Sabrina was the last to leave the conference room. The meeting had taken a toll on her. But things were settling now and she was happy about it. In a quarterly report, it was discovered that 8 of her sales managers were targeting clients in only the western zone of the country. The potential in the remaining 3 zones was 120% more but the west zone had become convenient. Not only was the potential in other zones wasted but there were internal fights about targeting the same set of leads among the reps. The meeting concluded with a solution of having a better Sales Territory Management in place and Sabrina was feeling relieved.

Sabrina isn’t the only Sales Manager facing this critical situation. Several businesses across industries face these and more such challenges on an everyday basis. Let us have a look at a few widely popular ones and see if we have a solution!

Challenge 1: Unequal Territory Distribution

Kara and Nate work as medical agents for an upcoming Pharma brand. As a startup, the brand struggles with distribution and sales, and Kara and Nate team up to personally visit pharmacies to market and sell their products. They concentrate on very few areas in the beginning, however, still inadvertently cross into each other’s sales areas. They are mature and understanding and handle the situation comfortably, however, often Kara ends up traveling more than Nate and their work distribution becomes unequal.

Solution: Employing advanced territory planning software to distribute territories based on factors such as sales potential, customer density, and rep capacity is ideal in this situation. Gone are the days of Excel sheets, with territory planning software such as Maplytics in Dynamics 365, users can identify the factors for sales territory creation, analyze how each could help out quickly, and create efficient sales territory maps. The most convenient one could be finalized.

Challenge 2: Overlapping Territories

A potential lead for Eagle Wears and Co. got two sales emails from two different reps within a week offering two different deals. On investigation, it was inferred that none of the sales reps were actually at fault. Both had been assigned the record of the same lead in each of their assigned sales territories.

Solution: The inefficiency of traditional territory mapping and record assignment can be fought with a mapping tool followed by clear guidelines and communication channels among sales reps. Maplytics with its Territory Management license is an excellent record-mapping tool within Dynamics 365. The records can be mapped at the time of territory creation as well. They also get assigned automatically with a click of a button. The multi-territory option even allows the flexibility of assigning a record to multiple territories as per business requirements.

Challenge 3: Imbalance in Sales Performance

Tom and Jerry worked on the territories Ashes and Vibes respectively. At the end of the month, it was always noticed that Ashes had outperformed the set target and Vibes wasn’t even 50% there. Initially, Jerry was pushed to perform better but when everything failed, it was discovered that Ashes had a thicker concentration of target groups, hence, the performance was never at par.

Solution: Regular analysis of sales performance metrics by territory is a necessity in sales. Redistribution of accounts or adjustment of quotas based on data-driven insights proves to be helpful. Providing additional training or support to underperforming territories is required. Had Tom and Jerry’s organization used Territory Management with Maplytics, Census Data Mapping could have been used to study the territory and the behavior of the target groups in it. The concentration hotspots could have been analyzed and Vibes could have been extended or its targets could have been balanced out.

Challenge 4: Territory Realignment

“It was not a problem earlier. This has started happening since the impractical redistribution of records among territories”, stated Ben, affirmatively. The new territories created by the Sales Manager were uneven, as a result, the new sales reps enjoyed ample work and life balance while the old reps struggled with excessive workload.

Solution: Maplytics’ Territory Management with its Alignment tools would have been a saving solution for Ben’s organization. The existing territories could have been easily extended or shrunk, their boundaries could have been realigned, some records could have been added, certain removed, and so on. This certified sales territory alignment software could have established work-life balance for all the sales reps.

Challenge 5: Measuring Territory Effectiveness

How many new clients were added? How many articles were sold? Which products were in demand? Was the annual revenue line met? These are some of the very common questions asked in every assessment meeting. Analysis and Reporting need to be foolproof and quick to promote better decisions. Thus, measuring territory effectiveness is a must!

Solution: Establishing clear KPIs for territory performance, such as sales revenue, customer satisfaction, and sales rep productivity should be the prime step. Tracking and analyzing these metrics regularly to evaluate territory effectiveness and make necessary adjustments should be a constant. Heat Map Analysis coupled with Territory Management within Dynamics 365 makes all of it super easy.

By addressing these challenges and implementing effective solutions, organizations can optimize their territory management strategies and drive sales growth.

What’s More?

Maplytics is like water that can be molded into any role. It makes map integration within Dynamics 365 look seamless. Radius Search, Route Mapping, and more have become super easy to use. To get more acquainted and experience it first-hand, one can write to crm@inogic.com To investigate the product further, with a personalized demo within Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM / Dataverse get in touch with the team.

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