Annual planning is a build, not a spreadsheet exercise.

Territories and segmentation

What usually happens: Most territory design is states dragged into buckets in a spreadsheet, balanced by headcount rather than by opportunity. Nobody can say whether the books are actually even, so every rep believes theirs is the bad one.

What we build instead: Territories built as a geospatial and optimization problem, which is what they are. Accounts scored on real firmographics and intent, balanced on potential rather than count, and written into the CRM as owner assignment rules that hold.

What usually happens: A quota number handed down from the board, divided by headcount, with no model underneath it. Nobody can answer what happens if two reps leave in March, or whether the plan was ever achievable.

What we build instead: Capacity modeled from ramp time, historical win rates by segment and real territory potential. The quota is derived from the model rather than reverse engineered to hit a number, and the sensitivities are on the page.

TAM, SAM and SOM

What usually happens: A TAM number from a vendor deck that nobody can reproduce, a SAM that was never defined, and a SOM that is really just last year plus a percentage. It does not survive the first question from a board member.

What we build instead: Built from the bottom up on real firmographic data, with every filter and assumption written down so the number can be rebuilt and defended. Ten of these built end to end, not estimated.