Territory Management Training Video

An Overview of eSpatial Territory Management Tools.

 

Hello and welcome to our training video, which will give you an overview of how to create and manage your territories in eSpatial. 

In this video we will discuss: 

• Creating territories 
• Aligning territories using balancing  

• Editing territories  
• Territory Optimization 
• Saving territories  
• Sharing & Exporting 
• Adding Territories to a Map 

Territory alignment is the process that sets sales footprints and workloads, allocates customers or products to representatives, and assigns personnel to territories. eSpatial Mapping Software is focused on Territory Alignment and Management which can help organizations achieve sales growth. 

Territory Management is a crucial component of the Sales Performance Management process, essential for sales force planning, resource deployment, incentive compensation and financial reporting. 

By creating territory alignments in eSpatial you can: 

• View your territories on a map and easily spot any problems in your current territory definition. 
• Identify gaps where parts of the overall territory have not been assigned to anyone. 

• Identify Mismatches, where one territory includes a section that should clearly belong to another. 

Creating Your Territories: 

• You can create your territory by selecting the territory tab and then selecting new alignment. 
• From here you have three options: 

• Create areas manually: here you can create territories from scratch using eSpatial’s boundary datasets such as US (United States) Zip Codes, Us Counties, Canadian FSA’s, UK (United Kingdom) postcode Areas and many more. 

• Points from file, which allows you to create account-based territories based on an existing dataset. 
• And Areas from file, this allows you to create a territory alignment using an existing territory csv or excel file. 
• For the purpose of this video, I will be using the areas from file method. This is the file I will be importing to the territory manager. This contains my territory columns along with their associated geographical areas (zips). eSpatial will use this information to generate my territories.  
  
  

Areas from file: 

1. To get started, I select the file I want to import and follow the steps outlined in the territory window 
2. If you are creating a multilevel territory, select the option to include hierarchies and then select whether there are two or three levels. Keep in mind, this is only available on plans that have advanced territory features. 
   • Next, I select the dataset I want to use to build your territories, I will be using the default selection of Zip Codes 2021. 
   • Next, I will select the column that matches the territory assignment to eSpatial’s dataset.  
   • And finally I select the territory identifier such as the area name or territory owner. (If I had chosen to include hierarchies, I would be prompted to select the relevant column for each level). 
3. Once I have made my selection, I can select complete. 

My territories will then load, if when creating territories, a match is not found for each record in your dataset you can download the territory validation file. This will give you a breakdown of which rows were used to create your territories and any errors that lead to rows not being used to create your territory.  

Balancing Data: 

Sales Territory Management with eSpatial can enhance your territory alignment. Aligned territories will result in balanced workloads for sales personnel. eSpatial allows you to balance your territories in terms of certain data such as area, population, value or any numerical value that is important to your company.  

You can evenly balance your territories on multiple datasets, such as sales and customers. 

Using this feature can help you quickly define and assign your territories to your sales team while analysing territory size variations, for example, where the geographic size, customer volume, or market potential is out of balance from one territory to another. 

To utilize this feature:  

• I will select the Add Data button to add my file for Balancing.  

• In the following window I can navigate to the file I want use for balancing.  
• Once uploaded to my territory map, I select the hamburger icon and select balances. 

• Next, I will select Add Balance in the balance window  
• In the following window, I am prompted to select the dataset I want to use for balancing.  

• Once selected, I can then choose what columns from that file I wish to use. In this example I will use the “Revenue Q2” column as well as the “Count” column.  
  
  

We also have the option to add a weighted balance which allows you to balance by a combined value, an index or a metric that is important to your business. An example of this would be a weighted balance of 60% sales value and 40% opportunity volume for a more accurate view of the potential success of your territory. 

and for users with our territory optimizer feature you will also have the option to add a work index, which will calculate the work effort required for each territory. This is a calculation of call frequency multiplied by (the travel time + the call duration). 

Once you are happy with your balancing criteria select complete. 

In the territory panel you will see the balancing information in my case there are now 6 additional columns, representing the % average, the actual value and the change value for each of my balancing attributes (value and count). 

From this I can see the value of each territory in comparison to others, as well as the number of accounts in each territory and quickly identify Misalignments/unbalances in my territories 

Any changes you make to your territory will regenerate the balancing for the effected territories. This allows managers to make decisions on the redistribution of accounts and realignment of territories to ensure that there is a balance between all employees. 

