What is a Territory Sales Manager?

Wondering what it takes to be a territory sales manager? If you enjoy leading teams, have a proven track record of closing deals, and excel at problem-solving and building relationships, you may have what it takes to succeed in this key sales role.

We’ll discuss what this career looks like, how to build your skills, a typical day for a territory sales manager, and metrics for success, so you can decide whether it’s the job for you.

What you’ll learn

What is a territory sales manager?

A territory sales manager is responsible for overseeing sales and sales volume — including supervising teams of sales reps and support staff — within a defined geographical region. However, these regions (or territories) aren’t always defined by their physical location. They are often determined by things such as industry, market potential, relationship history, or number of accounts. Some businesses require in-person sales and regular visits to customers; others can be handled virtually. Territory sales managers are ultimately responsible for the sales volume achieved by their team.

What does a territory sales manager do?

Territory sales managers coordinate with their sales and support teams to find and develop new opportunities. They set sales goals and are responsible for ensuring targets are met. Empowering reps to build relationships with customers, hiring new team members, and strong leadership skills are all important parts of the job. Territory sales managers operate in a variety of industries, from consumer goods to manufacturing and technology.

Key job responsibilities include:

• Developing sales strategies: Analyzing market trends, reviewing data, and setting sales goals for their teams.
• Educating and training sales teams: Organizing training workshops and coaching opportunities for new and existing reps.
• Building and maintaining customer relationships: Scheduling visits with key clients to understand their needs, following up about products and services, and gathering feedback.
• Creating reports and budgets: Monitoring industry news and competitor activity, then creating reports with that information. This internal data is key to setting budgets for the team.
• Forecasting sales: Using historical data, market analysis, and feedback from the sales team, territory sales managers generate sales forecasts, which help them set realistic sales targets.

A typical day for a territory sales manager may include calling prospects, qualifying leads, and working on established accounts. Territory sales managers are always on the hunt for new leads and may prospect using third-party tools such as LinkedIn to connect with potential customers.

Territory sales managers are typically focused on a few large, high-priority accounts. Consequently, they spend a lot of time talking with potential and existing customers. They use customer relationship management (CRM) software — typically equipped with AI and automation tools — to schedule calls, update customer and lead details, and keep track of outreach.

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How to become a territory sales manager

To become a territory sales manager, you need a track record of closing sales. In addition, you will need managerial or leadership experience. A college degree is not always necessary, but many employers prefer a bachelor’s degree in business or a related field. In fact, relevant work experience can replace a college degree in some cases.

Sales experience is an essential skill for the role, so starting your career in an entry-level sales position is a good way to gain confidence and practice various sales skills and strategies in a relatively low-stakes environment. After a year or two in an entry-level sales role, you can begin to work your way up to sales development rep (SDR), business development rep (BDR), or sales engineer.

Once you land that first job, look for opportunities to demonstrate your ability to manage people or projects. Work on your confidence at selling, both in-person and online. In particular, focus on relationship building, upselling and cross-selling opportunities, and hitting your sales quotas.

As I said earlier, demonstrated leadership experience is a must. This means having at least a few years (three to five) of experience in supervisory roles. Because territory managers regularly engage in face-to-face and virtual sales with customers and prospects, you must be willing to travel and comfortable with pitching and presenting.

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Skills you need for territory sales management

A successful territory sales manager needs a range of hard and soft skills. Because the role often involves managing fewer — but larger — accounts, it’s important that you are highly self-motivated, ambitious, and a skilled communicator. Additionally, you must understand how to interact with different management levels within an organization.

The top skills needed to become a territory sales manager include:

Sales experience

The ability to close deals consistently is the main requirement of this role. This typically means having strong negotiation skills and a clear understanding of effective sales techniques.

You can develop these skills in earlier sales roles like SDR and BDR, where you interact with clients daily. In order to succeed, you must also have deep product knowledge and be comfortable handling objections.

Strong communication

Verbal and written skills are critical. You should be able to write an email and deliver a presentation that conveys your thoughts clearly and persuasively, in a way that’s personalized to your prospect or customer. Practicing active listening, learning how to recognize and respond to nonverbal cues, and mastering the art of storytelling will give you an edge as a territory sales manager.

