Sales Territory Management - How to Prioritize Your Activities
to Produce Maximum Results
by Alan Rigg
Published on this site: January 4th, 2006 - See
more articles from this month
How you prioritize your sales territory management activities
depends upon whether you are managing a territory that has
existing customers, or whether you are building your customer
base from scratch.
If you manage a territory that has existing customers, your
first priority should be to introduce yourself to every single
one of your customers. This should be a pleasant, low-key
introduction along the lines of, "I just wanted to introduce
myself and see if there is anything I can do to help you."
Then, as you are chatting with your customers, you can ask, "Would you
mind sharing with me how you think my company's relationship
with you has been going so far? What have we been doing well?
Where could we improve?"
Collecting this kind of feedback is a great way to start
relationships with customers. It also helps you draw any festering
problems out into the open. If you can address the problems
quickly, it can really jump-start your relationships with the affected customers.
This same approach can also be effective for customers that
have been reducing their purchases from your company over
time, or customers that have stopped ordering completely.
It is never much fun to listen to people complain. But, if
you can isolate and solve the problems that are causing the
dissatisfaction, you can produce a rapid and substantial boost in sales.
If you find customers that are really happy with the service
your company has provided, drill down (with more questions)
to determine just what has made them so happy. Their answers
will provide you with a template for successfully managing
their (and other) accounts. Also, ask these happy customers
for referrals…regardless of whether you have contributed
in any way to their happiness! Happy, satisfied customers
are usually delighted to share their positive experience with
others.
Once you have met all of your existing customers, the next
step is to identify target prospects in your territory. Start
by checking with your manager. If they have been managing
your sales team for any period of time, they should be able
to suggest some good target prospects.
Once you have compiled a list of target prospects, determine
which ones you will pursue first. Which target prospects have
the greatest potential to purchase the largest amounts of
products and services? Which ones are likely to be “quick
closes"? If you have both types of target prospects on
your list, pursue several of each type at the same time. In the words of a well-respected
executive that I used to work with, “Elephant hunting
is great…but those rabbits sure taste good in between
the elephants!"
When you are ready to begin pursuing your target prospects,
start by asking your existing customers whether they know
anyone that works in the target organizations. If they do,
ask for referrals. Once you have exhausted available referrals,
proceed with the other activities in your prospecting plan
- but tailor these activities to attract the attention of
your target prospects.
Conclusion
Effective sales territory management begins with touching
base with every singal one of your existing customers. Ask
questions to gauge their satisfaction with their relationship
with your company. If they identify any problems, work aggressively
to solve these problems as your first priority.
If a customer expresses happiness and satisfaction, ask questions
to determine what your company has been doing right. Use this
information to create a template for managing all of your
accounts. Also be sure to ask for referrals, both in general
and to specific target accounts. Exhaust these referrals before
you begin the other (less productive) activities in your prospecting
plan.
Prioritize your activities as described in this article,
and you will maximize sales growth in your territory!
Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of
How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling: Why Most Salespeople
Don't Perform and What to Do About It. His company, 80/20
Sales Performance, helps business owners, executives, and
managers double sales by implementing The Right Formula™
for building top-performing sales teams. For more information
and more free sales and sales management tips, visit http://www.8020salesperformance.com
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