Blog · Territory, capacity and quota planning
How a sales leader compares inside and field coverage on the same book from the activity log and the ledger: touches per account by channel, cost per touch from the roster at stated rates, revenue per touch by channel and tier, the tiers where field touches return more than they cost and the tiers where inside touches return the same for a fifth of the cost, and the reallocation the numbers support.
A company has a field team and an inside team covering overlapping books, and a cost line for each. What it does not have is the cost and the return per touch, by tier, so the allocation between them is a matter of tradition. The activity log, the roster and the ledger give the figures. This guide sets out coverage and cost per touch by channel, revenue per touch by tier, and the reallocation.
Per channel:
Cost per touch = loaded cost of the channel's reps ÷ qualifying touches by those reps
Per tier, per channel:
Touches, accounts touched, revenue from touched accounts Revenue per touch = revenue from touched accounts ÷ touches Return ratio = revenue per touch ÷ cost per touch
Account and rep identifiers only.
touches by inside + touches by field = logged qualifying touches Σ accounts' revenue across channels = ledger revenue, with hybrid accounts attributed by touch share and stated
Cost per touch: field $340, inside $58.
| Tier | Channel | Touches | Revenue from touched accounts | Revenue per touch | Cost per touch | Return ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Field | 1,200 | $18.4m | $15,300 | $340 | 45 |
| 1 | Inside | 400 | $3.1m | $7,800 | $58 | 134 |
| 2 | Field | 2,100 | $12.0m | $5,700 | $340 | 17 |
| 2 | Inside | 1,800 | $8.9m | $4,900 | $58 | 85 |
| 3 | Field | 1,900 | $4.1m | $2,200 | $340 | 6 |
| 3 | Inside | 3,400 | $6.8m | $2,000 | $58 | 34 |
| 4 | Field | 800 | $0.9m | $1,100 | $340 | 3 |
| 4 | Inside | 5,100 | $5.2m | $1,000 | $58 | 18 |
In tiers three and four, a field touch returns about the same as an inside touch and costs six times as much. Two thousand seven hundred field touches a year on those tiers, at $340, is over nine hundred thousand dollars of field time returning what inside would for a sixth of it. The reallocation: tiers three and four to inside, and the field hours to the tier one and two accounts that are under-covered.
| Tier | Accounts under cadence | Field touches needed | Field touches released from tiers 3 and 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31 | 190 | |
| 2 | 140 | 420 | |
| Total | 610 | 2,700 |
The released hours cover the tier one and two gap four times over. The rest is capacity, or headcount that does not need replacing.
Cost by team, not per touch. The field costs more; nobody knows per what.
Revenue per touch across tiers. The field looks better because it has the big accounts. Compare within tier.
Read as causal. Within tier, it is a comparison, not a proof; it is still enough.
Hybrid accounts double-counted. Attribute by touch share, and state it.
Mapped once, the activity log, the roster, the ledger and the tiers produce cost per touch, revenue per touch, the return ratio by tier and channel, and the reallocation every quarter. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The capacity planning solution describes the setup, and the rep load guide covers what the released field capacity does to load.
Loaded cost per rep per year over qualifying touches per rep per year, by channel. Field cost includes travel. The rates are stated on the report and can be rough; the ratio between channels is usually five to one or more, and the decision does not turn on the decimals.
No. It is the revenue from accounts touched by that channel over the touches. Accounts are not randomly assigned to channels, and the comparison within a tier is the fair one. It is enough to see that tier four accounts visited by the field return no more than tier four accounts called by inside.
Common: inside sales for cadence, field for the annual review. The measure works per touch, so a hybrid account's touches are split by channel and each channel's cost and return are computed. The report shows the mix per tier and what it costs.