How do you create and execute an effective territory action plan and schedule?

1 Assess your territory

The first step to success is to analyze your current situation and identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) in your territory. You can use data from your CRM, market research, customer feedback, and competitive intelligence to evaluate your potential and challenges. Ask yourself questions such as: how big is your territory and how is it divided? What are the characteristics and needs of your target customers? How many prospects and existing accounts do you have and what is their value and potential? What are your competitors doing and how can you differentiate yourself? What are your goals and quotas for the quarter or year? Answering these questions will help you evaluate the potential of your territory and plan for success.

2 Segment your accounts

The next step is to segment your accounts based on their value, potential, and priority. This will help you focus your efforts on the most profitable and promising customers and prospects. Factors to consider when segmenting accounts include revenue, profitability, and lifetime value; growth rate, market share, and opportunity size; relationship status, loyalty, and satisfaction; buying cycle, decision-making process, and readiness to buy; as well as location, industry, and size. You can also assign each account a score or rating based on these criteria and group them into categories such as A accounts (high value, high potential, high priority), B accounts (medium value, medium potential, medium priority), or C accounts (low value, low potential, low priority).

3 Set your objectives

The third step is to set your SMART objectives for each account segment and your overall territory. These objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound and should align with your company's goals and quotas. Additionally, they should reflect the findings of your SWOT analysis. Examples of objectives include increasing revenue by a certain percentage from A accounts by the end of the quarter, acquiring new customers from B accounts by the end of the year, retaining existing customers from C accounts by the end of the month, cross-selling or upselling products or services to a certain percentage of A and B accounts by the end of the quarter, or increasing customer satisfaction by a certain number of points for all accounts by the end of the year.

4 Plan your activities

The fourth step is to plan your activities and actions for each account segment and your overall territory. Your available resources, such as time, budget, and tools, should be taken into account when creating a plan that supports your objectives and addresses your customers' needs. For example, you could schedule X calls or meetings with A accounts per week, send Y emails or messages to B accounts per month, and visit Z C accounts per quarter. Additionally, you could conduct W demos or presentations for A and B prospects per month, send X proposals or quotes to A and B prospects per quarter, follow up with Y leads or referrals from A and B customers per month, attend Z events or webinars related to your industry or niche per quarter, and create W content or collateral to showcase your value proposition or success stories per month.

5 Create your schedule

Creating a realistic and flexible schedule and timeline for your activities and actions is the fifth step. You should prioritize tasks according to account segments and objectives, and use a calendar or CRM tool to organize activities. Allocating more time for A accounts than B or C accounts is important, as is planning ahead for peak seasons, holidays, or events. Setting deadlines and milestones for activities and actions, as well as regularly reviewing and updating your schedule and tracking progress, will ensure success.

6 Evaluate your results

To evaluate your results and measure performance against objectives and quotas, it is important to collect feedback from customers, managers, and peers. Ask yourself questions such as: did you meet or exceed objectives and quotas for each account segment and your overall territory? What were the key factors that contributed to success or failure? What best practices or lessons learned can be applied or shared with others? Are there any gaps or issues that need to be addressed or resolved? Lastly, what are the next steps or actions that need to be taken to maintain or improve your results?