The sales coverage ratio defined two ways, as accounts touched over accounts assigned and as accounts assigned over accounts in the market, why the first is the one a sales manager can act on weekly, the formula with a cadence per tier, a worked example across three reps, how it rolls up to region and company, the identity that keeps it honest, and the four mistakes that make a coverage ratio meaningless.
Sales coverage ratio is quoted in two different senses, and a deck that uses both without saying which produces an argument. This guide defines both, gives the formula and a worked example for the one a sales manager acts on, and sets out the roll-up and the identity.
| Sense | Formula | Use | Cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Activity coverage | accounts touched at cadence ÷ accounts assigned | Weekly management; the untouched list | Weekly |
| Market coverage | accounts assigned ÷ accounts in the addressable market | Planning; headcount and territory design | Annual |
This guide is about the first. The second is closer to penetration and is covered separately.
Per rep, per period:
Coverage = accounts with at least the tier's cadence of qualifying touches in the period ÷ accounts assigned to the rep
Where:
Qualifying touch = a logged call with notes, meeting or visit; defined once Cadence = touches per period, per tier
Account and rep identifiers only.
Quarter. Cadence: tier one six touches, tier two three, tier three one.
| Rep | Assigned | Tier 1 covered | Tier 2 covered | Tier 3 covered | Coverage | Untouched revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R-04 | 62 | 4 of 9 | 11 of 23 | 18 of 30 | 53% | $1.4m |
| R-11 | 44 | 7 of 8 | 16 of 18 | 15 of 18 | 86% | $180,000 |
| R-17 | 18 | 5 of 5 | 8 of 8 | 4 of 5 | 94% | $12,000 |
Rep R-04 has touched four of nine tier one accounts often enough, and one point four million dollars of prior-year revenue sits in accounts that have not been touched at their cadence.
Region coverage = Σ covered accounts ÷ Σ assigned accounts across the region's reps
Weighted by accounts, not the average of rep percentages. Rep R-17's 94 percent on eighteen accounts does not offset R-04's 53 on sixty-two.
Σ reps' assigned accounts = assignment file count covered + not covered = assigned, per rep
An account assigned to two reps counts twice and fails the first; the failure lists it.
Any activity as a touch. Sequences and opens; coverage at 100 percent, meaning nothing.
Touched once as covered. Tier one accounts at one call a year show as covered.
Averaged percentages. The small book flatters the region.
Both senses on one page. Market coverage of 40 percent beside activity coverage of 85 with the same label.
Mapped once, the activity log, the assignment file and the tiers produce coverage per rep, the roll-up, the identity and the untouched list every week. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The coverage term has the short definition, and the coverage model guide covers the five steps to compute it from scratch.
For the activity definition, high enough that the untouched revenue is small: most teams that work the measure sit above 80 percent for tier one and two accounts and accept less for the tail. The useful comparison is the rep against the team and against last month, not against a published figure.
Per tier, as touches per period: six a quarter for tier one, three for tier two, one for tier three or inside sales. From the company's own attainers where it has the history; otherwise stated and revisited. An account touched once when its tier expects three is not covered.
A substantive exchange, logged, can. An automated sequence or an open cannot, because counting them puts every account at covered by Tuesday. The definition is written once and applied to every rep.