Optimization is an ongoing process of refinement. Modern mapping software turns this from a month-long headache into an afternoon of analysis. Here is how to optimize your sales territories efficiently:
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Modern Optimization for Sales Ops & VPs
The Challenge The Shifting Market
You've designed your sales territories. The lines are drawn, reps are assigned, and the map looks perfect. But a territory plan isn't a "set it and forget it" project. The moment you launch a new plan, it's already becoming outdated. Customers move, competitors make their play, new reps join, and your market shifts.
The Solution Strategic Optimization
A territory that was perfectly balanced six months ago might be a source of burnout for one rep and a missed opportunity for another today. This is where territory optimization comes in. If designing is about building the foundation, optimizing is the strategic process of refining that foundation to ensure it’s always performing at its peak.
The goal? To move from "looks fair" to "proves to be fair" for your reps, your customers, and your bottom line. In this guide we will cover:
- 1. The Hidden Costs of Unbalanced Territories?
- 2. The Goal: From "Equal" to "Equitable"
- 3. How to Optimize Sales Territories
- 4. Optimizing at Every Level
- 5. Advanced Power, Made Accessible
The Hidden Costs of Unbalanced Territories?
When territories are unbalanced, it creates friction that costs you more than you think. This isn't just an operational headache; it's a revenue, retention, and customer satisfaction problem.
Gartner found that nearly 90% of sellers are burned out from work, leading to 54% seeking a new role. According to Psychology Today there are 6 sources of burnout. Two directly relate to sales rep turnover, work overload and unfairness.
Why It Matters
If you are seeing these signs, you likely have an optimization problem
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1. Sales Rep Burnout
Some reps are overwhelmed with administrative duties, high travel, and too many accounts. They are drowning, not selling.
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2. High Rep Turnover
Under-utilized reps leave because they can't make quota; overworked reps leave due to exhaustion. Optimizing for balanced sales territories is the most effective retention strategies available.
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3. Lost Revenue
Reps with too many accounts can't possibly service them all, leaving revenue on the table. Reps with too few accounts don't have enough opportunity to hit their targets.
The Goal: From "Equal" to "Equitable"
Many organizations create balanced territories using simple metrics in a spreadsheet, like "every rep gets 100 accounts."
This is equal, but it is not equitable:
- Rep A's 100 accounts might be clustered in a single city
- Rep B's 100 accounts might be spread across three states
This is where "gut feel" and Excel miss the target. The solution is to balance territories based on Workload, not just opportunity. By using sales performance metrics to optimize territories, specifically workload instead of just account count, you ensure that every rep has a fair and achievable path to their quota.
How to Optimize Sales Territories: A 3-Step Process
Visualize Your Current State
First, you must see the problem. Upload your current alignment and sales data onto a map. You will instantly see the imbalances, one rep's territory clustered and dense, while another's is sparse and spread out. This visual map is your baseline.
Model "What-If" Scenarios
This is where the magic happens. You don't have to commit to a change to see its impact.
- "What if I move this county from Rep A to Rep B?"
- "What if I add two new reps in the Southeast?"
- "What if I change the call frequency for my high-value accounts?"
The best territory mapping software allows you to run these scenarios and instantly re-calculate the revenue potential and balance for every territory affected.
Optimize and Adjust with Confidence
Once you find a scenario that works, you can adjust the boundaries. Advanced sales territory optimization tools like eSpatial can even balance hundreds of territories simultaneously with a single click, automatically finding the most equitable alignment based on your chosen metrics.
The Real Power-Up: Optimizing at Every Level?
Your company structure is complex. You have territories that roll up into Districts, which roll up into Regions, and maybe even National Divisions. In a spreadsheet, managing this is a nightmare. A change to one territory might balance a rep's workload, but it could throw their entire District off balance.
This is where building balanced territories with hierarchies becomes a critical advantage:
- Optimize from the bottom up: Balance individual territories and see how those changes roll up to the District and Region
- Optimize from the top down: Lock your Regions and then re-balance the Districts within them
You can make a single change at the bottom level and instantly see its workload and revenue impact all the way to the top.
