A career as a territory sales representative revolves around maintaining and expanding a company's customer base in a given area. Being successful in this career often requires someone with outstanding interpersonal skills and the ability to handle rejection. While not always necessary, it's preferable for an individual to have a bachelor's degree in business or a related field when getting into this profession. Some of the primary responsibilities of a territory sales representative include maintaining existing customers, acquiring new customers, documenting customer information and attending company meetings.
Maintaining a company's existing customer accounts is one of the most important duties of a territory sales representative. In order to expand a customer base, it's crucial to first establish a solid list of repeat customers. Consequently, an individual might accomplish this by periodically contacting customers to make sure that a company's goods or services are meeting expectations. If a customer is dissatisfied with the goods or services, a territory sales representative will usually take action to resolve the situation. This aspect of the job requires someone with a friendly demeanor and the ability to establish rapport with a variety of customers.
Acquiring new customers on a consistent basis is another integral part of this profession. To truly be successful, it's usually necessary for a territory sales representative to develop new accounts and bring his company's goods or services to new customers. This practice can be done in a variety of ways including cold calling, following leads and online marketing. Essentially, an individual is responsible for reaching as many customers as possible within his territory.
Along with this, he may be responsible for giving product presentations. For example, he may attend a trade show within his industry and demonstrate how a product works and how it can make peoples' lives easier. Consequently, a territory sales representative must be highly knowledgeable about what he is selling and be able to explain the benefits to others.
In most cases, he is also in charge of documenting customer information. For example, he might need to record and update each customer's name, address, order history and any other relevant information. Doing this makes it easier to identify customer purchasing patterns and helps a territory sales representative stay organized.
Additionally, an individual in this position may be required to attend company meetings. Often a company will hold meetings or teleconferences with the intention of sharing important information between management and sales representatives of different territories. This aspect of the job calls for someone who can work well within a team.