What does a territory manager do?
A territory manager is responsible for monitoring the sales operations of the different sales team of an organization. One of the most crucial duties of a territory manager is to encourage the sales team to provide the best results for increasing the company's profitability. Territory managers are conducting sales training, improving marketing strategies and approach, reviewing sales pitches, analyzing current market trends, and reaching sales goals. Territory managers must display exceptional leadership and customer service skills to manage customers' needs and identify more business opportunities.
Territory manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real territory manager resumes:
- Achieve MVP in Q3 2003 and Q1 through Q4 2004.
- Manage promotional budgets focusing on high ROI events, thus increasing sales at lower promotional cost.
- Manage all aspects of TM specification, sales, order management and delivery of customer's orders.
- Generate leads through internet research, marketing, trade show participation, internal department cross-selling, and referrals.
- Manage all aspects of SalesForce CRM integration and administration throughout the entire sales department
- Achieve profitable relationships with current and prospective customers by providing exceptional customer support through attentiveness and extensive product knowledge.
- Establish business relationships through extraordinary customer service and development of relationships with physicians, therapists, patients and other referral sources.
- Share and growth increases result in promotion with pulmonary, cardiology and diabetes brands.
- Conduct pharmaceutical sales to hospitals and physicians specializing in cardiology and internal medicine.
- Work with other DSM's to drive team morale.
- Mentore new DSM's in recruiting and performance management.
- Establish and maintain strong relationships with think leaders in the Asian oncology field.
- Demonstrate Nortel s SMB products via live demonstration as well as through web conference.
- Spearhead the successful launch of Uroxatral - a new urology BPH product - to top-prescribing urologists.
- Retain entire district of oncology specialists through the integration.
Territory manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 13% of Territory Managers are proficient in Customer Service, Patients, and Product Knowledge. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of Territory Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 13%
Identify and cultivate new business development opportunities by cold calling, developing relationships with employer accounts and delivering excellent customer service.
- Patients, 8%
Designed and implemented a targeted sales strategy to rapidly build relationships with high volume medical offices serving commercially insured patients.
- Product Knowledge, 7%
Maintained product knowledge and consistently achieved sales goals and planned objectives, while delivering customer satisfaction that ensures consistent repeat business.
- Work Ethic, 7%
Increased sales by 34% by implementing effective consultative selling, providing outstanding customer service and possessing a strong work ethic.
- CRM, 5%
Executed a CRM pipeline daily to accurately identify opportunities, penetrate competitive accounts and close business in Pennsylvania and South Jersey.
- Excellent Interpersonal, 4%
Cultivated excellent interpersonal skills through outside sales interactions.
Most territory managers use their skills in "customer service," "patients," and "product knowledge" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential territory manager responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for a territory manager to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what territory managers do because "sales managers must collect and interpret complex data to target the most promising geographic areas and demographic groups, and determine the most effective sales strategies." Additionally, a territory manager resume shows how territory managers use analytical skills: "monitored and evaluated sales data to ensure satisfaction of company sales objectives. "
Communication skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling territory manager duties is communication skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "sales managers need to work with colleagues and customers, so they must be able to communicate clearly." According to a territory manager resume, here's how territory managers can utilize communication skills in their job responsibilities: "accomplished this through superior communication skills and a strong work ethic. "
Customer-service skills. This is an important skill for territory managers to perform their duties. For an example of how territory manager responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "when helping to make a sale, sales managers must listen and respond to the customer’s needs." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a territory manager: "attained monthly quotas for direct sales, conducted quarterly business reviews, developed value based relationships and improved customer retention. ".
