Building a territory list for field sales reps
By Doug Nielsen, Product Manager · Updated · first published
Build field territories around drive time, not account count. Four hundred accounts in three adjacent ZIP codes is a good week's work; the same 400 spread across a state is a rep paid to drive.
Rows from our Google Maps data extractor carry latitude, longitude and postal code, enough to cluster accounts into drivable routes.
Key takeaways
- Scrape the whole region before drawing a single line.
- Balance on one agreed metric, in whole ZIP codes, checked against real roads.
- Reps need coordinates, phone and opening hours in a file their route planner reads.
- Re-scrape at least yearly to keep territories balanced and surface new accounts.
On this page6
Build the universe first, then cut it
Scrape every target category ZIP code by ZIP code, so no search cap truncates a dense area, then draw lines around the counts per ZIP.
Example
Designing the territories
Pick a balancing metric and write it down
Account count is simplest; weighting by review count, a rough size proxy, is fairer. Territory disputes are disputes about the metric.Group by ZIP, never by radius
Radii cut through neighborhoods and create overlaps two reps both claim.Check drive time, not distance
Twelve miles across a river with two bridges is not twelve miles. Plot the coordinates and check the roads.Leave slack for growth
A territory full on day one needs redrawing within a year.Hand the rep a routable file
Export XLSX with name, full address, coordinates, phone and hours. Most route planners and CRMs import it, and the hours stop visits to closed doors.
Get the whole list in one job
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Keeping territories honest over time
Balance drifts as businesses open and close. Re-scrape annually for stable trades, more often for hospitality and retail, and compare per-ZIP counts with the refresh routine, matching on place ID, not names.
Tip
The diff is a lead list
When Google Maps data isn't the right source
Maps coverage is patchy for accounts without premises customers visit (e-commerce, remote services, B2B-only industrial firms); use a firmographic source for those. Hubertino scrapes Google Maps only.
Common questions
Does the export include latitude and longitude?
How do I split a metro fairly between four reps?
Written by
Doug Nielsen, Product Manager
Doug works on Hubertino; the guides on this site are published under his name. Last updated .