Summary: It's not like, well, there's just one method for ruling your territory. But the one thing that is critical to all of it, is identifying your area. Identifying your territory. Focusing in on it and making sure that you become a known commodity in that area. So that people have the opportunity to choose you.<br> <br> <br> <br> David: Hi, and welcome to the podcast in today's episode, cohost Jay McFarland, and I will be discussing the idea of ruling your territory. Welcome back, Jay.<br> <br> <br> <br> Jay: Yeah. Thank you, David. This is a really interesting topic. I've been excited to get to this topic, ruling your territory, being the master of your general...<br> <br> David: your domain<br> <br> Jay: ...area. Yeah, of your domain.<br> <br> David: That was a Seinfeld episode, I think.<br> <br> Jay: Yeah, that's right. However you want to say it. So many of the things that we talk about, I don't know if they're top of mind for business owners or for salespeople. They have so many other things going on. For them to be thinking about market share or things like that and how that can affect their business, especially over the long haul.<br> <br> David: Yeah. That's why I think it's great to discuss. Because when we are in the thick of it, we tend to forget about the fact that, whoever we are, if we're a business owner or a salesperson, we are operating in a particular territory. And recognizing that we could be spread out, we could have a few customers. Let's say we have two customers in one huge city, and we've got two customers in another huge city somewhere else. If we're sort of spread out, but nobody else in either of those cities even know who we are, at that point we're really not ruling our territory.<br> <br> And this idea sort of traces along with the idea of dominating your market, which is something that we talk about quite often. You know, what is your market? What is your territory? How do you define it? Is it defined primarily geographically that you sell primarily in your small geographic area? In your area of town? Your city? Your state? Is it nationwide?<br> <br> Is it with particular industries? How do you define it? Because that's going to determine whether you are just inhabiting a territory or ruling it, dominating it.<br> <br> Jay: I like that question. Are you just inhabiting? Are you just there? Or are you ruling it? And I think one of the things that can be done, and I don't see this in a lot of small businesses, is just making a list of all of your potential clients.<br> <br> And that should give you an idea of where you stand. And then if you know a list of who they're using. And so, you know, your client and you know who your competitors are. I would think that that's probably a good place to start.<br> <br> David: It's a great place to start. And also thinking in terms of the other people who are like your clients who operate in a similar area, either in a similar geographic area or a similar demographic, however, you're defining your territory.<br> <br> Also, when I use words like ruling and dominating, I don't want them to sound as intimidating as some people interpret them to be. What I mean is that you're essentially staking your claim. You're saying, okay, look, this is an area where I want to do well. I want to excel. I want to be known. I want people to know me and I want to know other people in this particular market.<br> <br> They're not all going to do business with me. I recognize that, but I want to make sure that all of the people who could potentially use my products and services at least know that I exist so that they could consider me if it makes sense for us to work together.<br> <br> Jay: Yeah. I think that's really important. I think a lot of times people think about, well, I go in and I get the sale and if I don't get the sale, well, then I'm done with that customer.<br>
