A market assessment is an important step when starting a business or expanding your current one. It helps you identify the potential customer base for your product or service. Plus, it's a critical step in ensuring your product or service fills a need in the marketplace without wasting time and resources.
However, there's one essential tool that you must have in your arsenal when conducting a thorough marketing assessment — sales territory mapping.
If you're looking to expand your sales territory, mapping out your market will help you determine how much of an area to cover. It also lets you decide whether moving forward with your expansion plans makes sense.
What is sales territory mapping?
Sales territory mapping is a way to visualise data about your sales territories. It can help you identify business patterns and strategize where to focus your efforts.
The idea behind sales territory mapping is that if you have a lot of data about your customers, you can visualise that information in a way that makes sense. Essentially, you can use this tool to see the overall picture of your business — and make informed decisions based on what you see throughout your market assessment.
Businesses can gain many advantages when using sales territory mapping, including the following:
- Identify areas where your customers are underserved or overserved.
- Determine if there are places where there needs to be more demand for certain products or services.
- Make decisions about how to market products or services in specific regions.
Why sales territory mapping is essential
Since market assessments require you to evaluate the market conditions, opportunities and risks, mapping is essential for further understanding this information.
Utilising a map lets you see the market as a whole and understand where you must conduct business. Additionally, the map shows you where your competitors and their customers are and how much they are willing to pay.
With this information, you can determine the best places to set up shop or expand into new markets. As you prepare to open a new office or launch a product line, mapping gives you an idea of where to target your campaigns. By knowing their demographic information, you can create ads that speak directly to them.
Finally, mapping allows you to optimise sales team performance by giving them an accurate picture of what it takes to succeed in each location. For instance, suppose there aren't enough people in one area who fit your target demographic. This information can tell you that expanding into that area is not worth it.
How to implement sales territory mapping
If you want more information on how to get started implementing sales territory mapping in a market assessment, consider the steps below.
1. Gather data on the current customer base
The first step in mapping your sales territory is gathering data on your current customer base. This should include information like your number of customers, their locations, and the products or services they'll purchase from you. You can gather this information from existing records or ask your customers directly.
Once you have the necessary information, it's time to organise it into a map that shows where your customers are located.
2. Identify potential growth areas
To make meaningful and accurate market assessments, you must identify potential new territories.
First, you should look at the demographics of your current customers and clients. Are they mostly male or female? What's their age, and what kind of income do they make? It would help if you also considered their education level. With these factors in mind, you can determine where there is a need for your product or service.
Then, look at competitors' territories. This can give you an idea of where they're focusing their efforts and what's working for them. It also helps you think about new ways your company could expand into those areas.
3. Optimisation of sales team performance
Your company's sales team is the backbone of its revenue stream, so optimising its performance is important. That's why sales territory mapping is crucial in your market assessment. It will allow you to align resources with demand better and ensure team members work in areas with the biggest impact on revenue.
Once you've created a map with all your customer data, you can start assigning your sales reps to each territory. When setting locations, it's important to clearly understand each sales rep's availability for travel and communication. It's best to avoid assigning them to territories that are too big so that they can make the most of each region.
Best practices for sales territory mapping
Creating effective sales territory maps may take some time and effort. However, here are some best practices to help you create a strong, useful map that will help your sales team succeed:
- Keep it simple and easy to understand. It can be easy to get bogged down in the details. All sales reps will need to know where they're working and how many accounts they'll be responsible for at any time.
- Ensure there's enough distance between territories so reps avoid feeling like they're encroaching on one another's workspace. If you have too much overlap and competition, it could lead to tension between agents and reduced productivity.
- Consider using colour coding or other visual cues to highlight different types of accounts or territories. This can help people quickly identify what kind of account they're looking at in the software.
Use sales territory mapping in a market assessment
Sales territory mapping is a crucial part of market assessment and business planning. It allows you to understand your customers and where to start selling.
To get started with it, choose a software programme that works for your business, and start mapping! With the right tools and a little time, you'll be able to see exactly where your customers are and what areas you can focus your attention on.
Copyright 2023. Featured post made possible by Eleanor Hecks, founder and managing editor of Designerly Magazine. She's also a web design consultant with a focus on customer experience and user interface.