Target Account or Geographic Territories - Which is better?

SaaS Savages,


I could use some input from the brilliant minds in this group.


I currently work at a startup on an extremely lean sales team. 4 reps total for the entire world, most of our business is in the US. There's 2 reps (1 ENT AE and 1 ISR/Junior AE) who manage CA through the Southwest, I manage all of the rockies and great lakes, and our last rep manages the east coast. We have outsourced SDRs and most of our opportunities come from our partner network and all reps are busy working deals.


Yesterday during my 1:1 with my manager, he mentioned we're hiring 3 more reps in 2021 and that he is entertaining the idea of moving us from a geography-based territory model to a target account model. The rationale is most of us are too busy to truly prospect a specific territory, and the majority of deals we work are not local to where we live (for example, I live in Denver but most of my opps are Michigan, West coast rep lives in Portland and mostly closes business in Texas), and if we carved out 3 more territories, it would take too many key regions from those of us who have stuck with the company during COVID.


In the target account model, we'd each have 150 target accounts that are not tied to a specific region, and then we would round robin any of the inbound leads that come in. He asked me to think on it overnight and if I had any serious objections or opinion, to let him know.


I've only ever worked in a geo-based territory model, so my question for those who currently or previously worked in a target acct-based model, what are the pros/cons? Do you prefer it to geo-based territories? What have you seen work best in your orgs?



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7
CaneWolf
Politicker
1
Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract
Both end up being unfair but there is value in geos.
Diablo
Politicker
0
Sr. AE
I have worked in a TG based account and it worked out for us for many reasons - we had few reps so no hostility, we use to categorize TG on the basis of industry (that gave us maximum revenue) and then setting up a criteria for each reps (Ent get an account that has may be XX mn Revenue for an eg)
Sunbunny31
Politicker
0
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
I've been burned by the TA model too many times to enjoy it.   The difference in what I'm reading of your model is that you still get inbounds and you will be dividing them.  However, with new reps coming in, what's to keep them from having you all geo-based?  You won't be stretched as thin, you can begin to focus and target within your region on your own, and you won't be limited to what you can go after.   I understand the interest in focusing on top accounts, but surely with a smaller geo, you'll be doing that anyway?  Maybe they can provide a bonus for each of the targets you open in your geo (?).

Yeah, I'm still burned by the TA model.  Clearly I'm still avoiding it.
techsales
Politicker
1
Enterprise Account Executive
Fair feedback. The argument for TA vs. geo is that we arent truly "owning" our territories now because we have no bandwidth, and most of the inbounds come from the east coast, so we have a pretty big disparity in the warm leads across the 4 of us.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
0
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Of course from the company's viewpoint, that makes sense. They really need to have good coverage and not miss out on opportunity.   And a TA model enables that, in a way.  I guess I'm a bit stuck on how there wouldn't be enough key regions to support 7 reps, but I don't know what you're selling and what the key regions are.

However, one thing does jump out:  that your management is bringing the key regions into consideration and trying to do right by those of you who have been with them a while.  It sounds like whatever they move forward with, they are paying attention to your needs.   That's golden.
techsales
Politicker
1
Enterprise Account Executive
Most of our business is skewed towards hubs of CPGs and media companies, which skews a lot of our closed deals to CPG hubs (which tends to be the midwest) and NYC/CA where you have global media conglomerates. 

Not to say those companies don't exist everywhere, but the Southeast historically has been a region with little to no closed opportunites. Same with some of the less populated areas in the rockies like the dakotas, etc.

So the thought is if we assign a rep to these regions OR take some of those big states from the existing reps, there would be some heartburn. Sales leadership also generally thinks a refresh and new set of eyes on these accounts would be a positive thing for the org.

Overall you're correct. Management is keenly aware of how the decisions they make impact us as reps and what keeps us happy and fed. Very lucky to work here.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
0
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Totally understood!   Southeast underperforms in a number of industries, so I'm not surprised you brought that region up.

I'm glad management is being thoughtful in their approach.
Mobi85
Politicker
0
Regional Sales Manager
Geographic areas, you may not have the bandwith currently but as you continue to grow there will be geographic areas that need more than 1 rep and can grow in that regard.  Also allows you to focus all your efforts within one area/time zone.  If you are running TA and it is across multiple timezones you are just running yourself ragged (just from my experience).  

Current company is based on 7 geographic territories across North America (Northeast, Southeast, Mid Atlantic, South Central, Southwest, Midwest, Northwest) have Senior reps overseeing entire territory and then junior reps that are focusing their efforts within specific territories of the Senior reps entire territory.  
techsales
Politicker
0
Enterprise Account Executive
We have tried to recruit for that "pod" model where you have a Sr. AE paired with a Jr. AE/ISR--that was the plan originally, but with the job market we have AEs with 2 yrs experience asking for $200k+ OTE because the market will bare it. I think that's also contributing to the discussion of moving away from geos.
cw95
Politicker
0
Sales Development Lead
I think, you have such a large scope so optimise that for your own pocket! Once you succeed in that then you can question the other things. Once it becomes bigger and bigger n more corporate you'll kick yourself. 
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