Align Your Resources With Customers to Grow

Getting your sales coverage model right ensures your return on sales investment. Reach your target customers most effectively by aligning buying needs and buyer behaviors with the appropriate channels and roles.

What Is a Sales Coverage Strategy? 

When striving for sales goals, your Sales department casts a wide net. The hope is that the net will cover your entire customer base. However, each customer is motivated by different factors. Much like the different species of fish in a lake, your customers inhabit unique ecosystems across a broad area. A single net may catch some, but as the groups of customers spread, you’ll find that the sales team is more likely to come up empty.

Sales departments that cast wide nets use their resources inefficiently. Your Sales department will catch more customers by narrowing their sales strategies. Rather than employing broad messaging, target specific customer pools using tactics most likely to appeal to that group.

One way your business can narrow its sales focus is by implementing a sales coverage model. A sales coverage model optimizes sales efficiency by deploying representatives where they are most likely to succeed.

Forming a sales coverage model requires an understanding of the total prospects in an area—the number of fish in the lake—and the number of prospects who are likely to convert—the number of fish likely to bite. From there, sales organizations can plan to convert each of the most likely leads.

Elements of a Sales Coverage Strategy 

Just as different types of fish inhabit different parts of a lake, your customers fall into different categories. The defining feature of each category will determine the most effective strategy for reaching its constituents.

A sales coverage strategy will dictate how your organization leverages its sales resources. Information and organization are critical. Sales coverage strategies include data about each viable market opportunity and sales processes tailored to each customer segment. They also determine sales goals that consider the Sales department’s size and structure relative to the total market opportunities.

The sales coverage model can extend to other important aspects of running an effective sales organization, such as the definition of sales team member roles and seller compensation strategies.

Questions to Ask That Will Drive Your Sales Coverage Strategy

Consider these questions when forming a sales coverage strategy:

• Which customers offer the most opportunity? When you understand customer buying habits and needs, you can group them by similarities and economic attractiveness, and determine which customers merit the most focus.
• Which channels best serve each type of customer? Determine if you need to add channel sales to your sales strategy, and which sales channel or which combination of channels can reach your target market most effectively—with the appropriate sales cost.
• What type of sellers and structure will provide the best coverage? By defining sales job roles, support and enablement requirements, functional accountability, organizational structure and reporting relationships, you can ensure the right resources are doing the right things.
• What is the right size sales force? The Alexander Group can analyze and model the right headcount and deployment ratios for the types of roles needed to optimize cost of sales and maximize sales ROI.

When to Create a Sales Coverage Model

A business can create a sales coverage model at any point if it does not have one already. However, it is important to allow time for model developers to produce a thorough strategy. A sales organization that partnered with Alexander Group saw success by allowing a six-month preparation window before launching a new sales model.

Begin forming a sales coverage model in the middle of the financial year to launch it in quarter one. You can adjust the model during the development phase as you gather more sales data throughout the financial year.

Factors to Consider in Your Sales Coverage Model

A sales coverage model should consider the multitude of areas that influence sales success. It should also include an evaluation of your current sales approach and goals you hope to achieve through the new model.

Reference these factors when forming a sales coverage model:

The End Goal

Determine a revenue goal that your Sales department should reach and reverse-engineer a coverage model. The goal should consider past sales figures, your team’s size, overhead costs and the current state of your industry. Set quarterly benchmarks along with the end goal.

Customer Data

Knowing your customers will allow you to specify the sales coverage model. Consider the ratio of all potential customers compared to the most qualified leads. Divide the qualified leads into customer segments according to demographic information and purchasing behavior. Also, consider your top accounts and the unique factors that drive their purchases with your business.

Sales Department Organization

The sales coverage model will include a breakdown of your Sales department. Establish key roles within the Sales department, as well as the policies and procedures that allow it to run efficiently. Sales department aspects to feature in the coverage model include sales methods, seller benchmarks, internal communication practices, recruitment strategies and training guidelines.

How Can Alexander Group Help You?

A sales coverage model is a way to improve sales efficiency and drive revenue by adding a new level of specificity to your sales processes. An effective sales organization is one that tailors its approach to the ideal customer segment. Specialized sales coverage trumps a broad-net approach, so develop a strong sales coverage strategy to allocate resources efficiently.

Alexander Group supports revenue organizations at every level through sales coverage model transformations. We will leverage our sales coverage expertise to help you:

1. Translate customer opportunity to sales coverage decisions
2. Focus precious resources on the right customers and channels
3. Select the best types of roles—direct sales vs. agents, field vs. inside sales, account management vs. product-focused

As your business strategy evolves and changes every year, so should your sales coverage model. Include coverage model evaluation into fiscal year planning to maintain alignment between your sales force and financial goals.