The performance of mobile teams (sales force, logistics, installation or maintenance) will depend to a large extent on the quality of the sectorization. In effect, the way a defined territory of action is assigned to each mobile resource or team will determine how efficient operations on the ground will be, and, as a result condition the ability of the various actors to achieve their objectives. ‘Agreed’, you will be saying, but how can we be sure to create a ‘good’ territory breakdown? Which criteria will we need to take into consideration? Where do we start?
Whether you are seeking to
In practice, your
A cartographic representation of your activity will allow you to objectify the analysis of the existing scenario. A map of your sales sectors showing exact customer locations immediately shows how well the market is covered, and whether the number of customers in each sector is roughly equivalent. Importing turnover data by sector into this map, you will immediately see if there are imbalances between the sectors. Importing data for time spent on the road by your mobile resources, any imbalances will show up, and may provide explanations of why some resources are not managing to achieve the expected number of visits.
If you tackle the exercise from the other end of the problem, mapping will be just as helpful. As we like to say at GEOCONCEPT, mapping is the best way to always keep sight of the geographic dimension of your business: how it is rooted in the physical world in effect and
Calculating simple indicators that qualify situations (average, median, deviation, variation coefficient…) and then mapping all these values that quantify the workings of your business (number of customers and staff, volume of sales, potential revenue, distances, number of interventions…) will provide you with most of the information you need for an in-depth analysis of an existing sectorization, so you can understand the imbalances, and analyse the impact of any alterations planned to achieve the objectives you are setting as priority targets.
Every sectorization exercise depends on simultaneous optimization of four dimensions covering each of the criteria and indicators that define the territory and business activity concerned.
1/ Balance. A good sectorization is above all a balanced sectorization. Balance is the top consideration for a sectorization to be accepted, adopted and respected by staff. This means that your sectors must be equivalent in terms of potential, comparable in workload, equitable in terms of distances to be travelled…. For a more finely tuned result, these balancing variables benefit from being weighted, for example to take the value of customers or the times needed for visits into account.
2/ Travel. Whatever the mobile business, judicious sector definition involves taking travel into account. This means being sure that each member of staff will not be at any disadvantage due to having to spend more time travelling than their colleagues.
3/ Geography. We would naturally aim to design sectors for action and intervention that are as compact as possible, drawing possibly on administrative boundaries (towns, districts, departments) but above all taking the topography into account along with the quality and density of the road network. It goes without saying that travel in a sector that is 80% mountainous will be more difficult and less rapid than in a sector spread over level ground. A sectorization taking the ‘invisible’ barriers – both cultural and psychological – into consideration will also be better accepted: a technician living in the urban part of Toulouse will always be disinclined to be based in an agency located at Bordeaux…
4/ History. Most
Are you thinking to yourself that this is all a bit more complex than you had expected? Be reassured: firstly, your organisation already possesses most of the data needed for this exercise; secondly, we have the expertise and the tools to exploit these data and help you build the sectorization that will best serve your objectives.