Sales route planning is deciding which customers a field rep visits, how often, and in what order, so that time on the road goes to the accounts with the most at stake.
Frequency comes first, capacity second, the route last.
What is sales route planning?
Sales route planning is deciding which customers a field salesperson visits, how often, and in what order, so that time on the road goes first to the accounts with the most at stake, then is linked by the shortest practical route.
Route optimisation software solves the last part: the order of stops. It cannot tell you which stops matter. That is a sales decision, based on account potential and how long it has been since the last visit.
The complete guide Field sales management software: the complete guideVisit frequency by account class
A fictional rep has 160 accounts in three classes, and a frequency set for each:
| Class | Accounts | Visits a year each | Visits a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 20 | 12 | 240 |
| B | 60 | 6 | 360 |
| C | 80 | 2 | 160 |
| Total | 760 |
Portfolio and frequencies are fictional.
Checking capacity
The same rep has 200 field days a year and can make 5 visits a day: a capacity of 200 × 5 = 1,000 visits. The plan needs 760, so 1,000 − 760 = 240 visits remain for prospecting and unplanned calls. On average the plan uses 760 ÷ 200 = 3.8 visits a day.
If the plan needed more than the capacity, the answer would be a lower frequency for a class, phone calls for some accounts, or a change of territory — see sales territory management.
Planning routes in six steps
- Classify accounts. By potential: the accounts with the most at stake are visited most often.
- Set a frequency per class. Visits a year for each class, written down and reviewed.
- Check capacity. Visits needed against field days and visits a day: is the plan feasible?
- Pick this week’s accounts. Overdue accounts and open opportunities first.
- Then build the route. Link the chosen accounts by the shortest path, not the other way round.
- Review what was missed. Accounts out of frequency go back to the top of next week’s list.
Common mistakes
- Starting from the map. Geography optimises mileage, not sales.
- Visiting the friendly accounts. The pleasant visit is rarely the one that matters most.
- No frequency written down. Without it, nobody notices an account that has slipped.
- A plan above capacity. It will be missed every week, and the misses will not be chosen.
What SalesIro brings
The features relevant to this page, all taken from the public feature list (59 features, 3 of them marked “to be activated”):
- Account classification: classes by potential and a strategy per class;
- Visit frequency: frequency per class, accounts out of frequency flagged;
- Route ranked by what is at stake: accounts chosen by potential and overdue visits, then linked by the shortest route;
- My day: the day's actions in order;
- Synced calendar: visits in the rep's own calendar.
The same data can be queried from an AI assistant — Claude, ChatGPT, Le Chat or Perplexity — through the MCP server for AI assistants, with a key or an OAuth connection. A question such as “which class A accounts in my territory are overdue for a visit?” is answered from your own data, without an export. Every read is written to the access log, and access rules still apply: a rep's assistant only sees that rep's accounts.
Related guides
The overview is in the complete guide to field sales management software.
To compare features line by line, see the feature list. All English guides are listed on the guides page; a French guide on this topic is also available: version française.
Further reading
Frequently asked questions
How do you plan a sales route?
Classify accounts by potential, set a visit frequency per class, check the plan fits the rep's capacity, pick the accounts due this week, then link them by the shortest route.
How often should a sales rep visit customers?
There is no universal figure. Set a frequency per account class based on potential, and check that the total number of visits fits the time available.
Is route optimisation software enough?
It finds the shortest path between stops, but it does not decide which accounts should be visited; that choice comes from potential and time since the last visit.
How many visits can a field rep make a day?
It depends on distances, visit length and the type of customer; measure your own team's average rather than borrowing a figure.
Accounts chosen by what is at stake
In SalesIro, the route is built from accounts ranked by potential and overdue visits, then linked by the shortest path.
See how it works