Sales territory planning tool and method

• US 7,620,564 B1
• Filed: 08/11/2004
• Issued: 11/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: HarvestGold (CGI, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: HarvestGold (CGI, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lippock, Steven A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sterrett; Jonathan G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOI, PETER H
• Application Number:
  US10/915,964
• Time in Patent Office: 1,924 Days
• Field of Search: 705/10
• US Class Current: 705/7.29
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data

Abstract

A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan includes guiding users through the development of sales goals, strategies, and targeted lists of accounts derived from the quantifiable characteristics. Historical sales data and strategy are reviewed to define a sales record, which is then segmented based upon commonalties and categorized. The segmented record is analyzed by individual sales territory to create a territory dashboard from which trends and relationships are then evaluated. These trends and relationships are further analyzed using a territory strategies analysis for planning sales strategies based on account segments, sales goals, and other relevant criteria, and to establish a tactical sales action plan. A system and computer process implement one or more steps of the method for territory analysis, goal setting, and strategy and tactics development. In order to derive further benefit execution and follow-up steps are also conducted.

Claims

1. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan for a company, the method comprising the steps performed by a computer of:

(a) reviewing, by said computer, the company sales situation, said reviewing comprising examining data from at least one of the following;

summary sales data from customer relationship management systems, sales force automation systems, and transactional data in back-end order processing or account systems;

(b) arranging, by said computer, said data in quantitative metrics, wherein said metrics comprise at least one of a key productivity metric or activity metric, said metric showing data for said company, company representatives, or both;

wherein said activity metrics include one or more of the group consisting of quantitative values of phone calls, appointments, and product demonstrations; and

wherein said key productivity metrics measure results, key deliverables or both, and includes at least one of quantitative values of proposals delivered, closes, revenue generated, margin, and new customer acquisitions;

(c) segmenting, by said computer, said metrics into customer category segments by categorizing said data as one or more of the group consisting of customer sales, industry, account type, company services and products, and company sales channels, wherein said customer sales segment has at least one of a monetary sales minimum or maximum;

(d) generating, by said computer, a sales territory dashboard based on at least one of said data segments, wherein said sales territory dashboard represents a selected sales territory;

(e) reviewing, by said computer, said territory dashboard to establish trends and relationships;

(f) setting, by said computer, sales and compensation goals based upon said trends and relationships by preparing a customer budget template and goal setting questionnaire,

wherein said customer budget template comprises information related to said customer sales segment and comprises one or more of the following items;

customer name, said customer category entry, said account type, total sales for the previous year, projected sales this year based upon said total sales for the previous year, and annotations,

(g) using said goal setting questionnaire to obtain information for items representing the compensation objectives of said company comprising;

(i) number of phone calls needed to get a sales appointment with one of said prospective clients;

(ii) success rate from cold calling said prospective clients, calculated from one divided by said number of phone calls needed to get a sales appointment with one of said prospective clients multiplied by one-hundred to yield a percentage reflecting said success rate,

(iii) percentage of sales appointments with existing clients which result in sales,

(iv) either percentage of orders from existing clients requiting on-site visits or average of number of times a year visiting existing clients;

(v) number of sales appointments required to meet said prospective clients to secure one new client; and

(vi) number of sales appointments required to perform a sale with said one new client, wherein a sale actually occurs;

(h) (establishing, by said computer, a sales strategy based upon said sales and compensation goals for said segments, wherein said strategy considers one or more items selected from the group comprising;

a targeted account, a strategy summary, number of said targeted accounts, company focus products, company focus lines, company focus services, monetary value representing estimation of a sales goal derived by anticipated success rate, number of sales transactions, average order size, sum total of said number of accounts targeted, and sum total of said sales goal; and

(i) establishing, by said computer, a tactical sales action plan, by doing one or more of the following steps;

dividing up said sales territory into discrete sections, determining how often a client needs to be contacted using information obtained from said goal setting questionnaire, defining individual routes for each of said discrete sections of said territory by planning routes from each of said customer category entry, scheduling sufficient quantity of new business appointments along said routes to meet sales activity goals using information obtained from said goal setting questionnaire, mapping sale sales territory by plotting locations of targeted existing sales accounts, non-targeted existing accounts, prospective accounts or a combination thereof, and conducting a sales campaign analysis.

2. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 1 wherein said customer category segments consist of one or more of the following:

(a) accounts segmented by customer sales, wherein said accounts segmented by customer sales comprises of an aggregation of sales account information as sorted by sales;

(b) accounts segmented by industry, wherein said accounts segmented by industry comprises of an aggregation of sales account information as sorted by industry;

(c) accounts segmented by products and services of the company comprises an aggregation of sales account information as sorted by products and services; and

(d) accounts segmented by sales channels of the company, wherein said accounts segmented by sales channels of the company comprises an aggregation of sales account information as sorted by segmented sales channels of the company.

3. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said customer category segments of said sales territory dashboard comprises the following as associated with said accounts categorized by customer sales:

(a) accounts segmented by sales wherein said customer category is associated with said monetary sales minimum and said monetary sales maximum;

(b) number of customers;

(c) monetary value of total sales;

(d) number of orders;

(e) average size of said orders;

(f) average of said orders per customer;

(g) percentage of the total customers of the company;

(h) percentage of the total sales of the company;

(i) total of said number of customers for all such entries;

(j) total of said value of total sales for all such entries;

(k) total of said number of orders for all such entries;

(l) overall average of said average size of said orders for all such entries;

(m) overall average of said average of said orders per customer for all such entries;

(n) percentage total of percentage total customers of the company for all such entries;

(o) percentage total of percentage sales of the company for all such entries.

4. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 3 wherein each customer of said sales account category is selectively ranked from best to least using user defined thresholds of said percentage total of the total sales of the company.

5. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 1 wherein said sales territory dashboard comprises the following as associated with accounts categorized by industry:

(i) number of customers;

(ii) monetary value of total sales;

(iii) number of orders;

(iv) average size of said orders;

(v) average of said orders per customer;

(vi) percentage of the total customers of the company;

(vii) percentage of the total sales of the company;

(viii) total of said number of customers for all such entries;

(ix) total of said value of total sales for all such entries;

(x) total of said number of orders for all such entries;

(xi) overall average of said average size of said orders for all such entries;

(xii) overall average of said average of said orders per customer for all such entries;

(xiii) percentage total of percentage total customers of the company for all such entries;

(xiv) percentage total of percentage sales of the company for all such entries.

6. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 1 wherein said sales territory dashboard comprises the following as associated with accounts categorized by products and services of the company:

(i) number of customers;

(ii) monetary value of total sales;

(iii) number of orders;

(iv) average size of said orders;

(v) average of said orders per customer;

(vi) total of said number of customers for all such entries;

(vii) total of said value of total sales for all such entries;

(viii) total of said number of orders for all such entries;

(ix) overall average of said average size of said orders for all such entries;

(x) overall average of said average of said orders per customer for all such entries.

7. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 1 wherein said company sales channels consist of one or more of the group consisting of number of customers, monetary value of total sales, number of orders, average size of said orders, average of said orders per customer, total of said number of customers for all such entries, total of said value of total sales for all such entries, total of said number of orders for al such entries, overall average of said average size of said orders for all such entries, and overall average of said average of said orders per customer for all such entries.

8. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 1 further including the step of executing said sales territory plan by the steps of:

a. using a goal tracking worksheet for tracking progress in meeting said sales and said compensation goals as listed in said goals summary sheet, and

b. using a territory plan review form for visually presenting goals and goal tracking of said sales territory plan over a finite, selected period of time by the user of said plan review.

9. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 1 wherein said goal setting questionnaire further compiles one or more items representing the compensation objectives of said company selected from the group consisting of:

(a) anticipated compensation of the following items;

base salary for selected year, total compensation goal for said selected year, total compensation goal from a year prior to said selected year, percentage representing average commission rate for said selected year, percentage representing average commission rate for said prior year, monetary value representing the amount of business necessary to satisfy said total compensation goal for said selected year, monetary value representing an amount of business forecasted from existing clients, said forecast being calculated by multiplying said total compensation goal for said selected year times said average commission rate;

