Expanding into a new market presents exciting growth opportunities for B2B companies. However, without a well-structured sales territory strategy, businesses can struggle to gain traction, wasting valuable time and resources.
Whether your company is expanding into a new region or entering an unfamiliar market, a clear and effective sales territory plan is essential.
The Challenges of Expanding into a New Sales Territory
Entering a new sales territory comes with unique obstacles that can slow down lead generation and sales success. One major challenge is a lack of brand recognition. Unlike in your home market, prospects in the new territory may not be familiar with your company, making it harder to build trust and secure meetings.
Another difficulty is understanding the local market dynamics. Differences in business culture, regulatory requirements, and customer preferences require companies to adapt their sales approach. Without a well-researched sales territory plan, businesses risk misallocating resources, targeting the wrong prospects, or failing to position their solution effectively.
Additionally, competition can be a significant barrier. Established competitors have strong customer relationships, making it difficult for new entrants to gain market share. Without a targeted sales territory strategy, companies may struggle to differentiate themselves and convert leads into customers.
Why a Strong Sales Territory Strategy Matters
A well-defined sales territory strategy helps businesses overcome these challenges by providing a structured approach to lead generation. Effective sales territory planning ensures that sales teams focus their efforts on the right prospects, maximizing efficiency and revenue potential.
One key benefit of a strong sales territory plan is optimized resource allocation. By dividing the territory strategically—whether by industry, geography, or company size—businesses can ensure that sales representatives are targeting high-potential accounts instead of spreading themselves too thin.
A well-crafted territory plan also enhances sales productivity. When reps have clear guidelines on which accounts to prioritize, they can focus on building relationships and closing deals rather than figuring out where to start. This structure allows for better tracking of performance metrics, enabling companies to refine their approach over time.
Additionally, a strategic sales territory plan improves market penetration. Companies that understand local buyer behavior and tailor their messaging accordingly are more likely to resonate with prospects. By leveraging local market insights, businesses can craft compelling value propositions that differentiate them from competitors.
You can listen to the conversation between David Kreiger and Terence Lee, VP of Sales at Protecht, as they discuss their journey in generating leads in a new territory—North America:
What Is a Sales Territory Plan?
A sales territory plan is a strategic framework that defines how a company will approach lead generation and customer acquisition in a specific market.
Here are the factors you need to consider when creating a sales territory plan:
Understanding Your New Sales Territory
Before diving into lead generation, it’s crucial to gain a deep understanding of the new sales territory. This involves analyzing economic conditions, business culture, industry trends, and regional regulations.
Sales teams must familiarize themselves with local customer behaviors and expectations to tailor their messaging and approach effectively.
Researching Market Demand: Is There Room for Your Business?
Not every market is a fit for your product. Conducting thorough market research helps determine if there is sufficient demand for your offering.
This includes analyzing industry reports, studying market size and growth trends, and assessing the pain points your solution addresses.
Analyzing Competitor Presence: Who Are You Up Against?
Competitor analysis is a critical step in sales territory planning. Identifying existing players in the market provides insight into pricing strategies, customer preferences, and potential challenges.
By evaluating competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, businesses can identify gaps in the market and develop strategies to differentiate themselves.
Identifying Your Ideal Customer Profile: Who Needs Your Solution?
A successful sales territory strategy requires a clear understanding of the ICP. This involves defining key attributes such as industry, company size, job roles, and common pain points.
By creating detailed customer personas, sales teams can tailor their outreach efforts and improve conversion rates.
How to Create a Sales Territory Plan That Works
Effective sales territory planning ensures that sales teams operate with a structured approach, improving efficiency and maximizing revenue potential.
To do it successfully, you need to know what it takes to create a sales territory plan that works. Before we dive in, you can listen to the conversation between David Kreiger and Craig Herman as they talk about entering new markets on the right foot:
Set Clear Goals
Before diving into sales territory planning, it’s crucial to establish clear objectives. These goals should be specific, measurable, and aligned with the overall business strategy.
Examples include increasing brand awareness, acquiring a set number of new customers within a specific timeframe, or achieving a revenue target.
Define Your Target Audience and Key Segments
Understanding who your ideal customers are in the new territory is critical for success. This involves identifying key demographics, industries, company sizes, and job roles that align with your product.
Conducting market research and analyzing past customer data can help refine your target audience. Creating detailed buyer personas enables sales teams to tailor their approach and increase engagement.
Map Out Your Territory
Deciding how to structure your sales territory is a crucial step in territory planning. Businesses can choose to segment their market geographically (e.g., by city, state, or region) or by industry verticals.
Geographic segmentation works well for businesses with localized demand, while industry segmentation helps target specific sectors with tailored messaging. The right approach depends on factors like customer density, competition, and sales team structure.
