Chi, Clifford. “The 30-60-Day Plan: Your Guide for Mastering a New Role [template + Example].” Blog.hubspot.com. 19 July 2018. Web. 15 October 2018. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/30-60-90-day-plan

Mullins, Karyn. “How to Become a Medical Sales Rep (Even If You Have No Experience).” Blog.hubspot.com. Web. 16 October 2018. https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/become-medical-sales-rep

Joyce, Susan. P. “What 80% of Employers Do Before Inviting You for an Interview.” www.huffingtonpost.com. 1 May 2014. Web. 17 October 2018. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-p-joyce/job-search-tips_b_4834361.html