Whether seeking expansion, optimizing sales, or restructuring your operations, territory mapping software is an essential tool. By properly leveraging sales territory mapping, organizations are better able to achieve maximum penetration and revenue without redundancy, overlap, or missed opportunities. Here are a few ways your organization can acquire accurate insights and achieve better business outcomes through territory mapping.
Follow Your Hierarchy
Rather than attempting to view all your data on the same level, you should try to follow the hierarchy of your organization. Organize your territories based on local, regional, and national sets and subsets, so that you can quickly drill down to the information that you need while still maintaining accurate summaries. Creating inclusive sets will make it easier for you to balance not only local segments of the population but also larger areas and broader demographics.
Visualize Your Data
Rather than relying upon your raw data for insights, use the visualization packages of your software suite. Visualized reports are far more intuitive than textual data, and they can even tell you a different story. For instance, a zone may appear to be optimal insofar as the actual data is concerned, but maps may reveal that it is in the center of an overly saturated location or that it is positioned next to an aggressively resistant one, and thus does not provide many opportunities for outward expansion. Visualizing data is of particular importance with geographic considerations, as it isn’t just about the location itself — it’s about its physical surroundings.
Rebalance Your Territories
Territory mapping isn’t a “set it and forget it” system; you need to collect new data and analyze your territories regularly so they remain properly balanced. Many organizations use territory mapping to initially divide their territories and then fail to adjust the territories as needed, either because it is not prioritized or because it simply isn’t consiidered. A failure to regularly rebalance territories can lead to certain areas becoming oversaturated and other areas failing to meet their full profit potential.
Get It On the Go
Mobile access is important for every core business asset today — territory mapping software is no exception. By being able to review and revise territory maps through mobile devices (such as tablets and mobile phones), you and your team will be able to quickly meet the changing needs of each area. Mobile access, such as cloud-based infrastructures, also make it easier to integrate the system with third-party solutions, such as ERP and CRM platforms. This is especially important for agile sales teams that may need to be deployed to new areas quickly.
Collect the Right Data
Data analysis is all about getting the right data, not the most data. Many organizations falter when trying to collect their sales and demographics information; they lose scope and try to collect as much information as they can, even if that information isn’t necessarily relevant. This is dangerous because it also means that the information may not be accurate. The more information you collect, the less you will be able to verify. Focus on your key metrics when mapping out your territories, rather than drilling down to niche factors.
Cross-Reference When Applicable
There is a wealth of information available if you only know where to look. Most areas will have complex demographic information available, provided by the government. Ideal territory management suites will let you cross reference this demographic information (such as age, median income, and other household information) alongside your own analysis and data. This will give you a very full picture of your potential in any given location, and it will also let you identify the major factors that lead to your organization’s success. Just make sure you’re using verifiable government resources; anyone can publish polling data, and it isn’t always accurate.
There are few things truer than the old adage: “Location, location, location.” Territory management is often what determines the success or failure of a business. Territory management software is designed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of an area in relation to the business, so that an organization can properly plan for the future. By providing your territory management suite with accurate data and checking this data against census and demographic information, you can get a solid picture of whether the area is right for sales or expansion.
