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Blog · Coverage and territory

Coverage by industry: what a touch means on twelve different desks

Coverage is accounts touched at cadence over accounts assigned, and what a touch is, who the account is and what the cadence should be all change with the desk. This hub sets out, for twelve industries, the unit of account, the qualifying touch, the cadence a tier typically carries and the export the measure comes from, with a link to the full guide for each.

By CoviragePublished 16 September 20263 min read
The short answerCoverage is the share of the accounts a person is responsible for that are touched as often as their tier requires. The account is a kitchen, a facility, an intermediary, an operator or a client; the touch is a visit, a call, a meeting or a logged inquiry response; the cadence is weekly for a route rep and quarterly for a coverage banker. The formula is the same on every desk. The definitions are written per desk, once, and the export that carries the touches is named.

Coverage has one formula and a definition per desk. This hub gives, for twelve industries, what the account is, what a touch is, what cadence a top-tier account usually carries, and which export the touches come from, with the full guide for each.

The formula, once

Coverage = accounts touched at their tier's cadence in the period ÷ accounts assigned

Twelve desks

Industry The account A qualifying touch Top-tier cadence, typical Export Guide
Beverage distribution The outlet on the route A visit with an order or a logged call Weekly Route sheet, handheld log Route coverage
Pharma The prescriber account, with access status A logged detail call Per cycle, by tier Call log, access file Reach and frequency
Institutional sales and trading The client, per product A logged conversation or a priced inquiry Weekly to monthly RFQ log, contact log Coverage by salesperson
Wealth management The client household A meeting, review or substantive call Quarterly Activity log Contact recency
Commercial banking The relationship, at group level A meeting or a logged call with notes Quarterly CRM activities Relationship manager capacity
Education The contracting entity: trust or district A meeting, call or logged visit Termly CRM activities Contracting entity
Healthcare supplies The facility, within its system A rep visit or a value-analysis meeting Monthly CRM activities, facility master Facility identifiers
SaaS The account, with its owner A call, meeting or executive touch Monthly by tier CRM activities Untouched accounts
Oilfield services The operator, weighted by rigs A meeting or a field visit Monthly for active operators CRM, activity feed Activity-weighted coverage
Law firms The client, per originating partner A partner meeting or logged call Quarterly Time entries typed as BD, CRM Practice area gaps
Compliance The obligation A mapped control, tested on cadence Per the control's frequency Obligation and control registers Obligation coverage
General B2B sales The assigned account A call with notes, meeting or visit Six a quarter for tier one CRM activities Coverage is the number under every other number

What is the same everywhere

  • The roll-up: account to person to team to region, weighted by accounts.
  • The identity: assigned accounts sum to the assignment file; covered plus not covered equals assigned.
  • The list: untouched accounts per person, ranked by revenue, every week.
  • The trap: counting activity that is not a touch.

What is different

The account level, the touch, the cadence and the export. Written once per desk, they make the same formula produce a number the desk recognises.

Where it goes wrong, everywhere

Touch undefined. Two people, two numbers.

Wrong account level. Ten schools instead of one trust; forty ship-tos instead of one hospital.

Cadence from a workshop, never revisited. The attainers' cadence is the norm.

Averaged percentages. Weight by accounts.

One formula, every desk

Covirage computes coverage from the activity export and the assignment file with the desk's own touch and cadence definitions, stated on the report. The coverage model guide covers building it from scratch, and the sales coverage ratio guide covers the formula and its two senses.

Questions people ask

Why does the touch definition matter so much?

Because coverage computed on automated emails is 100 percent and means nothing, and coverage computed on visits only misses the phone. Each desk writes down what counts, and the number is only comparable within that definition.

What is the account on a desk with hierarchies?

The level where the buying decision is made: the trust rather than the school, the health system rather than the ship-to, the chain rather than the site. Coverage is measured at that level; the level beneath is a dimension that explains it.

Where does cadence come from?

From the company's own attainers where the history exists: how often they touch accounts of each tier. Otherwise a stated figure per tier, revisited. A cadence set in a workshop is a starting point, not a norm.

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