What are sales territories?

Let’s start with some of the fundamentals. A sales territory is an area or a grouping of existing and potential customers, that an individual or team is responsible for targeting. Sales territory management is the process of defining or mapping, and then managing those territories. Sales territory mapping is the process of deciding how the territories are defined, who is allocated to them, and the sales and revenue they are expected to deliver. Management is the ongoing monitoring, allocation, and adjusting of territories to ensure they support business objectives.

A very common way of defining territories is by geographical areas. This takes into account language, cultural differences, and physical proximity, ensuring that someone with the appropriate knowledge can serve the relevant customers. It doesn’t necessarily evenly balance customer needs and possible revenue in each territory. For example, small businesses have different requirements...