Planning21% of the exam
Territory planning and balanced territories
How sales leaders plan territories the Salesforce way: start early with buy-in, carve territories from company goals, balance them on several factors, finish the balancing with quotas, and change them midyear only when one is clearly not working.
Describe the elements of territory planning.
~8 min read · 8 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Describe the steps of territory planning: start early, get buy-in, plan for growth and future hires, lead with data, and be fair.
- Derive territories from the company's go-to-market strategy and goals (new regions, industries with a large total addressable market, target company sizes).
- Balance territories on several factors instead of one, and use quotas to finish the balancing between larger and smaller territories.
- Decide when and how to change a territory midyear without breaking momentum or late-stage deals.
- Explain why balanced territories matter to the business: attainment, attrition and manager workload.
- Key terms: territory (the area, accounts and revenue a rep is responsible for targeting); segmentation (dividing the market by factors such as geography, company size, industry and customer lifecycle); total addressable market (TAM) (the full market opportunity in a region or industry); propensity to buy (how likely an account is to purchase); quota (the sales target a rep is measured against).
Key facts
When to plan
- Detail
- Start early, and get buy-in from salespeople and leadership before rollout
Future hires
- Detail
- Cut territories for the full year now; current reps cover the extra accounts until hires start
What drives territory design
- Detail
- The go-to-market strategy and business goals (new region, industry TAM, company size)
Balancing factors
- Detail
- Number of companies, geography, company size, propensity to buy, industry
Remaining imbalance
- Detail
- Larger territory, higher quota, seasoned rep; smaller territory, lower quota, newer rep
Benefits of balance
- Detail
- Lower AE attrition; balanced productivity, fewer hot spots, load spread across managers
Midyear change
- Detail
- Only the territory not working; communicate early; switch fast; be cautious with late-stage deals
- Why should a sales leader cut territories for reps who have not been hired yet?
- When territories still are not equal after balancing, what should a leader do?
- Why do balanced territories lower costs for the business?
- When a territory must change midyear, how should accounts with late-stage opportunities be handled?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
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