Running a Territory Planning cycle is a multi-week project. The four-phase routine covers: gather data and define the planning criteria, model territories in Salesforce Maps Territory Planning, review and refine with sales leadership, and cut over to the new Territory Model in Enterprise Territory Management. Each phase has its own owners and stakeholders; the Operations team runs the project, sales leadership owns the strategic decisions, and IT supports the cutover. Plan the cycle as a discrete project with weekly milestones, not as continuous work that competes with daily Operations tasks.
- Gather data and define the planning criteria
Pull current Account distribution, rep workload, expected revenue per rep, travel time per rep (for field sales), and quota attainment data for the prior period. Identify imbalances: reps with too many or too few Accounts, reps with disproportionately high or low pipeline, geographies with poor coverage. Define the criteria for the new plan: target Account count per rep, target revenue per rep, geographic boundaries, vertical specialization, max travel time. Document the criteria in a planning brief signed off by sales leadership. The criteria are the source of truth for the modeling work; without them, the modeling becomes endless and inconclusive.
- Model territories in Salesforce Maps Territory Planning
Open Salesforce Maps Territory Planning. Pull Accounts onto the map. Draw territory boundaries that match the planning criteria. Run the balancing algorithm with weights matching the criteria from step 1. Review the resulting allocation: which reps gain or lose Accounts, where the metrics balance, where they do not. Iterate the boundaries and the algorithm weights until the result meets the criteria. Save the model as a candidate. Generate a per-rep impact report showing each rep old and new Accounts. The model is candidate state; it does not affect live data until activated.
- Review and refine with sales leadership
Share the candidate model with sales leadership and (selectively) with field managers. Walk through the per-rep impact report and the balancing metrics. Capture feedback: specific Accounts that should not move, specific reps with extenuating circumstances, geographies that need special handling. Iterate the model based on feedback. Hold a final approval meeting where sales leadership signs off on the model in writing. The approval should be a documented artifact for the project history, not just a verbal agreement; signed approval prevents re-litigation after activation.
- Cut over to the new Territory Model
Pick a cutover date during a low-activity window (typically a weekend or the first week of a quarter). Communicate the change to reps at least a week in advance, including their specific new Account list and any handoff procedures for in-flight Opportunities. Export the candidate model from Salesforce Maps Territory Planning into Enterprise Territory Management as a new Territory Model version. On the cutover day, activate the new model; the platform reassigns Accounts based on the new rules. Monitor closely for the first week. Run daily standups to address rep questions. Track pipeline metrics post-cutover; intervene early if any rep performance drops significantly.
- Salesforce Maps Territory Planning is a separate license, not included in Sales Cloud. Confirm the license before planning a project that depends on the modeling features.
- Activating a new Territory Model reassigns Accounts immediately. Cut over during a low-activity window and communicate to reps in advance; surprise reassignments destroy momentum.
- In-flight Opportunities do not automatically reassign with their Accounts. Build a handoff procedure for Opportunities in active negotiation; track them explicitly through the cutover.
- Territory Planning is a strategic decision dressed in platform tools. The tools support the decisions; they do not make them. Spend at least as much time on the planning brief as on the modeling.
- Sales leadership approval should be written, not verbal. Verbal approvals get re-litigated after activation when reps complain. Get the model signed off in writing as a project artifact.