(b) percentage of business forecasted to be brought in said selected year from existing clients and percentage of business to be brought in this year from new clients, wherein sum of percentage of business forecasted to be brought in this year from existing clients and percentage of business to be brought in this year from new clients does not exceed one hundred percent;

(c) monetary value representing amount of business to be brought in from new clients, calculated from said monetary value representing the amount of business needed to be brought in order to meet said total compensation goal for this year less that of said monetary value representing the amount of business forecasted to be brought in, from existing clients,

(d) total number of appointments with clients required to secure said one new client, wherein said sale actually occurs;

(e) percentage representing success rate of appointments with said prospective clients resulting in a sale, calculated by one divided by said total number of appointments with clients to secure said one new clients, wherein said sale actually occurs, multiplied by one-hundred to derive said percentage representing success rate of appointments;

(f) monetary value representing average order size for said existing customers for this year;

(g) monetary value representing average order size for said existing customers for previous year;

(h) number of orders placed by said existing clients for this year;

(i) number of orders placed by said existing clients for the previous year;

(j) monetary value representing average sale size for new sales accounts for this year;

(k) monetary value representing average sale size for new sales accounts for the previous year, and

(l) number of orders new clients place each year.

10. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 1 wherein said goal setting questionnaire further compiles one or more items representing the compensation objectives of said company selected from the group further consisting of:

(a) a goals summary sheet representing activities to be completed and frequency of said activities to meet said sales and compensation goals, including income compensation goal within a certain time period;

(b) a first activity goal representing desired number of contacts to said prospective clients within a certain time period, comprising;

number of contacts to said prospective clients, monetary value per said contact calculated by projected sales for said time period divided by said number of said contacts;

(c) a second activity goal representing desired number of appointments to said prospective clients within a certain time period, comprising one or more factors selected from the group consisting of the number of existing customer appointments, number of new customer follow-up appointments, number of new customer first appointments, and the sum total of said existing customer appointments, said new customer follow-up appointments, said new customer first appointments;

(d) a first productivity goal representing desired number of customers in which there is a sale within a second time period, comprising one or more factors selected from the group consisting;

number of existing customers where there is a sale, number of new customers in which there is a sale, sum total of said number of existing customers where there is a sale and number of new customers in which there is a sale;

(e) a second productivity goal representing desired number of customers wherein a sale occurs during the sales transaction within a selected time period, comprising one or more factors selected from the group consisting;

number of sales orders from said existing clients, number of sales orders from said new clients, sum total of number of sales orders from said existing clients and said number of sales orders from said new clients; and

(f) a third productivity goal representing desired monetary value of sales revenue within a selected time period, comprising one or more factors selected from the group consisting one or more factors selected from the group consisting of;

monetary value of desired sales revenue from said existing clients, monetary value of desired sales revenue from said new clients, sum of said monetary value of desired sales revenue from said existing clients and monetary value of desired sales revenue from said new clients, total of said monetary value of desired sales revenue from said existing clients, said monetary value of desired sales revenue from said new clients, and said sum of said monetary value of desired sales revenue from said existing clients and monetary value of desired sales revenue from said new clients.

11. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 1 further including a step of developing additional said tactical sales action plans by adding more sales tactics by using a targeted account report, wherein said targeted account report comprises one or more pieces of the information selected from the group consisting:

name of sales account, associated strategy for said sales account;

next scheduled action for said sales account;

results from use of said associated strategy for said sales account; and

notes related to said sales account.

12. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 1 further comprising the steps of

a. creating a list of targeted sales accounts based upon salesperson selected strategies, wherein said strategy includes increasing the average sale prices, average number of orders per customer, number of customers, or a combination thereof

b. identifying competitors by their strengths and weaknesses, and

c. using said information from substeps a and b to apply a sales methodology to manage sales opportunities, relationships, or both.

13. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 1 wherein said sales territory dashboard trends and relationships are established by quantifying said items by the highest, lowest, average or a combination thereof, wherein said items include customer orders for products, services or both;

account orders;

channel segment orders;

or averages thereof.

14. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 1 wherein said strategy summary includes increasing average order size, cross-selling additional products to existing customers, selling new products to new or existing customers.

15. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 1 wherein said sales campaign analysis includes one or more of the following items:

name of campaign, description of said campaign, owner of said campaign, target markets of said campaign, sources of said campaign, number of contacts of said campaign, primary contact of said campaign, problem or business issue, and qualifying questions

wherein said campaign is based upon said information represented within one of said segmenting accounts by sales, said segmenting accounts by industry, said segmenting accounts by account type, said segmenting the products and services of the company, said segmenting sales channels of the company, or a functional equivalent thereof.

16. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 8 wherein said goal tracking worksheet comprises one or more of the following:

(a) said commission income goal on a monthly basis;

(b) actual commission earned at the present date on a monthly basis;

(c) percent of said commission income goal achieved on a monthly basis, determined by dividing said commission income goal on a monthly basis by said actual commission earned at the present date on a monthly basis, multiplying resultant figure by one-hundred to yield said percent;

(d) said desired number of phone calls to said prospective clients on a monthly basis, actual number of phone calls to said prospective clients on a monthly basis;

(e) said monetary value per phone call to said prospective clients, actual value per phone call generated by sales revenue resulting from each phone call, wherein said actual value per phone call is an overall average;

(f) percent of goal achieved of said monetary value per phone call to said prospective clients on a monthly basis, determined by dividing said monetary value per phone call to said prospective clients by said actual value per phone call generated by sales revenue resulting from each phone call, multiplying resultant figure by one-hundred to yield said percent;

(g) said number of existing customer appointments on a monthly basis;

(h) actual number of existing customer appointments on a monthly basis;

(i) percent of customer appointments goal achieved on a monthly basis, said number of existing customer appointments on a monthly basis divided by said actual number of existing customer appointments on a monthly basis;

(j) said number of new customer follow-up appointments on a monthly basis;

(k) actual number of new customer follow-up appointments on a monthly basis;

(l) percent of new customer follow-up appointments goal achieved on a monthly basis, said number of new customer follow-up appointments on a monthly basis divided by actual number of new customer follow-up appointments on a monthly basis;

(m) said number of new customer first appointments on a monthly basis;

(n) actual number of new customer first appointments on a monthly basis;

(o) percent of new customer first appointments goal achieved on a monthly basis, said number of new customer first appointments on a monthly basis divided by said actual number of new customer first appointments on a monthly basis;

(p) sum total of said number of existing customer appointments on a monthly basis, said number of new customer follow-up appointments on a monthly basis, and said number of new customer first appointments on a monthly basis;

(q) sum total of said actual number of existing customer appointments on a monthly basis, said actual number of new customer follow-up appointments on a monthly basis, and said actual number of new customer first appointments on a monthly basis;

(r) sum total of said percent of customer appointments goal achieved on a monthly basis, said percent of new customer follow-up appointments goal achieved on a monthly basis, and said percent of new customer first appointments goal achieved on a monthly basis;

(s) said number of existing customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis;

(t) actual number of existing customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis;

(u) percent of number of existing customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis calculated by dividing said number of existing customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis by said actual number of existing customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis, multiplying resultant figure by one-hundred to yield said percent;

(v) said number of new customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis,

(w) actual number of new customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis;

(x) percent of number of new customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis calculated by dividing said number of new customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis by said actual number of new customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis, multiplying resultant figure by one-hundred to yield said percent;

(y) sum total of said number of existing customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis and said number of new customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis;

(z) sum total of said actual number of existing customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis and said actual number of new customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis;

(aa) sum total of said percent of number of existing customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis and said percent of number of new customers in which where there is a sale on a monthly basis;

(bb) said monetary value of desired sales revenue from existing clients on a monthly basis;

(cc) actual monetary value of desired sales revenue from existing clients on a monthly basis;

(dd) percent of monetary value of desired sales revenue goal achieved from existing clients on a monthly basis, calculated by dividing said monetary value of desired sales revenue from existing clients on a monthly basis by said actual monetary value of desired sales revenue from existing clients on a monthly basis, multiplying resultant figure by one-hundred to yield said percent;

(eed) said monetary value of desired sales revenue from new clients on a monthly basis;

(ff) actual monetary value of desired sales revenue from new clients on a monthly basis;