Leadership skills. A big part of what territory managers do relies on "leadership skills." You can see how essential it is to territory manager responsibilities because "sales managers must be able to evaluate how their sales staff performs and must develop strategies for meeting sales goals." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical territory manager tasks: "created training manual for sales representatives and provided leadership in driving territory growth. "
The three companies that hire the most territory managers are:
- US Foods256 territory managers jobs
- Bausch + Lomb132 territory managers jobs
- BD86 territory managers jobs
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Compare different territory managers
Territory manager vs. National accounts sales manager
A national accounts sales manager is responsible for maintaining healthy business relationships with clients by managing and monitoring the performance of their accounts. National accounts sales managers establish reasonable sales targets and develop techniques that would maximize sales staff productivity and efficiency. They conduct data and statistical analysis with the current market trends to identify business opportunities that would generate more revenue resources and increase profitability. A national accounts sales manager negotiates contracts and agreements with clients and ensures their brand consistency in the market.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a territory manager are more likely to require skills like "customer service," "patients," "work ethic," and "excellent interpersonal." On the other hand, a job as a national accounts sales manager requires skills like "national accounts," "healthcare," "product development," and "r." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
National accounts sales managers tend to make the most money working in the education industry, where they earn an average salary of $103,530. In contrast, territory managers make the biggest average salary, $100,016, in the pharmaceutical industry.The education levels that national accounts sales managers earn slightly differ from territory managers. In particular, national accounts sales managers are 1.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a territory manager. Additionally, they're 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Territory manager vs. Sales manager/sales trainer
A sales trainer or manager provides training for the sales staff. The target of the training is to improve the sales figures and meet target sales. Sales trainers collect data that allows them to understand the effectiveness of the existing sales strategies. They also set clear goals and priorities, get rid of demands that do not drive revenue, and allow their teams to focus on activities aligned with the significant goals. It is also their responsibility to research and develop marketing opportunities.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real territory manager resumes. While territory manager responsibilities can utilize skills like "customer service," "patients," "work ethic," and "crm," sales managers/sales trainer use skills like "powerpoint," "project management," "training materials," and "sales management."
On average, sales managers/sales trainer earn a higher salary than territory managers. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, sales managers/sales trainer earn the most pay in the pharmaceutical industry with an average salary of $116,149. Whereas territory managers have higher pay in the pharmaceutical industry, with an average salary of $100,016.In general, sales managers/sales trainer achieve similar levels of education than territory managers. They're 2.3% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for territory managers in the next 3-5 years?
Bill Thorne
Executive Director of the NRF Foundation and Senior Vice President of Communication and Public Affairs of NRF, National Retail Federation
Territory manager vs. National account manager
A national account manager is an individual who is responsible for maintaining strong relationships with key accounts from a particular region. To ensure long-term success, federal account managers must act as a liaison between customers and the internal team by achieving the customers' needs and requirements. They must identify and create attractive strategies to bring new customers and gain revenues. Also, candidates for national account managers must possess excellent interpersonal skills and experience managing national accounts.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, territory managers are more likely to have skills like "patients," "work ethic," "excellent interpersonal," and "territory sales." But a national account manager is more likely to have skills like "national accounts," "healthcare," "customer relationships," and "product development."
National account managers earn the highest salary when working in the technology industry, where they receive an average salary of $99,747. Comparatively, territory managers have the highest earning potential in the pharmaceutical industry, with an average salary of $100,016.national account managers typically earn similar educational levels compared to territory managers. Specifically, they're 2.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Territory manager vs. Regional accounts manager
A regional accounts manager specializes in overseeing the account operations within a region or particular area. They are primarily responsible for nurturing new and existing accounts by developing opportunities and strategies, maintaining good relationships with vendors and suppliers, and supervising contracts and client applications. Furthermore, as a regional manager, it is essential to lead and encourage the workforce in the joint effort to reach sales goals and customer satisfaction, all while implementing the policies and regulations of the company.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between territory managers and regional accounts managers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a territory manager might have more use for skills like "work ethic," "excellent interpersonal," "sales objectives," and "product sales." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of regional accounts managers require skills like "salesforce," "customer relationships," "sales targets," and "project management. "
The pharmaceutical industry tends to pay the highest salaries for regional accounts managers, with average annual pay of $127,962. Comparatively, the highest territory manager annual salary comes from the pharmaceutical industry.regional accounts managers reach similar levels of education compared to territory managers, in general. The difference is that they're 1.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of territory manager
Updated January 8, 2025
