Territory Plan

What this does

This skill turns a book of accounts into a coverage plan — an artifact that answers "given limited time, which accounts get how much effort, and who do I work first and why." It is not a sorted list of accounts.

The bare-model default, asked to "help me plan my territory," is a ranked roster: it sorts the accounts by current revenue, says "focus on your biggest accounts," and hands back a list. That plans nothing — it spends the most effort on the accounts that are already maxed out and ignores the signal that says where the next revenue actually is. This skill forces three moves:

1. Segment the book into named tiers by potential — group every account into a small set of

tiers based on opportunity (whitespace, growth, fit, buying signals), not just what it spends today. A small fast-growing account can outrank a large saturated one.

1. Allocate effort by tier — give each tier an explicit, differentiated coverage cadence and

rough share of time (deep/high-touch vs. light vs. automated nurture). Don't spread effort evenly.

1. Prioritized named-target list, each with its trigger — pick the specific accounts to act on

now, and for each one state the trigger — the signal that makes it a priority this period (a renewal window, an expansion event, a new exec, funding, open whitespace, a slipping at-risk account). Priority is justified by a trigger, never by size alone.

A roster ranks; a coverage plan commits time. The lift is the difference.

When to use / when NOT to

Use when:

• You have a book, territory, or list of accounts and need to decide how to cover it — how to

split limited hours across many accounts and which to work first.

• You just inherited a territory and need a plan for the quarter.

Do NOT use when:

• You're planning a single existing account's growth/defense — that is account-plan.
• You're scoring one inbound lead against an ICP — that is lead-qualification.
• You're doing RFM segmentation of individual customers from purchase history — that is

customer-segmentation-rfm.

• You're flagging deal hygiene or rolling up a forecast number — that is

pipeline-hygiene-review / a forecast rollup, not a coverage plan.

The three moves (produce all three, in this order)

1. Segment the book into named tiers by potential

Put every account into a small set of named tiers (typically three: e.g. Tier 1 / Grow, Tier 2 / Develop, Tier 3 / Maintain). The tiering dimension is potential — the size of the opportunity — which combines fit, whitespace/room to grow, and buying signals, not just current spend. The consequence that catches bare models: a small account with a strong signal (fast growth, funding, a mandate, open whitespace) belongs in a top tier, and a large account that is fully penetrated with no room belongs in a lower/maintain tier — you are not going to grow revenue you've already captured. Every account lands somewhere; don't cherry-pick the top five and drop the tail.

2. Allocate effort by tier

Give each tier an explicit, differentiated coverage plan: a cadence (how often you touch it) and a rough share of your time. The tiers must not get the same treatment — the point of tiering is to spend unequally on purpose. A typical shape: Tier 1 gets deep, high-touch, proactive coverage and the largest time share; Tier 2 gets lighter, periodic coverage; Tier 3 gets low-touch or automated nurture (a sequence, a quarterly check, marketing) rather than being abandoned. State the tail plan explicitly — "Tier 3: quarterly automated nurture, escalate only on inbound" is a plan; silence on the tail is not.

3. Prioritized named-target list — each with its trigger

From the tiers, pull the specific accounts to act on now into a short ordered list, and for each name the trigger: the reason it earns attention this period. A trigger is a signal — renewal window opening, an expansion/new-region event, a new executive or champion, a funding round, open whitespace on a product line, usage spiking, or an at-risk account slipping. "Work Account X because it's big" is not a trigger; "Work Account X because its renewal opens in 60 days and usage is sliding" is. Order the list by urgency/value of the trigger, not by account size.

Core rules

1. Tier by potential, not current revenue. Current spend is one input to fit, not the ranking.

A small high-signal account can be Tier 1; a saturated large account can be Tier 3.

1. Cover the whole book. Every account lands in a tier. The tail gets a stated low-touch plan,

not silence.

1. Effort must be differentiated per tier. Assign a cadence and a rough time share that differ

across tiers. Even coverage defeats the purpose.