(gg) percent of monetary value of desired sales revenue goal achieved from new clients on a monthly basis calculated by dividing said monetary value of desired sales revenue from new clients on a monthly basis by said actual monetary value of desired sales revenue from existing clients on a monthly basis, multiplying resultant figure by one-hundred to yield said percent;

(hh) sum total of said monetary value of desired sales revenue from existing clients on a monthly basis and said monetary value of desired sales revenue from new clients on a monthly basis;

(ii) sum total of said actual monetary value of desired sales revenue from existing clients on a monthly basis and said actual monetary value of desired sales revenue from new clients on a monthly basis;

(jj) sum total of said percent of monetary value of desired sales revenue goal achieved from existing clients on a monthly basis and said percent of monetary value of desired sales revenue goal achieved from new clients on a monthly basis;

(kk) said number of desired sales orders from said existing clients on a monthly basis;

(ll) actual number of desired sales orders from said existing clients on a monthly basis;

(mm) percentage of desired sales orders achieved on a monthly basis calculated by dividing said number of desired sales orders from said existing clients on a monthly basis by said actual number of desired sales orders from said existing clients on a monthly basis, multiplying resultant figure by one-hundred to yield said percent;

(nn) said number of desired sales orders from said new clients on a monthly basis;

(oo) actual number of desired sales orders from said new clients on a monthly basis;

(pp) percentage of desired sales orders achieved on a monthly basis calculated by dividing said number of desired sales orders from said new clients on a monthly basis by said actual number of desired sales orders from said new clients on a monthly basis, multiplying resultant figure by one-hundred to yield said percent;

(qq) sum total of said number of desired sales orders from said existing clients on a monthly basis and said number of desired sales orders from said new clients on a monthly basis;

(rr) sum total of said actual number of desired sales orders from said existing clients on a monthly basis and said actual number of desired sales orders from said new clients on a monthly basis, and

(ss) sum total of said percentage of desired sales orders achieved on a monthly basis and said percentage of desired sales orders achieved on a monthly basis.

17. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 8 wherein said territory plan review form comprises:

(a) review of said sales territory plan by sales manager before the start of execution of said sales territory plan,

(b) review of said sales territory plan by at least one of said sales territory representatives before the start of execution of said sales territory plan;

(c) date of initial review of said sales territory plan by sales manager;

(d) date of initial review of said sales territory plan by at least one of said sales territory representatives;

(e) at least a first review of said sales territory plan by sales manager before the start of execution of said sales territory plan;

(f) at least a first review of said sales territory plan by at least one of said sales territory representatives before the start of execution of said sales territory plan;

(g) date of first or subsequent review of said sales territory plan by sales manager;

(h) date of first or subsequent review of said sales territory plan by at least one of said sales territory representatives;

(i) a user defined income goal as determined by a user selected, finite period of time;

(j) a periodic forecast as related to achieving said user defined income goal, wherein said periodic forecast is calculated for a time span which is less than said user selected, finite period of time, such that there is at least a first periodic forecast and a second periodic forecast;

(k) a strategy goals and results table which comprises one or more of the following;

description of strategy, sales goal, actual sales, percent of goal, comments, and adjustments.

18. A method for making and organizing a sales territory plan as set forth in claim 17 wherein said periodic forecast comprises:

a. unique identifier for each individual said periodic forecast

b. time frame pertaining to said periodic forecast as defined by the number of months within said time frame divided by twelve,

c. percentage of said user defined income goal projected to be met within time frame pertaining to said periodic forecast

d. monetary goal within said time frame pertaining to said periodic forecast

e. actual sales income generated within said time frame pertaining to said periodic forecast

f. percentage of goal pertaining to said periodic forecast, calculated by dividing said monetary goal within said time frame pertaining to said periodic forecast by said actual sales income generated within said time frame pertaining to said periodic forecast, multiplying resultant figure by one-hundred to yield said percent

g. sum total of said percentage of said user defined income goal projected to be met within time frame pertaining to said periodic forecast, said monetary goal within said time frame pertaining to said periodic forecast, said actual sales income generated within said time frame pertaining to said periodic forecast, and said percentage of goal pertaining to said periodic forecast.