Sales leaders often misdiagnose poor territory design. Here’s a look at some common territory-alignment problems that are often misidentified:

Targeting
Marketing complains that the salespeople in Dallas only follow up on about 10 percent of the great leads passed to them, and market share in that city remains low. A targeting problem? A lead-quality problem? It might actually be a territory problem, with salespeople too busy to follow up on good, new leads.

Hiring and retention
One or two territories experience constant turnover. A manager thinks he is bringing on experienced, highly qualified people to fill the vacancies, but their performance continually disappoints, and many leave after only a few months. Does the manager need better hiring tools? Or is the problem a poorly designed territory with little opportunity?

Compensation and rewards
The same reps who blew away quota and went on the award trip last year are going this year. Are they your superstar “A” reps? Or simply the beneficiaries of great territories? Only when territories are equal can you know who your real stars are.

Quota-setting
A rep who had a good year is given a much higher quota for the following year. He doesn’t make it. Was quota set too high? Or is the territory already maxed out?

Source: Building a Winning Sales Force: Powerful Strategies for Driving High Performance (AMACOM, 2009) by Andris Zoltners, Prabhakant Sinha, and Sally Lorimer