How do you assign responsibilities to your sales reps? The common thinking (drafted from other industries) is that a geographic territory is best. Having a set area on the map to go to every day does mean that your sales force will likely have the opportunity to spend more time in front of referral sources, but is it the best way to go?

Here are three methods that are commonly used in our industry:

1. Geographically – With this method you assign a particular zip code, city, or county to your sales reps. In bigger cities sometimes a zip code is even too large and you’ll draw street boundaries to determine who covers what area. I’ve been involved in many territory planning meetings like this where the conversation is “Any on the west side of Main Street belongs to Claire and the east side is George’s”. That’s usually followed by “except Dr. Smith’s group which is on the east side but Claire has been working it for a while and they like her there.” The more rules and conditions you put on these boundaries, the more confusion you’re likely to get from the sales team. Claire could be gone a month from now... then what? Does George get Dr. Smith’s office or do you reserve it for the person who takes Claire’s place? Draw up the territory based on sales coverage and opportunity and let the accounts fall where they may.

2. Vertical Market – This method is used when you have sales reps with particular specialties. You might have one rep that works ALL hospitals in a particular area while another is assigned to SNF’s with step down rehab. This method could lead to increased travel time as reps are not geographically bound, but with proper planning any extra time should be minimal. The upside of the vertical market approach is that you have “specialists” whose skills are honed on a particular account type... say orthopedic doctors. What works for one orthopod will likely work for another so you SHOULD get better results and maximize your sales effort this way. Of course, the potential downside is, if your hospital discharge planner specialist leaves with all of his/her knowledge, does anyone else know how to effectively sell to these people? Having your specialists cross-train each other during sales meetings is imperative with this approach.

3. Named Accounts – The Named Account approach simply says, I’m going to give Jack a list of accounts that is bound neither geographically nor by vertical market. The list could be of accounts that I feel fit Jack’s skill set, accounts that I’d like a new eager person to attempt to “break” or perhaps even a list of accounts that Jack already knows where I don’t want him to have to leave. Named account lists can be effective as you can group accounts according to the particular style of sales rep that you would expect to succeed. One account list could be for the clinical sales rep who needs to know diagnosis and care plans. Another might be a perfect fit for the social butterfly who can talk their way past any gatekeeper... and so on. If you use this approach you’ll usually be recruiting for a particular “need” and might have to pass up some potentially good sales reps because you don’t have a “need” for their style at that time. I’ve seen this approach foster a lot of personal pride and confidence in sales reps as they take ownership of “their” accounts. As with the Vertical Market approach, windshield time could be a concern as the accounts could be anywhere within your service area. The other question to be answered in this approach is “who gets us new business?” If all of your reps are working named accounts there is very little incentive to go out and investigate smaller (but still potentially lucrative) new referral sources. This is a concern that must be answered before adopting this approach.

The question will naturally arise... which method is best Michael? The answer is... they all are... under the right circumstances. There is no cookie-cutter approach to territory planning. Market conditions, sales structure, expected outcomes and dozens of other factors play into it. I’ve seen instances where a combination approach works very well. For example, one agency might use named account for their senior salespeople and “A” referrers, while having new or “junior” sales reps work underlying territories to develop new business (and potential new “A” accounts!). As the junior reps develop their own list of accounts they can transition them to a named account list or be promoted to a vacant account list.

Effective territory planning is vital to the success of your sales effort. Use one of these methods (or one of your own) to direct your sales force but do not leave your sales effort to a free for all. I remember one agency that did just that. They told their reps to go anywhere they wanted to get referrals... there was no assignment at all. As you would expect, it caused infighting among the sales force, confused the referrers and led to a generally poor business outcome.

Proper planning is your responsibility as the sales manager... let me know if I can help. Do you have questions about sales territory planning?

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At Leading Home Care we've developed the industry's best, most dynamic networking and training program for sales managers with Sales Manager Interactive. Many of our subscribers have asked... "what about our sales reps?"

Now... we have the answer.

We're excited to announce the launch of our Sales Coaching Intensive program for sales representatives. This new program (available now) is a one on one coaching experience between your sales representative and the sales coach, Michael Giudicissi. The program includes a copy of our new "Making The Approach" e-book and a set of three CD's from our recent teleseminar series of the same name. These items are required reading and listening for sales reps in the program. After reading and listening to each of the three sections in the series, they then meet with Michael for two one on one phone coaching sessions (six total) that focus on specific issues and opportunities in their accounts. This "tiered" approach ensures that each level of training is absorbed, discussed, and used in the field before the next skill set is learned. There simply is no better way to provide state of the art sales training to your team.

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Michael has gone from a 240 pound couch potato to an Ironman triathlete... failing sales rep to VP of a 40 million dollar home health agency and back of the room cynic to author of two books including "Making The Approach, Advanced Sales Training for Homecare Professionals". He knows how to help people move forward now!

Michael has taken literally hundreds of sales reps from start up to success... and now he'll do it for you too!

Check back here often to see where Michael will be speaking next. If you'd like Michael to speak at your organization or present a Sales Boot Camp in your area, e-mail us or contact your state homecare association.

Home Health Line's Power Referrals Conference
February 21-23
Rio All Suites Hotel, Las Vegas, NV
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Sales Training Boot Camp
February 26, 2007
Courtyard by Marriot Midtown
Sacramento, CA
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Sales Training Boot Camp
February 28, 2007
Marriott Ontario Airport
Ontario, CA
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The new Sales Manager Interactive website is officially launched and loaded with content for our members. It's been an exciting process to see the site develop and come alive!

You'll see the latest updates to the site right here... so check back often.

New Updates

Monthly Conference Calls
January - New Year, New Sales Goals... setting and cost justifying sales goals for skilled, private duty and hospice.
February - Effective Recruiting & Hiring... where to find the best sales reps, interview techniques and how to hire and pay new reps.
March - ABC Account Management... using our exclusive sales rep ratio system, we'll discuss call frequency, conversion ratio and the all important sales-per-hour ratio.

Industry Articles
Eight new articles by industry experts on business development, marketing to physicians and legal updates.

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Updated (almost) daily, Michael shares tips, insights and motivational ideas for you and your sales force.

Are you looking for motivational advice and insight for yourself or your sales team? If so, join Michael Giudicissi for his exciting Power Shot! Radio on TalkRadioX.

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