Territory Management&Time Management

WHAT IS A SALES TERRITORY?

DEFINITION

“A sales territory is composed of a group of customers or a geographic area assigned to a salesperson”.

Territory Management

•Can be define as“ The planning, implementation and

control of salespersons' activity with the goal of realizing the sales and profit potential of there assigned territories”.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT?

Development of sales territories is usually the responsibility of the sales manager overseeing the larger sales units within the organization.

WHY ESTABLISH SALES TERRITORIES?

• To obtain thorough coverage of the market.• To establish a salesperson’s responsibility.• To evaluate performance.• To improve customer relations.• To reduce sales expense.• To allow better matching of salesperson to customer.

Why sales territories may not be developed:

•When high-technology selling is involved •Salespeople may be more motivated if they

are not restricted.

• The company may be too small.

• Personal friendship may be the basis for attracting customers.

Dealing with Territory Management Problems• Even the more careful plan is bound to encounter

problems when put into practice.Problems RemediesInadequate coverage Split territoriesInadequate size Enlarge territoriesOverlapping T. Minimize crossoversHigh turnover Rectify causal factorInadequate support Assist sales person

Operating the territory management system•Once the territories have been

established or revised to fit current needs and all members of the existing sales force have been assigned, these sales force requires routing & scheduling programs.

Routing

The process begins with account identification. The geographic locations of actual & potential customers have to be put on a detailed map of the territory.

•Routing ensure effective & efficient servicing of all the accounts.

FIGURE 6.2 THREE BASIC ROUTING PATTERNS

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Straight line method

•Routing pattern in which the sales person begins with a call at the outer perimeter of his or her territory and then works back to the home base by calling on customers located in the interior portion of the territory.

Clover leaf pattern

•Routing method made up of four or more connected circular sequences

• This mean that every account is visited once every four weeks.

Using the Telephone for Territorial Coverage

1. Sales generating

• Selling regular orders to smaller accounts.

• Selling specials, such as offering price discounts on an individual product.

• Developing leads and qualifying prospects.

Using the Telephone for Territorial Coverage continued

2. Order processing

• Ordering through the warehouse.

• Gathering credit information.

• Checking if shipments have been made.

Using the Telephone for Territorial Coverage continued

3. Customer service

• Handling complaints.

• Answering questions.

• Satisfying part of the service needs ofaccounts by telephone.

• Assigning smaller accounts to telephone selling.

• Doing prospecting, market data gathering, and call scheduling by telephone.

• Carefully scheduling visits to distant accounts, replacing some with telephone calls.

Most people can benefit from adopting the following practices:

EVALUATION AND REVISION OF SALES TERRITORIES

Territorial control is the establishment of standards of performance for the individual territory in the form of qualitative and quantitative quotas or goals.

OPEN SALES TERRITORIES

Open sales territories are those left vacant until new salespeople are assigned to them. Vacant territories experience the following:

• Lost sales due to the vacancy.

• Lost sales due to the time needed for the new salesperson to build sales

productivity.

Sales leakage

Sales leakage refers to the lost sales due to both the vacancy and the time required for the new salesperson to produce at average.