Prioritize High-Value Leads for Faster Conversions
Not all leads are created equal. To maximize efficiency, businesses should focus on high-value prospects that have the greatest potential for conversion.
This involves scoring leads based on factors such as company size, revenue potential, pain points, and level of engagement.
Using sales intelligence tools and CRM data can help identify and prioritize leads more effectively, ensuring reps spend their time on the most promising opportunities.
Allocate Sales Resources for Maximum Impact
Effective resource allocation ensures that sales teams operate at peak efficiency. Businesses should assign sales reps based on their expertise, experience, and familiarity with the market.
Additionally, leveraging automation tools for prospecting, outreach, and follow-ups can help scale efforts. A balanced approach between inbound and outbound sales efforts will further enhance lead generation and conversion rates.
Measuring and Optimizing Your Lead Generation Strategy
Once your sales territory plan is in motion, continuous measurement and optimization are crucial. Tracking the right metrics, identifying bottlenecks, and iterating on outreach strategies help fine-tune your approach and drive success.
Key Performance Indicators to Track Success
KPIs provide insight into the effectiveness of your sales territory planning and execution. Some of the most critical KPIs include:
- Lead Conversion Rate – The percentage of leads that move from initial engagement to sales-qualified opportunities.
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) – The total cost of acquiring a new customer, including marketing and sales expenses.
- Sales Cycle Length – The average time it takes to convert a lead into a paying customer.
- Market Penetration Rate – The percentage of your target market that has engaged with your company.
- Response Rates by Channel – Tracking the effectiveness of email, cold calls, LinkedIn outreach, and other tactics to identify the best-performing channels.
By continuously monitoring these KPIs, businesses can adjust their sales territory strategy to improve efficiency and maximize ROI.
Identifying and Fixing Bottlenecks in Your Sales Process
Even with a strong sales territory plan, roadblocks can hinder progress. Common bottlenecks include:
- Unqualified Leads – If your sales team is spending too much time on leads that don’t fit your ideal customer profile, refining lead qualification criteria is essential.
- Low Engagement Rates – If emails or calls aren’t getting responses, messaging and targeting may need adjustments.
- Slow Sales Cycles – If deals are stalling, re-evaluating follow-up strategies and buyer enablement content can help accelerate movement through the funnel.
- CRM and Process Inefficiencies – Poor CRM adoption and inefficient workflows can slow down pipeline progression.
Regularly reviewing sales territory performance allows you to address these challenges quickly and ensure a smoother lead generation process.
A/B Testing Outreach Strategies to Improve Conversions
Sales teams should continuously test and optimize their outreach strategies to improve conversions. A/B testing different approaches helps determine what resonates best with prospects in a new market.
Key elements to test include:
- Email Subject Lines and Messaging – Test different styles (personalized vs. direct value propositions) to see which gets higher open and response rates.
- Call Opening Lines – Experiment with different introductions to identify what keeps prospects engaged.
- LinkedIn Outreach Cadences – Compare frequency, messaging style, and connection requests to improve engagement rates.
- Follow-Up Timing – Test different intervals between touchpoints to optimize response rates.
Using A/B testing results to refine your sales territory plan ensures that your outreach strategy remains effective and competitive.
Adapting Your Approach Based on Market Response
Successful sales territory planning requires agility. As data and feedback come in, it’s essential to adapt strategies based on market response.
Key ways to adapt include:
- Refining Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) – If certain industries, company sizes, or roles show stronger engagement, adjust targeting to prioritize them.
- Adjusting Outreach Channels – If email is underperforming but LinkedIn outreach is yielding strong results, shift focus accordingly.
- Modifying Value Propositions – If prospects consistently respond to a specific pain point, tailor messaging around that insight.
- Localizing Messaging – In international expansions, cultural nuances and business customs impact outreach effectiveness, requiring localized messaging and approaches.
By continually refining your sales territory plan based on real-world data, businesses can optimize lead generation and establish a strong foothold in new markets.
Bottom Line
Expanding into new markets is an exciting but resource-intensive endeavor. Companies often expect fast results and quick returns on investment ROI. However, achieving these results doesn’t happen overnight. It requires careful planning, time, and resources to build a solid foundation for growth.
To meet expectations and drive ROI effectively, businesses must strategically plan their sales territory strategy.
Many organizations may lack the experience or resources needed to implement this strategy successfully. If your company is struggling to move forward or finding itself stuck in the process, one solution is to outsource sales to a vendor with expertise in the territory.
Partnering with an experienced sales outsourcing vendor allows companies to accelerate lead generation without taking on the risk of a slow ramp-up or investing in an untested internal team.
