01
List the accounts in play
Gather active customers, open prospects and unassigned leads. Note duplicates and missing details before deciding who owns what.
A practical guide to sales territory management
Fair territories.
Fewer invisible handoffs.
A small team can divide accounts quickly and still lose the story between owners. Use these workshop notes to make assignments clear and decide what your CRM needs to show.
01 Explore the field guideTerritory workflowIllustrative example
01 / Seven-step field guide
Give every account a place and a next move.
Start with a short team discussion, then use the answers to evaluate CRM software. The aim is a workable assignment process, not a territory map that only one person understands.
02
Choose a dividing rule
Test geography, account type or another boundary that fits your team. Write down which rule wins when an account could fit more than one territory.
03
Check the workload, not just the count
Compare account complexity, open opportunities and expected follow-up alongside the number of accounts. Discuss where a nominally equal split would feel uneven.
04
Make one person accountable
Agree on an owner for each account and a way to flag exceptions. Evaluate whether a CRM makes the current owner easy for the whole team to find.
05
Record the handoff essentials
Carry over the contact, recent conversation, open commitment and next action. Ask whether those details can be viewed together on an account record.
06
Give the team a territory view
Explore whether people can filter accounts by owner and territory, including unassigned accounts. Check that the view answers a real question your team asks.
07
Revisit the split together
Set a regular review point and bring exceptions to it. Use the discussion to adjust boundaries or capacity, then record the reason for any ownership change.
02 / Team exercise
Follow one account across the line.
Manual handoffs often preserve a name but leave the reasoning behind. Walk through a real reassignment together before comparing software.
Set the scene
Choose an account moving from one salesperson to another because its location or needs have changed. Keep the example anonymous if you are discussing it outside the team.
Trace the gap
Ask the receiving owner what they would need before making contact. Look for a promised follow-up, a decision-maker’s concern and the reason for the transfer.
Agree the record
Decide where those details should live and who updates the next action. Then check whether a CRM under consideration can make that information easy to find.
03 / Selection desk
Bring your own edge cases to the comparison.
A polished account list is not enough. Ask to inspect the ordinary decisions and exceptions your team will actually encounter.
Can we see the gaps?
Explore how to find accounts without an owner, review accounts by territory and spot records that may belong to more than one person.
What happens when ownership moves?
Examine how an owner is changed and whether the account’s notes, open work and previous decisions remain accessible to the receiving salesperson.
Can a small team keep it current?
Walk through adding an account, correcting a territory and reviewing an exception. Consider the number of steps and who will be responsible for each one.
04 / Takeaway
The rule matters. So does the reason.
A useful territory process tells your team who owns an account, why it landed there and what needs to happen next. Use those three tests to guide both the conversation with your team and your CRM evaluation.
Return to the seven steps