A sales territory plan sets, for one territory and one year, the accounts by class, how often each class is visited, whether that fits the rep's capacity, and what time is left for prospecting.
Compute the visits needed, compare them with the visits possible, then decide.
What a territory plan is for
A sales territory plan is the document that sets, for one territory and one year, which accounts are in it, how often each class of account should be visited, whether those visits fit in the rep's working days, and how the remaining time is used.
It sits between territory design, which draws the boundaries, and route planning, which orders the visits of a day. It is the capacity check that both depend on.
The complete set Field sales templates: how the documents connectThe template, field by field
Copy the fields below in this order: the first column becomes the heading, the second says what goes in it, the third why the field exists. Remove a field you have no use for; add one your business needs.
| Field | What to write | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Territory | Name, area, rep or agent | Know who is responsible for what |
| Accounts by class | Number of accounts in each class | See the portfolio at a glance |
| Visit frequency | Visits a year for each class | Turn priorities into visits |
| Visits needed | Accounts × frequency, summed over classes | The workload the portfolio requires |
| Capacity | Field days a year × visits a day | The visits the rep can actually make |
| Balance | Capacity minus visits needed | Time left for prospecting, or a shortfall |
| Priorities | Three or four aims for the year | Give the plan a direction |
| Prospecting targets | Prospects to see and accounts to open | Use the remaining capacity |
A filled example
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Territory | North-East (fictional), one employed rep |
| Accounts by class | Class A: 15, Class B: 40, Class C: 50 — 105 accounts |
| Visit frequency | Class A: 12 a year, Class B: 6 a year, Class C: 2 a year |
| Visits needed | 15 × 12 + 40 × 6 + 50 × 2 = 180 + 240 + 100 = 520 visits |
| Capacity | 180 field days × 4 visits = 720 visits |
| Balance | 720 − 520 = 200 visits for prospecting |
| Priorities | Keep every class A account on frequency; open the two industrial parks in the east |
| Prospecting targets | 40 prospects visited, 8 new accounts opened |
Accounts, frequencies and capacity are fictional; they illustrate the calculation, not a standard. All data in this example is fictional.
How to use it
- List the accounts. Every active account in the territory, with its class.
- Set a frequency per class. Visits a year for each class, agreed with the manager.
- Compute the visits needed. Accounts times frequency, class by class, then the total.
- Compute the capacity. Field days in the year, after leave, training and office days, times visits a day.
- Read the balance. Spare capacity goes to prospecting; a shortfall means lowering a frequency or moving accounts.
- Set priorities and review. Three or four aims, then compare actual visits with the plan each quarter.
Common mistakes
- Drawing routes first. A short route to the wrong accounts saves time on visits that did not matter.
- Overstating capacity. Count the real field days, not every working day.
- One frequency for all. Visiting every account equally leaves key accounts under-served.
- No time for prospecting. A plan that uses all capacity on existing accounts shrinks the portfolio.
- Ignoring a shortfall. If visits needed exceed capacity, something will be dropped; decide what.
Spreadsheet or tool
The template works in both. This compares categories of tools, not products: any given product may differ from these general tendencies.
| Aspect | Spreadsheet or document | Field sales tool |
|---|---|---|
| Visits needed | Formulas to maintain | Computed from account classes and frequencies |
| Accounts overdue | Checked by hand against visit dates | Flagged as soon as an account is off frequency |
| White space | Hard to see in rows | Areas nobody works shown on a map |
| Reassignment | Rows moved between files | Accounts reassigned, history kept |
| Review | A new version of the file each quarter | Actual visits compared with the plan |
What SalesIro brings
The features that fill in or replace this template, all taken from the public feature list (59 features, 3 of them marked “to be activated”):
- Account classification: potential scoring, classes and a strategy per class;
- Visit frequency: pace by account class, accounts off schedule flagged;
- Territory coverage: the areas nobody is working;
- Territory-based assignment: assignment proposed from geography, applied in one go;
- Prospecting plan: day, week and month views against an agreed pace;
- Route ranked by what is at stake: the accounts to visit, then the shortest route.
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 “how many class A accounts in my territory are off their visit frequency?” 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
How the templates fit together is explained in field sales templates: the complete set.
- Account plan template
- Weekly sales report template
- Customer profile template (B2B)
- Sales territory management
- Sales route planning
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
What is a sales territory plan?
A document that sets, for one territory and one year, the accounts by class, how often each class is visited, whether those visits fit the rep's capacity and how spare time is used.
How do you calculate the visits a territory needs?
Multiply the number of accounts in each class by the visits a year for that class, then add the results across classes.
How do you calculate a rep's visit capacity?
Multiply the field days in the year, after leave, training and office days, by the number of visits the rep can make in a day.
What if the visits needed exceed capacity?
Lower the frequency of a class, move accounts to another rep or agent, or accept that some accounts will be seen less often, and write that decision into the plan.
Frequency and coverage, account by account
In SalesIro, each account class has its visit pace, accounts off schedule are flagged, and the coverage map shows the areas nobody works.
See how it works