TTG, Incorporated: Professional Territory Design Software Since 1988

Simpler Is Better: Choosing the Mapping Software Package That Suits Your Company’s Needs

By David Pinals, TTG, Inc.

Occam's razor was penned in the 14th century by William of Occam. In simple terms, he stated that the simplest solution to a problem is always preferred to the more complex. His philosophy is still pertinent today when applied to choosing mapping software for your business. For sales and marketing professionals, choosing mapping software can be an arduous task. When faced with the many choices presented in the marketplace, the simplest package that will meet your company’s needs is generally preferred to the more complex.

Over the past ten years, the mapping software industry has changed tremendously. There has been a huge proliferation of both low and high end mapping packages. Because there are more affordable programs on the market, more companies are experimenting with mapping software. Unfortunately, many are being disappointed. Problems arise when inexperienced sales managers purchase an inappropriate package that offers either too many unnecessary bells and whistles, or not enough capabilities.

There are two important questions to ask yourself  before you purchase mapping software for your company’s sales and marketing applications.

1. What specific tasks do you want to accomplish with the software?

2. How will accomplishing these tasks help your business grow? 

Often people become enamored with the technology available and lose sight of the nature of the issue that they are trying to address. Is a map really necessary to solve the problem? Buyers should ask themselves what information a map would provide that they do not already have. 

For example, some clients will look for a package that can create maps down to the street level. They assume that “more is better.” While it is possible to buy mapping software that offers this level of detail, it is really unnecessary for most sales and marketing applications. There is a real cost to mapping all that detail, not just in terms of money, but in disk space, application speed and in the time it takes to wade through all that information to find what you really want or need.  The person who is in charge of purchasing the mapping software should know how much useful information will be gained for the money spent. How much time will be wasted trying to figure out an application that offers very little to make the business grow?

The person responsible for choosing the mapping software should determine which of  these needs and objectives are most important to his or her company. Mapping software can be used for many different business applications. The following list is by no means comprehensive but is a good starting point: 

1. Create Maps of territories, districts, regions, distributor areas, dealers, resellers, warehouses, etc.

2. Perform Market Analysis by making maps that display the geographic distribution of data.

3. Refer Leads to the appropriate reseller, dealer, franchise, etc.

4. Assign Prospects to the correct sales representative or territory.

5. Realign Territories or other geographic areas of responsibility by balancing on specific key variables.

6. Optimize Sales Territories to minimize travel time and balance total demand.

7. Produce Individual Territory Maps on a periodic basis in an automated fashion. 

8. Calculate Routes to various locations for sales calls, deliveries, etc.

9. Plot Locations or customers, facilities, dealers, etc.

After listing your needs and objectives, begin looking for a product that has the necessary features to support your needs. If your primary need is printing out maps with directions to make sales calls for example, pick up a general purpose mapping program for under $400 at your local computer store. Don’t buy a large cumbersome, generic GIS system that will take weeks to learn if your application can be addressed by a simpler solution.

With respect to sales planning applications, select a package that can work at an appropriate level of geography. One of the major uses of mapping software is to divide up sales territories in an equitable way and to keep track of a company’s sales force. If your application dictates creating territories using Counties or ZIP codes, why add street level maps to the equation? They will add cost and complexity to your software purchase with no particular benefit.            

When assisting prospective customers with selecting a software package, we typically recommend that they focus on two issues: sets of features they require and map detail. The best packages are modularized; that is they group different features and levels of map detail depending on the needs of the user — with more features for more complex applications, and less features for simpler ones.            

The mapping vendor you choose should have an in-depth knowledge of the application you need to address, and the ability to offer guidance and assistance if necessary. Also make sure that you can trade up or down after buying a system since you may find that you initially bought either too much or too little to address your application needs.

Features to Look For in a Mapping Software Package

1. Ease of Use. This has become something of a cliché these days. It seems that everything is "easy to use". In point of fact, most software is somewhat cumbersome and counter-intuitive for the average computer user. If possible, get a trial copy or an evaluation version of the software. Take close look at the software and think about who the user will be. Do you really think that the user will be able to figure it out? Will they need extensive training? Will they remember how to use it after a 6 month absence? Remember, great software that sits on a shelf will not help your business.