Editing Territories: 

There are two ways to reassign your areas on your territory map: 

1. By hovering over the relevant area and clicking on the plus icons to select the area or  
2. By using the selection tool, to draw a custom area for selection.

Using both methods will then result in the selection and assignment window appearing. From here, you can use the dropdown menu to select which territory you want to reassign your selected area to or if you want to unassign the area. 

The selection and assignment tool allows you to bulk select points and geographic areas such as zips, counties, states etc, see a detailed breakdown of what you have chosen, and re-assign them to a new/existing territory and you are able to remove individual accounts or ZIPs before re-assigning. This gives you increased visibility and control over your accounts and territory alignments. 

After making changes to your territories, you can see the impact these changes have had on your balances in the territory panel, another keyway of visualizing the full impact of your changes is by using our comparison tool and charts 
 
To compare changes against the last save, I click on the hamburger icon and select compare to last save. This will load a split screen view displaying the original map versus my current changes. However not only can I see the visual changes of the boundaries but also the impact on the balances within my territories. 

By selecting map and chart to the top left-hand corner I can switch the view to compare the balance charts for my saved territory versus your current changes and compare them against the average value.  

However, it is worth noting this view will only highlight the differences between the saved version and the recent edits if I wanted to view the balance charts for all my territories I can do so by selecting the hamburger icon and selecting the chart view symbol.  

Territory Optimizer: 

For accounts that have purchased our territory optimizer add-on, users can create optimized and balanced territory alignments using their balance criteria. This can be a valuable tool to: 

• Create territories balanced on your custom metrics and data 
• Upload office or sales rep locations and center your territories around them 
• Add or subtract territories, and redistribute customers and leads, in just a few clicks 

• Use drive-time instead of straight distance to create territories that reflect real-world conditions. 
   
  One example of when it would be beneficial to use our optimizer would be if a Regional Sales Manager were to leave the company. You could use the optimizer to quickly dissolve their territory into the surrounding Regional Managers Territories. For example, in my case I will  reduce the number regions from 4 to 3. 

To do this: 

1. I first filter your areas down to the areas I wish to edit   
2. Select Optimize Alignment.  
3. I will change the number of Areas to add/remove resources – Note by doing this I am only optimizing the sales reps in this section of the country   
4. Select complete. 
5. My filtered areas will then be re-optimized to display the new number of areas I required.  

  

Saving your Territories: 
 

Once you have completed making your changes you can save your territories or save your changes as a copy to have the option of considering multiple territory scenarios. 

To save my territories, I will click on the save button in my control panel. To save my current changes simple select the save option. However, if wanted my changes to be saved as an alternative option to my last saved point then I can select save as new alignment. 
 

 Sharing and Exporting: 

 The final territory structure might not be completely up to you to create. Within eSpatial you can share your territory within your team to other eSpatial users so they can review and collaborate to create the final territory model.  

 

To share your territory: 

• Select the Share button in the Control Panel   

• Choose Shared within Team.  
• Check 'can save changes' if you wish to give your users the permission to save any changes they make to your territory alignment.  
• Select 'Done'. 

 
For reviewing and collaboration with colleagues who do not have access to eSpatial, I can export their territories as an image or map book.  

• If I choose to export my territory to a map book this will export my territories directly to a PowerPoint presentation.  
• I will get a PowerPoint with a complete list of all my territories, including a Table of Contents. The presentation will contain an overview of all your Territories, each individual territory on a page and if my territory contains any balances, these will also be visible on the page. 

 

Adding to a map: 

By adding my territory to a map, this would allow me to visualize and analyze my account performance against my territories using eSpatial’s analysis tools such as regional heatmap. See our how-to video on regional heat maps for more information on the benefits of using this analysis. 

To add my territory to a map while in the territory manager I select the map tab and then select the map I wish to add your territory to. When the map opens I will then receive a prompt asking if I would like to add my territory alignment to my map. I select yes and my territory visual will be added to my map. 
 
Alternatively, when I create a territory, it is also saved as a regional dataset. I can add this territory to my map by selecting the add data button, then add from library, if I then search for your territory and then choose add to map, my territory will also be added as a layer to your map. 

Finish 

Thank you for watching our training video on the commonly used functionality within eSpatial. If you have any questions, you can contact us by emailing help@espatial.com or by selecting the chat button to the bottom right-hand corner of your screen when on our website or logged into eSpatial. You can also visit our video resources page to view other helpful videos.