Your Advantage: Advanced Power, Made Accessible
True territory optimization, including workload balancing and multi-level hierarchies, used to require a team of data scientists and GIS experts. Not anymore. With eSpatial, you get these advanced capabilities so anyone with basic IT skills can master it. You don't need to build complex formulas; you just need to ask the right questions. The software does the heavy lifting, allowing you to stop managing spreadsheets and start making strategic decisions.
Pro-Tip for Sales Leaders
The "Workload Index" Formula
- Call Frequency
- Call Duration
- Travel Time
- True Workload
This is where the magic happens. You don't have to commit to a change to see its impact. This simple calculation reveals the hidden imbalances that cause burnout, ensuring every rep has a fair shot at hitting quota. Remember the travel time is the critical component missing from excel, so look for a tool with sophisticated algorithms that work it out for you.
Trusted by Businesses All Across America
“We wanted to know for each of our plants. What is the plant's low-cost service area? What is the geographic region around that plant? And whether that plant is the most cost-effective option to ship concrete. We wanted to take advantage of that. We also wanted to know the most costly delivery areas in central Texas. And which of our customers are in those areas.”
“The first quick win for us was that eSpatial was so easy to use. After using so many other applications, eSpatial was the easiest for importing our data and identifying the fields and hierarchies that would deliver efficient alignments. At the end of the day, you are finalizing the sales territory in front of their eyes. It is much more real to the key stakeholders, which has been transformational for Thermo Fisher.”
“Sales data can be mapped in minutes. That has saved us countless numbers of hours. And we have eliminated steps from the design and approvals process leading to faster more efficient alignments in less time. The findings in our eSpatial visualizations are definitely going to inform 2022 strategy for the better. 100%, we're going to renew our eSpatial license.”
“We're always trying to improve our output and what we're putting in front of executive management teams and boards. We started looking around at different data visualization and mapping software programs and did a fair amount of due diligence on multiple companies. After vetting various platforms, eSpatial rose to the top of our list. I personally can say that we've loved it ever since.”
“I've been in this industry for 35 years, and to have a tool that I can pick up and use quickly just means the world to me. With eSpatial, I can create reports and make changes in 20 minutes, it's easy to log in and update things quickly. You wouldn't think in mapping software you would have someone so responsive in technical support. That was the prime reason I settled on eSpatial.”
“eSpatial has been an awesome tool for Starkey. From our territory planning; splitting territories, adjusting for local details, communicating and mocking up options. Then giving that updated detail to our sales team along with live access to CRM and trip planning. And then representing everything in a beautiful way that we love to use in presentations - it is truly a very impressive package.”
“eSpatial is an irreplaceable tool for our business, for example we are now able to run one of our key processes 32 times faster and have been able to double the number of customers we can visit in a given week by making better decisions. You can't control how much time you have in a given day, but you can control how it is used and eSpatial has certainly helped us significantly with that.”
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between "Equal" and "Equitable" territories?
An "Equal" territory gives every rep the same number of accounts (e.g., 100 each). An "Equitable" territory ensures every rep has the same opportunity to hit their target. Because accounts vary in size, location, and complexity, a rep with fewer, high-value accounts might have the same workload as a rep with many small accounts. Optimization aims for equity, not just equality.
Can I optimize territories across different sales hierarchy levels?
Yes. Advanced territory software allows you to handle complex sales hierarchies (e.g., Territories rolling up to Districts, Regions, and National Divisions). You can optimize "bottom-up" (balancing individual reps) or "top-down" (balancing regions first), ensuring that a change at the rep level doesn't break the balance at the District level.
How does territory imbalance affect employee turnover?
Imbalance is a primary driver of attrition. Reps in "poor" territories (low potential) leave because they cannot make commission. Reps in "overloaded" territories leave due to burnout from excessive travel and admin work. Optimizing for optimal territory size and balance is one of the most effective retention strategies available.