This conversation is more than tactics - it’s a blueprint for how RevOps evolves into a true strategic function, one that owns orchestration, explains the “why” behind territory logic, and becomes the hunter for the entire GTM org.
Territory planning is happening earlier every year. As Matthew notes, if territories are important “next year,” you should already be iterating—because these decisions determine quota capacity, rep productivity, and revenue coverage for the next 12 months.
To unpack the state of modern territory design, Matthew brings together:
Together, they explore why data has historically been the biggest blocker to fair, efficient territory planning—and why, for the first time, operators actually have the tools, literacy and executive support to fix it.
Kevin opens with a candid truth: for years, companies treated account data like a source of shame. When Boogie Board would ask for CRM access, teams acted like they were revealing a messy, “dirty house.” They expected the vendor to be horrified.
But bad data wasn’t a moral failing—it was a resourcing and tooling problem. RevOps teams had:
Sales became “data auditors,” pointing out errors but offering little help. RevOps, meanwhile, felt powerless.
Yet Kevin has seen a shift over the past two years:
This isn't happening by accident. Operators finally have a combination of better tools, cheaper automation, AI enrichment and organizational focus that is pulling us out of the dark ages.
For a different spin on territory design, check out this webinar recording on pain-based territories: RevOps Co-op Video Series: From Gut Feel to GTM Gold: Using AI to Design Pain-Based Sales Territories.
When Kevin worked in sales, he spent hours Googling account lists and manually researching targets. Reps were expected to do their own account hunting, often without strategy or alignment across leadership.
But in 2025 and beyond, this flips:
RevOps becomes the hunter.
RevOps should identify the right accounts, validate data, centralize insights and push the best opportunities directly to reps. And it starts with alignment at the top.
Kevin recommends asking every CXO and VP to list their top 10 strategic target accounts.
This simple exercise surfaces misalignment early and creates a shared “north star” before a single territory is carved.
For more on this topic, check out RevOps Co-op Blog: How AI and Automation Are Changing Territory Design.
Jen shares early-career memories working at Bluewolf, Salesforce’s largest partner at the time. She learned quickly that account and territory data can’t be solved inside a silo—not marketing, not sales, not ops alone.
Bad account data impacts:
Territory planning becomes easier when account data is clean—but the benefits extend far beyond RevOps. “If you get it right, it affects the entire company,” Jen explains. Every downstream team gets better insight, more alignment and fewer surprises.
Leadership is applying heavy pressure to “use AI,” and many AI initiatives are top-down. But as Jen notes, you can’t do anything meaningful with AI if:
Jen emphasizes two core principles:
Data modeling and normalization used to be expensive, time-consuming work. Today, it’s significantly cheaper to enrich, validate and orchestrate.
AI is not “a tool you turn on.” It must be embedded in orchestrated workflows that match how the business operates.
Examples:
Without this mindset, AI becomes “random acts of automation” that don’t scale—and often create more chaos.
RevOps teams often ask:
“What enrichment provider should we buy?”
Jen’s answer:
“Tell me your goal first.”
Are you trying to improve:
Your outcome determines your provider selection—and often, the right answer is not more tools but fewer tools with better alignment and consolidation.
This is why her team frequently recommends:
Specialized, unique signals—like climate commitments for climate tech customers—won’t be available from ZoomInfo or Clearbit. You must produce them yourself through scraping or agent workflows. This becomes a competitive advantage when done well.
Most companies overcomplicate their designs. In reality, territory modeling requires surprisingly few core data elements:
Account-level data:
For more on account hierarchies, check out RevOps Co-op Blog: Mastering Territory Design With Complex Account Hierarchies.
Opportunity-level data:
Rep-level data:
These roll up into rules for segmentation, balance and equity. The goal isn’t complexity—it’s clarity. “With so much available, we can still focus everything on a simple outcome,” Kevin explains.
For more on the topic of equity and change management, check out RevOps Co-op Blog: The Biggest Hurdles in Territory Design: Equity and Change Management.
Kevin lays out one of the clearest frameworks in the industry:
This is where leading companies are today:
Territories autonomously adjust based on:
No company is here yet—but the roadmap is real. Kevin tried to pitch this vision when founding Boogie Board. “Nobody would talk to me,” he jokes. Today? It’s finally within reach.
For more on this topic, also check out RevOps Co-op Video Series: Turning Territory Design into a Delight.
The team walks through the most impactful automation areas:
Grouping accounts based on rules and readiness.
Account movements, exceptions, and changes throughout the year.
Signals that unlock or lock accounts.
New hires, promotions, departures, reassignments.
These are straightforward jobs-to-be-done and ideal for automation. This mindset—breaking big processes into atomic workflows—is becoming a competitive advantage for modern RevOps teams.
For more on improving the design process, check out RevOps Co-op Blog: 4 Tactical Ways to Improve Territory Design.
Territory changes are deeply emotional for reps. They will notice every mistake.
Jen recommends:
“Reps will always find the one wrong account,” she warns. The goal is to make this expected—and easy to correct. A culture of shared data stewardship builds trust and dramatically improves adoption.
Most RevOps teams underinvest in communication. Kevin argues that territory design should be presented like a strategic initiative—because it is.
Recommendations:
If you don’t proactively show your work, reps will assume the worst—and start “finding the flaw.” Jen reminds operators: “If you don’t give sellers this view, they will go create it themselves—and they will get it wrong.”
For more on what sales wants from territories, check out RevOps Co-op Video Series: Taking the Guesswork Out of Territory Design: What Sales Wants.
For teams without dedicated tools, Kevin breaks down how to build a functional territory system in Google Sheets:
This structure mirrors the logic inside territory software and gives operators a scalable way to design and socialize changes.
Every year, without fail, companies scramble in Q4 trying to fix years of data debt in a matter of weeks. Jen has seen it with some of the strongest SaaS brands in the world. The pattern is always the same:
Her advice:
Treat data hygiene and territory readiness as an ongoing program, not a project.
Every time your company doubles in size, you must revisit your data models, ICP definition and segmentation logic. The alternative is a brittle GTM engine that breaks every planning cycle.
He believes the industry is about to move beyond hype and into tangible execution. Teams that have been skilling up—playing with automation tools, learning data architecture, experimenting with workflows—will start to show meaningful, measurable business impact.
She predicts widespread adoption of AI at the individual level (which is already here) will evolve into full organization-level orchestration. Companies that embed AI into workflows—not just tasks—will give sellers back enormous amounts of time.
She also warns: the next 6–12 months are a window of competitive advantage. Teams that build internal automation and DIY enrichment now will outperform those waiting for off-the-shelf AI features.
The future of territory planning won’t be won by the loudest reps, the flashiest visualizations or the fanciest enrichment vendors. It will be won by the operators who:
If you want to elevate your RevOps function—and set your sales team up for a fair, efficient, high-attainment year—start by fixing the foundation.
Explore more articles and webinar recordings or join our global community of 18,000+ revenue operators for courses, discussions and hands on help.
Check out the BoogieBoard Resource Lounge and Tiki Bar for territory specific resources (along with their YouTube Channel). See their Case Studies here and get a demo here to see how you can get better territories without the spreadsheets (or check out our recorded product demo with BoogieBoard here, un-gated).
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