Interpersonal skills

A territory sales manager’s main focus is building and maintaining positive relationships with customers. Happy customers tend to be loyal, may refer you to others, and can be more receptive to cross- and upselling opportunities.

Improve your relationship-building skills by taking the time to research each of your prospects and customers. Learn about their businesses, goals, needs, and pain points. When you communicate in an authentic way that shows you’re interested in their success, you set the stage for a mutually beneficial relationship.

Leadership

Motivating your team to hit sales targets is a big part of a territory sales manager’s job. The best way to gain leadership experience before stepping into a managerial role is to demonstrate your ability to lead projects or teams and contribute to the company’s overall success.

You can do this by volunteering to lead small projects as part of a S.M.A.R.T goal, identifying areas of improvement within your team or organization, taking the initiative to tackle issues, and presenting your results to leadership. Think outside the box and look for opportunities where you can go above and beyond the everyday responsibilities of your position.

Data analysis and strategic thinking

Territory sales managers review sales data and market trends and interpret implications for their company. To anticipate market changes and adjust strategies on the fly, strategic and critical thinking skills are essential. Develop these by asking more questions, seeking advice from experts, focusing on the “why” over the “what,” and considering things from multiple angles.

A strong understanding of budgeting and financial management is also important. To improve your financial literacy, subscribe to business journals, listen to expert-led finance and sales industry podcasts, and read books on the subject. Join sales communities where these topics are regularly discussed to learn from your peers.

Technical literacy

Today’s territory sales managers must understand how to use evolving technology as part of their job. For example, CRM software helps them track customer interactions, manage sales pipelines, and analyze data for forecasting, goal setting, and more.

AI-powered coaching tools support sales training efforts. These tools can analyze conversations, emails, and other interactions to provide feedback on techniques, suggest improvements, and predict outcomes.

Territory mapping tools help managers divide and assign accounts to sales reps. They can use this software to optimize travel routes, target the right markets, and adjust territories as market conditions change.

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Success metrics for territory sales managers

As a sales territory manager, specific metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) are used to measure your success. Some common ones include:

• Sales pipeline velocity: The speed at which opportunities move through the sales pipeline, from lead generation to close. This helps you estimate how fast your team can generate revenue, how much revenue you can produce from your sales pipeline, and how well your sales process is working.
• Territory coverage: This measures how well your sales teams connect and engage with prospects and customers in their assigned territories. It helps you assess penetration, the reach of your sales activities, and identify opportunities and gaps in each territory.
• Revenue per territory: This represents how much income each territory generates for the larger business. It helps you evaluate each territory’s potential and profitability and identify your highest- and lowest-performing regions.
• Customer acquisition and retention rate: The number of new clients gained — and kept — within a set period demonstrates customer satisfaction and loyalty. Understanding your customers’ experience with your offering or sales team can help you make meaningful adjustments.
• Quota attainment: This is the percentage of sales targets or quotas a territory manager’s sales team meets within a specific period. Tracked monthly, quarterly, and annually, it helps you measure the effectiveness and efficiency of your team.
• Profitability: Gross margins — or the pofitability of sales after deducting the cost of goods sold — along with the average profit generated per customer is an indicator of cost management and sales success.

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Sales AI software for territory management

AI-powered sales software helps territory sales managers automate workflows and streamline operations for higher efficiency. For example, AI tools can analyze large amounts of data quickly, providing insights into customer demographics and market trends and changes. This ensures managers have access to accurate data no matter where they are.

AI can monitor and analyze sales calls and support managers by offering coaching tips for sales reps — things like targeted talking points and objection responses.

It can also help with lead scoring and predicting which deals are most likely to close based on past deal data, customer behavior, and engagement metrics. This helps territory sales managers and their teams save time by focusing on high-priority prospects with more potential.

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Sales success comes with the territory

Territory sales managers play a vital role in driving sales for a company. They possess a relationship-building mindset and a more strategic skill set than someone who simply enjoys selling. A successful territory sales manager is great at closing deals, managing high-profile accounts, building and maintaining relationships, and leading their team to success.

So, if you’re interested in becoming a territory sales manager, it’s important to develop these skills to stand out at your sales organization and take the next step in your career.