TL:DR

How do territories fit into sales planning?

Territories are what companies make them. Geographic-based territories are most prevalent, but territories can comprise industries, accounts, partners and opportunities
Territories outline the general structure of the Go-To-Market and help define the Sales Hierarchy
They provide the framework for how the salesforce will be organised and deployed which is called the ‘coverage model’
They are the basis for estimating market potential, workload and resource needs
People don’t define sales territories, territories define the type of resources you need
Territories are defined as hierarchies and matrices across a combination of geographic, industry and account relationships
They should reflect the go-to-market and enable efficient sales coverage between channels
More complex territory strategies approach opportunities as a territory – flexing resource coverage and assigning them to opportunities as they are defined

These differences are accounted for through three methods:
- Changing territories – rebalancing the workload and sales potential of a territory so everything is mostly even. This is an approach taken by geographic-based coverage models, with homogeneous accounts and sales reps.
- Moving or adding headcount – instead of changing territories, additional headcount is added to meet demand in the year. This might be in the form of product specialists. In some sales models (retail and call centres) this may mean hiring more people during peak seasons.
- Roles & levelling – since not all accounts and territories are created equal, higher-level roles take on more complex territories and accounts. Rules are developed to ensure alignment between skill set and territory composition. This is the ‘breadth and depth’ of the role and is a common approach in high-tech and complex selling environments.

For each territory, companies need a view of the sales potential from existing and prospective accounts and the general makeup of the opportunities, this will give us three things:
- Workload requirements – How much effort will be needed to work the territory. The workload is effectively the time needed to service the opportunities, to convert from an opportunity to a sale, and includes administrative time and client time.
- Opportunity Requirements – The type of effort needed to work the territory. Companies need to know what types of sales are in the pipeline.
- Role Requirements – Based on workload and opportunity, define the type and number of roles required to capture the opportunity.

A sales territory is the bounds that group various customers together
Sales territory management is a continuous activity that focuses on generating the most revenue from territories through sellers
How your team will target and approach prospects, leads, and existing customers to close more deals. The aim is to create equitable territories for your sales team is critical to having a productive, efficient, and happy sales team:
- It helps you target specific industries, regions, opportunities, and customers
- It aligns your sales team with your prospects
- It empowers you to set realistic goals, track progress, and optimise your strategy
- It lets you spend more time selling