1. Every named priority carries a trigger. State the specific "why now" signal for each target;

never justify a priority by size alone.

1. Order by trigger, not size. The action list is ranked by the urgency/value of the signal.
2. Never fabricate. Use only the accounts, numbers, and signals you were given. If an account has

no signal, tier it on what you know and flag the missing signal as an open question — do not invent a renewal date, a funding round, or a growth rate. A flagged unknown beats a made-up trigger.

Worked example

Context you were given: "My book, 6 accounts. A: $400k/yr, our biggest, uses every product, renewed last month and has nothing open right now. B: $30k/yr, but they just raised a Series C and are hiring aggressively; on just one of our four modules so far. C: $150k/yr, up for renewal in 8 weeks, usage off ~20% since the last review, and the champion has stopped replying. D: $90k/yr, steady, no changes. E: $15k/yr, dormant, no logins in 3 months. F: $60k/yr, just brought on a new VP who owns budget, we've never met her. I have ~20 hours/week for this book — how do I work it?"

BAD (ranked roster — the bare default): > Your biggest accounts are A ($400k), C ($150k), and D ($90k), so focus your time there. B, E, and F > are smaller, so work them when you have time. Prioritize: A, C, D, B, F, E.

Why it's bad: sorted purely by current revenue; puts the maxed-out A at the top (nowhere to grow), buries B (a Series-C, single-module account = huge whitespace) at the bottom, misses that C is at-risk with a renewal clock, ignores F's new economic buyer, gives every account the same vague "focus/when you have time," and attaches no trigger to anything. It spends the most effort where the least revenue is left.

GOOD: > Tiers (by potential, not current spend) > - Tier 1 / Grow — B (Series C + 3 of 4 modules open = large whitespace), C (at-risk, renewal > clock — defend before it churns), F (new economic buyer we've never met — access risk + upside). > - Tier 2 / Develop — D (steady, modest room; keep warm). > - Tier 3 / Maintain — A (fully penetrated, just renewed — protect, don't chase growth), > E (dormant — low-touch reactivation only). > > Effort allocation (~20 hrs/wk) > - Tier 1: ~65% — proactive, weekly touch on B, C, F. > - Tier 2: ~20% — D, roughly monthly check-in. > - Tier 3: ~15% — A: quarterly exec review to defend the renewal; E: automated reactivation > sequence, escalate only on a reply. > > Work first (ordered by trigger) > 1. C — trigger: renewal in 8 weeks + usage down 20% and champion gone quiet. Save-the-renewal > play now. > 2. F — trigger: new VP owns budget and we have no relationship. Get introduced before the > next budget cycle. > 3. B — trigger: just raised a Series C and hiring; using 1 of 4 modules. Expansion pitch > while they're scaling. > 4. A — trigger: none active; protect the $400k. Light-touch, no growth ask.

Common mistakes (this is the lift — what a bare model does by default)

1. Sort by current revenue — ranks the book by spend and tops it with maxed-out accounts.
2. Potential ignored — buries a small high-signal (funding/growth/whitespace) account at the bottom.
3. Even effort — "focus on all of them" / same treatment for every tier; no cadence, no share.
4. Tail dropped — plans the top few and goes silent on the rest of the book.
5. No trigger — justifies priorities by size ("it's the biggest") instead of a "why now" signal.
6. At-risk missed — treats a slipping account with a renewal clock as low priority because it's small.
7. Fabricated signals — invents a renewal date or funding round for an account with no given signal.

Quick checklist (before responding)

• ] Is every account placed in a named tier?
• ] Are the tiers ranked by potential (fit + whitespace + signals), not just current revenue?
• ] Does a small high-signal account beat a saturated large one where the facts warrant it?
• ] Does each tier get a differentiated cadence and rough time share (incl. a tail plan)?
• ] Is there a prioritized named-target list, ordered by trigger?
• ] Does every priority carry a specific trigger / why-now signal, not a size argument?
• ] Did you avoid inventing any account, number, or signal, and flag unknowns instead?