This was incredibly easy to understand I am reentering a market I've been away from but know well and think this simple strategy will keep me on easy to work route! Looking forward to sharing how it work for me.
I am glad you were able to follow along. I never know how things will translate to a video! Good luck on your territory journey. Put a reminder in your calendar for 6 months from now asking, "am I planning my week, or are my customers planning my week?" Just keep to the script and make sure you tweak it to fit. Run your territory as your own business and you will succeed. Having a plan will be better for you AND your customers.
I find this methhod useful alothough I haven't put it to work... my name is ISSAH I recently joined sales this month on april 2 we deal with beverages.. my job is to operate route sales, Know the customers and understand the market... But this past 2weeks I've been in the field I move with my work mate whose running my position as a route operator for me to learn routes i jotdown the territories we've been and the big shops that gets goods at a certain quantity... we have about 10 territories and the areas differs. I don't have a proper plan.. SO WHAT HAPPENS IS IF WE Are AT TERRITORY A Then TOMORROW we plan to b at B if we receive a call from a customer whose in TERRITORY D while we are routing B for orders ...on that actual day we are routing TERRITORY B once we finish big shops will do D to deliver the good at the same time we also run part that D TERRITORY... and our sales just move a bit...
Glad you found this helpful. If you have any questions feel free to ask. It isn’t the easiest to explain through a video without being able to answer questions people have along the way.
thank you . Easy to understand . Question, how would you suggest territory planning when you have a route that is 3-7 hours drive from your local area? IK have the option to fly
You really need to map out your planning a little further in advance. A large territory can be difficult but doable as long as you can justify hotel stays by your sales/profit numbers. You don’t necessarily need to fly, but it would be beneficial to map meetings in between the farther drives. I assume you are on the road quite a bit.
Hello. This is one of the simplest ways of taking something that can be overwhelming and complex into something manageable. Where were you able to find the county map for the initial diagram and labeling?
Hello, Jack. Thanks for the comment. I just googled “county map Ohio” into google images and found the simplest one showing the borders. I imagine this would work for other states as well. You can filter the images in google by selecting the “large” file size which typically returns only the higher resolution images.
@@jdonaldson7500 i acquired a new territory in a neighboring state (furthest cust. is 4 hours away.) time of year to visit them has been conditioned by retired rep. and customers are set in ways. (i work with high schools typically during lunch periods only which allows one visit a day; not ideal.) I'm not that familiar with area/territory yet and want to optimize this area rather than run at their beckon call.
@@TMHain I would highly recommend setting up my calendar plan early and set the expectations with your customers. My plan allows for flexibility by the cross cross pattern and wild card. If you drive to your farthest customer, you can notify others along the way (assuming you are granted expenses for hotel stays). Your situation is a bit different as you make one sales call a day, but this means you REALLY have to maximize your time and plan ahead as cancellations mean you may not have any calls for the entire day. If I were you, I would plan at least a month ahead and confirm each meeting about 3 to 5 days in advance, so if you do have a customer that bails on a meeting, you have time to schedule something else for that day. You have to weigh the balance of a customer that eats up too much of your time. Are they spending enough money with you to justify the opportunity cost of using that time to create new business? If they are, then you can add them to your calendar twice or more in my 6 week calendar, if not, then I would ask them what opportunities there might be to gain more business. If there are no opportunities to grow AND they eat up a lot of your time, then I would reconsider what type of customer that is, or even if I want them to be a customer at all.
@@TMHain Also, once you get a confirmation 3 to 5 days in advance, also email them the day before with something like “Hello, Customer. I look forward to our meeting tomorrow at noon to discuss…,” It’s a way to get another indirect confirmation of the meeting the day before as there is nothing worse than making a long drive to find out your customer won’t be available.
This was incredibly easy to understand I am reentering a market I've been away from but know well and think this simple strategy will keep me on easy to work route! Looking forward to sharing how it work for me.