2. Map Files. Look for a set of map files that is appropriate to your needs. Resist the temptation to buy more detail than you need. More map detail will not necessarily assist you in accomplishing your job. In fact, it may make your task more difficult. For example, if you need to create sales territories that adhere to county boundaries, don’t buy a package that forces you to assign all 42,000 5-digit ZIP Codes in the country. You will make a tremendous project out of what should have taken you just a few minutes. Finally, make sure that the maps are updated regularly, particularly if you use ZIP Codes to define territories since this file changes at an alarming rate. Software with outdated maps quickly becomes useless. If possible, purchase a maintenance contract to ensure that your maps remain current.

3. Custom Tools and Commands. If realigning territories is your main objective, make sure the software has built-in tools and commands to support this function specifically. Examples include “drag and drop” realignment, “lasso” realignment, automatic territory creation and support for multi-level sales hierarchies.

4. Support for Account Exceptions to the primary territory assignments. This is often required for businesses that have large national accounts that are called on by specialists.

5. The Ability to Create Territories Containing Specific Types of Accounts. Aside from using different levels of geography, you may need to create “account specific” assignments. For example, you may want to create territories that only contain Kmart Stores or that only include Pediatricians.

6. The Flexibility to Create Territories Using Multiple Levels of Geography. For example, many products require that you adhere to a single set of maps (e.g. whole states) in constructing territories. You may need to create a territory that incorporates two whole states and only four counties of a third. 

7. The Ability to Create Reports. Reports are an important ingredient in most sales and marketing mapping applications. Specific examples include territory, district  or region level reports listing all ZIP Codes included in each level, reports detailing changes made to the territory alignment or summary level territory reports with historic sales data.

8. The Ability to Perform Market Analyses Using Your Sales Hierarchy. For example, creating maps of your sales data that automatically “roll up” to the territory level is useful for comparative performance analysis.

9. Lead Assignment. The ability to quickly and easily assign leads to sales representatives by entering their ZIP Code is important. You should be able to do this even if your territories are defined using other levels of geography (e.g. states or countries). 

10. The Ability to Create Maps That Show the Relationship Between Two or More Variables at the same time (bi-variate analysis). For example, you may want to prepare a ZIP Code or a territory level map that shows the relationship between sales of a particular product category and the market potential for that product. This would help you find territories that are over or under performing.

11. Automatic Territory Optimization is a relatively new entry in the mid-priced mapping software market. Territory optimizers attempt to automatically create territories that balance one or more variables (e.g. workload or sales potential) while minimizing travel time. The solutions they provide are not typically ready to implement but they are tremendous time savers. Expect to pay a premium of several thousand dollars for software that has this feature.

12. Batch Map Production Engine. If you need to produce maps of individual territories on a regular basis, a batch map add-on will save you a tremendous amount of time. This feature will create individual custom maps for each territory, district or region using a template that you set up.

Selecting the appropriate mapping package for your company is not a simple task.  Marketing literature is often misleading and can misrepresent a product’s capability to perform certain tasks.  To minimize costly mistakes, make sure that you first itemize the specific tasks you need to accomplish with the software.  Then speak to the software vendor to confirm that the software is capable of performing these tasks in a simple, straightforward manner.  Make sure the software company will stand by its product and provide necessary assistance whenever, and however, you need it.  By doing your homework before jumping into purchasing a product, you will be rewarded with productivity gains from your new tool and have more time to devote to your real job - selling.

David Pinals is the President and CEO of TTG, Inc. in Bedford, MA. He is the founder of TTG and  the creator of several territory design software applications including Territory Planner, STARmanager, ASTRO, Territory Mapper and most recently, AlignStar. Mr. Pinals holds degrees in Geography and Environmental Science and a graduate degree in Applied Geography. He has assisted businesses in solving sales force deployment problems since 1982. TTG provides solutions for their clients that include both software and consulting services. David Pinals may be reached at TTG, Inc. by calling 781-272-8900 or via the contact form.

This White Paper is ©Copyright TTG, Inc. 2010. All rights reserved. Under copyright laws, this article may not be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine readable form, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of TTG, Inc.