This post is part two of our four-part series with our friends at BoogieBoard on territory planning.
Series Overview:
If you’ve ever argued over whether one sales rep should own an entire account hierarchy (all of the parent/child accounts in a family), or if accounts should be sliced up by region, you already know: this is where territory design goes from “challenging” to “please pass the Excedrin.”
The good news: with the right structure, RevOps can prevent sales brawls, comp nightmares, and CRM chaos.
The bad news: it requires more than duct tape and spreadsheets.
In this article, we’ll focus on the most common corporate structures by using an example account. These are:
For each structure we’ll cover:
And for a deep-dive on all twenty-something structures you’ll run into out there, bookmark BoogieBoard’s resource: How to Sell Into Complex Account Hierarchies.
Companies like Procter & Gamble are highly centralized. Decision-making authority rolls up to HQ in Cincinnati. If they’re rolling out a major purchase, like a new HRIS or ERP system, it’s going to be decided and purchased at the corporate level.
There are exceptions, but that’s what they are – exceptions. For smaller purchases that solve a problem that is specific to a business unit or physical location, there may be a smaller decision making team driving the purchase. However, that is often negated by the IT review, contracting process, and procurement team.
The upside to this model: The process is formalized and there are rarely surprises. If you’ve worked with one major integrated corporation, you know what to expect.
The downside: Longer cycles and a heavy procurement process. Brand managers at Tide or Pampers might have influence, but they don’t hold the purse strings.
This is prime territory for a global account manager (GAM). One person needs the mandate to quarterback strategy across the entire P&G family. Everyone else—regional reps, product specialists—plays a supporting role.
But here’s where account ownership and comp can derail you:
The solution? Overlay or split-credit models. GAMs get quota retirement for corporate deals. Regionals get partial credit when they drive local expansion or adoption. What makes or breaks this solution will be your sales leadership team’s ability to develop and consistently enforce crystal-clear rules of engagement like these.
Example: If P&G buys your CRM for North America, the GAM owns that. But if your LATAM regional rep drives a rollout in Brazil, they get comped too. Without this structure, you’re asking for sales knife fights.
Pro Tip: When using any automation tool, ensure that your data stays in your system – especially if you replace or rip out the tool.
For example, if your lead-to-account matching tool doesn’t leave behind an account ID field you can use after the tool is removed, you must either be able to build a flow to replicate that information in a field you can keep or find another tool. That link between lead and account shouldn’t disappear if you cancel the tool.
Holding companies like Alphabet, Inc. are loosely federated. Each subsidiary (Google, YouTube, Verily, Waymo) runs relatively independently. Buying decisions for enterprise tools often happen at the subsidiary level, though the parent can step in to ensure essential security protocols and contract standards are being met.
What this may look like to your sellers:
And no, they don’t always coordinate. But if they do, you don’t want your sales team to be surprised that they have a contact at a related account who is a customer.
Here’s where a dual strategy matters:
Comp and account ownership considerations:
Pro Tip: When using any automation tool, ensure that your data stays in your system – especially if you replace or rip out the tool.
For example, if your lead-to-account matching tool doesn’t leave behind an account ID field you can use after the tool is removed, you must either be able to build a flow to replicate that information in a field you can keep or find another tool. That link between lead and account shouldn’t disappear if you cancel the tool.
Franchises are incredibly difficult to spot and maintain. Some decisions (like security systems) are corporate mandates. Others (like marketing automation or hospitality communications) are left to individual property owners.
For Marriott:
Property management companies often dictate many of the point solutions at each property, but the dotted line back to the brand still matters. The Brand sets the standard for each property location and can insert themselves into a sales to ensure that standard is met.
The key is dual-path selling:
Example: Corporate might roll out a global loyalty program. But a hotel in Phoenix might buy your local scheduling app independently.
Comp and account ownership considerations:
Avoid cannibalization! If the corporate deal includes “mandatory rollout,” local reps shouldn’t get comp for simply onboarding locations. But this needs to work both ways. Just because someone from corporate got called in to check the product against standard protocols doesn’t mean your global rep gets to claim credit. Rules of engagement are vital in this scenario (which you can read more about here).
You’ll need to work closely with your sales organization to lean into the ownership structure that makes the most sense for how you sell your products.
If you sell a loyalty program, you’ll want to focus on brands first and look at how properties are related to those brands.
Most of you, however, will need to track hierarchies according to how the properties are owned and managed. The brands act more as dotted lines back to the franchise itself to account for cases where someone from the brand HQ needs to sign off for compliance purposes only.
Pro Tip: We know. We sound like a broken record. BUT THIS IS SO IMPORTANT that we had to list it in each section just in case our readers skip around to what matters most to them. When using any automation tool, ensure that your data stays in your system – especially if you replace or rip out the tool.
For example, if your lead-to-account matching tool doesn’t leave behind an account ID field you can use after the tool is removed, you must either be able to build a flow to replicate that information in a field you can keep or find another tool. That link between lead and account shouldn’t disappear if you cancel the tool.
Complex account hierarchies aren’t just a sales problem—they’re a RevOps nightmare if not designed correctly. Without structure:
But with structure, you get:
Here’s the TL;DR for each structure:
At the end of the day, territory design around account hierarchies is a RevOps job. You can’t brute-force your way through with spreadsheets. You need automation, clear rules, and tools built for scale.
And if you want the encyclopedia of account structures? BoogieBoard’s got it: How to Sell Into Complex Account Hierarchies.
Because RevOps isn’t just about keeping the lights on. It’s about building territory systems that scale when sales, marketing, and customer success all point at the same messy, sprawling enterprise family and ask: “So… who owns this?”