I am glad you were able to follow along. I never know how things will translate to a video! Good luck on your territory journey. Put a reminder in your calendar for 6 months from now asking, "am I planning my week, or are my customers planning my week?" Just keep to the script and make sure you tweak it to fit. Run your territory as your own business and you will succeed. Having a plan will be better for you AND your customers.
I find this methhod useful alothough I haven't put it to work... my name is ISSAH I recently joined sales this month on april 2 we deal with beverages.. my job is to operate route sales, Know the customers and understand the market... But this past 2weeks I've been in the field I move with my work mate whose running my position as a route operator for me to learn routes i jotdown the territories we've been and the big shops that gets goods at a certain quantity... we have about 10 territories and the areas differs. I don't have a proper plan.. SO WHAT HAPPENS IS IF WE Are AT TERRITORY A Then TOMORROW we plan to b at B if we receive a call from a customer whose in TERRITORY D while we are routing B for orders ...on that actual day we are routing TERRITORY B once we finish big shops will do D to deliver the good at the same time we also run part that D TERRITORY... and our sales just move a bit...
Thank you very helpful
Thanks quite insightful
Yeah bro, this is good. I'm seeing a different angle to work my territory more thoroughly. Nice! #bongbong
Glad you found this helpful. If you have any questions feel free to ask. It isn’t the easiest to explain through a video without being able to answer questions people have along the way.
thank you . Easy to understand . Question, how would you suggest territory planning when you have a route that is 3-7 hours drive from your local area? IK have the option to fly
You really need to map out your planning a little further in advance. A large territory can be difficult but doable as long as you can justify hotel stays by your sales/profit numbers. You don’t necessarily need to fly, but it would be beneficial to map meetings in between the farther drives. I assume you are on the road quite a bit.
What app did you use to put the map on the whiteboard?
Hello. This is one of the simplest ways of taking something that can be overwhelming and complex into something manageable. Where were you able to find the county map for the initial diagram and labeling?
Hello, Jack. Thanks for the comment. I just googled “county map Ohio” into google images and found the simplest one showing the borders. I imagine this would work for other states as well. You can filter the images in google by selecting the “large” file size which typically returns only the higher resolution images.
If there's were I can share my regions with you regions I viste and get helped how i can mark them....
thanks for this! interesting method and i'll give it a try! do you have an email for a more in depth Q?
I would encourage questions be asked here so others can comment and learn as well.
@@jdonaldson7500 i acquired a new territory in a neighboring state (furthest cust. is 4 hours away.) time of year to visit them has been conditioned by retired rep. and customers are set in ways. (i work with high schools typically during lunch periods only which allows one visit a day; not ideal.) I'm not that familiar with area/territory yet and want to optimize this area rather than run at their beckon call.
@@TMHain I would highly recommend setting up my calendar plan early and set the expectations with your customers. My plan allows for flexibility by the cross cross pattern and wild card. If you drive to your farthest customer, you can notify others along the way (assuming you are granted expenses for hotel stays). Your situation is a bit different as you make one sales call a day, but this means you REALLY have to maximize your time and plan ahead as cancellations mean you may not have any calls for the entire day. If I were you, I would plan at least a month ahead and confirm each meeting about 3 to 5 days in advance, so if you do have a customer that bails on a meeting, you have time to schedule something else for that day. You have to weigh the balance of a customer that eats up too much of your time. Are they spending enough money with you to justify the opportunity cost of using that time to create new business? If they are, then you can add them to your calendar twice or more in my 6 week calendar, if not, then I would ask them what opportunities there might be to gain more business. If there are no opportunities to grow AND they eat up a lot of your time, then I would reconsider what type of customer that is, or even if I want them to be a customer at all.
@@TMHain Also, once you get a confirmation 3 to 5 days in advance, also email them the day before with something like “Hello, Customer. I look forward to our meeting tomorrow at noon to discuss…,” It’s a way to get another indirect confirmation of the meeting the day before as there is nothing worse than making a long drive to find out your customer won’t be available.
@@jdonaldson7500 thanks - I appreciate your input! I’m independent and pay all expenses, so I need to evaluate where I spend my time