There seems to be an unspoken law not to discuss if territory affects the performance of one rep or team versus another. The express goes “there is no such thing as a bad territory”. I’ll be the first to say it. Unequivocally yes, territory matters. As a sales leaders, you are doing your teams and reps a disservice by not acknowledging this fact.
While not all territories are created equal, I should clarify on the heels of my previous statement, a bad territory is not an excuse. In fact, I’d argue a rep with a good territory are at a disadvantage. They will not have to work as hard or be as strategic as the rep with the bad territory. They’re missing out on skills and techniques they will later need if territories change or they move companies. A rep with a bad territory has the opportunity and motivation to improve their skills and development. Opposed to the rep with NYC who might have less motivation to make improvements because they’re more easily producing numbers. A successful sales career is a long term game with short term wins that are not always dollars.
As a sales leader, by denying all territories are not created equal, you are missing the opportunity to develop your team and teach your reps how to yield more revenue from an underperforming area.
Here are the steps a rep can take to successfully work a bad territory:
1) Reverse engineer wins by running a report in your CRM over the last year of all deals closed and look for patterns. You will usually find there are certain industries in that area doing well. Some databases have this by SIC code. If you don’t have access to match SIC code with industry, you can Google the codes.
2) Call the customers who have purchased over the last year.
a. Explain you’re trying to understand their industry better and you’re not trying to sell additional services. People love to talk about themselves.
b. Ask why they purchased.
c. What pain does your product/service solve?
d. How has the current economy affected their industry?
e. Where do they see opportunities to grow?
f. If they are growing it means they have customers purchasing. Ask who their local (or whatever your territory is) customers are and if there is a particular industry they see the most success with.
g. Ask for the most popular blogs, publications or thought leaders in their space.
h. Ask for a referral and do not call, yet.
i. Tell them you’ll be in the area sometime soon (even if this is not true) and ask their favorite lunch place that deliveries. Ask what’s good on the menu. Call and have that item delivered to the contact that day. Do not ask if they want it, just do it. Also send a handwritten thank you note. Do not email, take the time to write the note on nice stationary. A little goes a long way and the contact might be an additional resource of referrals for you.
3) Top 5 - figure out the top 5 industries between the list of customers who’ve purchased in addition to who’s buying from them.
4) Become a subject matter expert of the top 5. You should become a subscriber to those blogs, publications and follow the thought leaders on Twitter or if they have their own blogs. You should also understand what pain you solve for these companies and what opportunities there is to grow. This positions you as a trusted advisor and will yield more sales.
5) Start Calling.
a. Call the referrals the current customers gave you.
b. Run another report in your CRM of companies in the top 5 industries who haven’t yet purchased. Provide them with up to date industry topics and offer free advice and strategy.
c. Pay attention for companies mentioned as you read articles and publications and add them to your call list.
While no one is excited to be handed a bad territory, there is only one NYC or LA to go around. Don’t let a territory be an excuse. Take the opportunity to work smart, it’s much more rewarding. Remember this is a long term career and the landscape of sales changes many times. At some point it will be your turn to have a good territory and you can apply the skills you’ve learned to be an unstoppable powerhouse.
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4 Critical Techniques To Win The "Internal" Sale
