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Summary: Many sales organizations mismanage their account and salesperson assignments. There are three common problem areas.

Something that I have seen across numerous sales organizations is what I call RSTAA (Reckless Sales Territory Account Assignments). It takes many forms; see if you are guilty of any of the following:

1. The “you’ve-been-transferred” customer. This is the account that is reassigned to a new salesperson about every two to three months. The account is not that highly valued but isn’t bad enough to terminate the relationship either. It typically is assigned to new salespeople. As hard as it is to believe, sales management doesn’t really see why this account isn’t growing. Sales management needs to either dump this customer or let someone have it long enough to see what can develop. Continuing to change salespeople on a regular basis will result in the customer ultimately abandoning ship anyway.

2. The “sales-management-doesn’t-care-what-you-want” customer. The chemistry between salesperson and customer sometimes is not what it should be. If tension between salesperson and customer continues for an extended time the customer will normally request to be assigned to another salesperson. In almost 100% of cases where I have seen this, regardless of the size of the account, sales management says “no” to the customer’s request. I can’t say exactly why this almost always happens but laziness, lack of creativity and desire to keep the status quo would be good guesses. If customers really want a new salesperson, they’ll get one, one way or another. A surefire way for them to get a new salesperson is to move their business to one of your competitors.

3. The “we’ll-get-someone-assigned-to-you-someday” customer. This kind of account is similar to the “you’ve-been-transferred” customer. The account is not on the front burner but does generate some consistent revenue. This customer has no point of contact with your company. Eventually a competitor will call on them, bring them a dozen roses, double their order volume and you can kiss this reliable revenue generator goodbye.

Not being smart about account/salesperson assignments will cost you business. When customers leave you because of unhappiness with their salesperson relationship (or lack thereof) they typically don’t hire a sky-writing company to let you know why. They just quietly move on to one of your competitors.

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Tags: territory

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