"But my territory really is different!"

If I had a chicken wing for every time a salesperson argued "I know but my territory is different," I'd be Colonel Sanders, white suit and all. A sales manager consistently tries to coach up the staff on selling tactics, a new promotion or whatever the need of the week is and some salespeople consistently try to sell the manager back on why his/her ideas won't work for them. It's not the salesperson, it's the territory.

"That doesn't work on my customers" or "that stuff doesn't work in my area...my area IS DIFFERENT!"

You know, maybe they're right. I never felt that way until recently.

I had the opportunity to visit a member paper this week way, way out in the hinterlands. Beautiful place, but really different than any area I had ever sold in or managed. Extreme rural with interesting tourism twists. My training style reflects my background, more urban/suburban. It became apparent to me very early on that I had to adapt quickly to the environment they were used to if I was going to be of any help at all. On my way home, I thought a lot about how different the selling life was for this group of people and how perhaps it is possible that I misjudged all those sales folks who I thought were just pushing back for the sake of pushing. Some territories really are different.

That said, how can the manager make the most of it -- how can one celebrate the diversity of opportunities out there?

First, a territory is only different when you compare it to another. So stop comparing. Put the onus back on the salesperson but do it with a little love. Challenge the sales rep to come up with a six-month calendar of promotions and campaigns that specifically speak to the strengths of their territory. Then discuss what you and your team can do to optimize the opportunities with a written strategic plan.

Next, repeat this with all the staff, be it two people or twenty. Plot the individual results on a big, wall-size chart that shows where some duplicity or overlap occurs between the individual plans. Try to engage teamwork in those instances to build your major promos for the year but otherwise concentrate on smaller, niche opportunities that let your salesperson really mine their local opportunities.

Let's face it -- none of us is ever going to become the next Google. We need to concentrate on small, hyper local (coincidentally like Google is try to do) and build lots of little piles of revenue results that add up to big success. That's what we do best. We need to continue to find ways to do it differently – to do it better -- to survive and thrive.

Thanks -- let me know how FCPNY can help you and your sales staff.