CRM - October 2008 - (Page SF14)

14 October 2008 Sponsored Content Achieving Maximum Results Optimizing Your Sales Resources through Effective Use of Territory Alignment As a core part of hitting revenue goals in the real world of finite budgets, sales executives are focused on getting better “per-rep” (and therefore, total sales force) results for the least amount of cost; salaries, commissions, and travel. While most are leveraging wise investments in CRM and SPM (Sales Performance Management) solutions, what many companies have overlooked is that what any given rep can produce, even leveraging these tools, is highly dependent on his or her territory. THE NEXT STRATEGIC WEAPON With Sales Executives focused on maximizing results for the entire sales force, they often look at why successful reps are successful and then try to replicate best practices. In many cases, however, successful reps are successful because of the territory they have. A rich territory leads to a rich sales rep. A better objective is to provide each territory and, therefore, each rep with the amount of work and/or opportunity that maximizes the rep’s selling time. This leads to equitable, or balanced, territories and the ability to really know if reps are successful because of their skills and hard work or because they drew the lucky patches. Companies that get the most from their entire sales force shrink the overloaded territories that often make average reps look like all stars (and cost you both market share and commission accelerators at the same time). They also add to the barren territories that leave good reps frustrated and spending their extra time, which you are paying for, finding other jobs. By optimizing territories, that is balancing the workload or opportunity, across all View and modify territory alignments and automatically update account ownership changes – all within Salesforce territories while keeping them geographically compact to minimize drive time, sales forces benefit from more manageable territories, more motivated representatives, increased market share and revenue and reduced expenses. These days, wasted driving is not just wasted time; with $4 a gallon gas in this environmentally conscious climate, it is a politically heated, significant expense. TERRITORY DESIGN BEST PRACTICES Additional best practices, perfected over the past 20 years of doing this, say to: • BALANCE TERRITORIES ON METRICS SIMILAR TO THE ONES USED TO PAY SALES COMMISSIONS • BUILD TERRITORIES FROM THE GROUND UP; CREATE DISTRICTS OR REGIONS AFTER BUILDING TERRITORIES Benefit and user adoption are both increased through CRM integration. Integration and interaction between the different components raise sales force effectiveness to a higher level by reducing or eliminating discrepancies and refocusing sales representatives on their primary task: growing sales. You always know who owns which accounts, and therefore, who gets paid on which deals. With TerrAlign solutions, your field force will be able to service accounts and work opportunities without leaving deals on the table for competitors or wasting valuable resources simply because there isn't enough work in a particular territory. Your reps will be motivated with fair quotas and equitable territories, and your cost of commissions will be more predictable. With TerrAlign solutions, sales forces can achieve more. ABOUT TERRALIGN TerrAlign provides software and consulting solutions for the Sales Analytics, Sales Operations, and Field Management teams that maximize the utilization and performance of the entire sales force. This includes matching the number of sales resources to strategic objectives and designing quantifiably fair and geographically optimal territories. 703-485-4560 info@terralign.com www.terralign.com • BUILD TERRITORIES AROUND CUSTOMERS “ONE KEY ASPECT OF IMPROVING THE PERFORMANCE OF A SALES ORGANIZATION IS TO ALIGN SALES TERRITORIES WITH THE ABILITIES OF THE SALES FORCE AND THE REVENUE POTENTIAL OF CUSTOMERS.” Mark Smith, Ventana Research NOT SALES REPS • BASE QUOTAS ON OPPORTUNITY FROM EACH TERRITORY • INVOLVE FIELD MANAGERS IN THE TERRITORY ALIGNMENT PROCESS • KEEP TERRITORY DESIGN SYSTEM IN SYNC WITH SPM AND CRM SOLUTIONS AND USE THE BEST INTERFACE FOR ANY GIVEN TASK ADDING VALUE TO CRM & SPM Geographically optimizing your sales resources will provide a strategic advantage. http://www.terralign.com http://www.terralign.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - October 2008

CRM - October 2008 Contents Front Office Feedback Reality�Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Sprinting Toward Disaster? SAP�Retains Market-Share Lead in�CRM A�Week of Strong Customer�Service CRM�on Twitter Build a Good Event and They Will Come Required Reading There's No Place Like Home The New Breed of CRM�Consultant The Price is Right...You Hope How Much Marketing is Too�Much? The�Sweet Smell of High-Quality�Service The Next Act! For An Acquisition Some Stories Never Get Old CRM�Eases the Pressure For WIKA�Instruments Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - October 2008

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