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Sales territories are not something that you need to change on a regular basis. Stable sales territories permit reps to begin to know their customers well, and to form good relations. Nevertheless there are occasions when you should think about redesigning your territory bounds.

Here are seven scenarios where you need to consider if you need to do a full sales territory design project. Think about these scenarios as triggers. When the trigger is activated you need to carry out the sales territory alignment audits to assess the necessary changes to the sales territory alignment.

1. When the Sales Force Expands:

After any field force expansion you want to execute a full sales territory realignment. It is the nature of the sales territory map that is you can't simply add sales reps. Any extra sales reps will interfere with the existing sales territory map. This being so, a full sales territory realignment is absolutely necessary.

2. When the Sales Force Headcount Decreases:

As with a growth, any reduced to the field force size will require a realignment. Mostly this can require a major realignment. The level of realignment will very much rely upon your own unique circumstances. We suggest that you carry out a full alignment audits to appraise the needs.

3. After a Merger or Acquisition:

After a coalition or acquisition there will unavoidably be a restructuring of the field force. This is required to deal with the new sales reps into the existing structure. Once more this should trigger an alignment audit, which mostly will lead on to a full sales territory redesign.

4. When the Environment Changes:

Many field forces work under a controlled environment. These regulations change from time to time. This is very true for any healthcare related field force. If the laws change, or there is a new ruling or regulatory bodies created, you want to evaluate your field force alignment and see if it is aligned to the new laws. If it isn't as per the new regulations a territory realignment might be needed.

5. When a New Release is Launched:

A good field force map relies on the target buyers and the products which they sell. So naturally as the product portfolio changes with fresh product launches, you need to guarantee the alignment factors is still valid. We suggest that you carry out an alignment audits when organizing a new product launch, to make sure that your alignment will support the new product as it enters the market. This may, or may not, leads to a full realignment, or partial realignment, of the sales groups.

6. When you Lose a Product from your Portfolio:

This is the opposite of a new release launch. It is frequently the case that products are removed from the portfolio, in the case of a licensing arrangement coming to a close, or in the case of it not being doable to market the product any more (for instance after a pharmaceutical product goes generic). In this case you want to take a look at the remaining products, and carry out an alignment audits to determine if the territories are supporting the product portfolio of the future.

7. As a Result of Alignment Decay:

Sales territory alignments decay over a period of time. To some this appears quite surprising since one would think the sales territory alignment, if well designed, would only need changing if there's a serious change to the portfolio or the environment (i.e. One of the triggers already stated). But usually a sales territory alignment is changed on a month-to-month basis to accommodate local wishes and changes in sales representatives ‘ circumstances. A nice example would be a sales rep going on maternity leave. Often in cases like these other reps will cover for the sales rep on pregnancy leave. These changes to the sales territory alignment may, or may not, be reversed when the rep returns (if they return at all). These micro-changes to the sales territory alignment build over time. We recommend that you carry out a full, deep, sales territory audit each two to four years, to make an evaluation of the current alignment and assess how well it is suited to the current product concerns. If required this may open the way to a full sales territory realignment.

For full information about sales territory design please contact the author using the resource box below.

Steve Maughan is President of Cozmix Inc. Which makes a speciality of Sales Force Mapping. For more data come to the site and join up to our free sales territory mapping resources