Importing Sales Reps
In AlignMix you are not just limited to having sales reps assigned to sales territories but also district managers assigned to districts and region managers assigned to regions. You can create the sales reps manually from within the AlignMix software or import a full list of sales reps directly into the software.
Before importing a full list of sales reps into your AlignMix file its best to double check to make sure you haven’t already done that. Right click on a sales territory to open up the radial tool. Then click on territory properties.
In this new view you will see the name and ID of the sales territory. You can rename the sales territory while in this view. There will be a drop-down menu on the third line showing you the name of the sales rep that is currently assigned to this territory.
If this field is blank, that means that there is no sales rep assigned to this territory. If you click the drop-down menu and there are no names that means that you have not imported or created a sales rep in this AlignMix file.
To manually add in a sales rep, you can open the radial tool again, and select territory properties. In the third line that sales “Sales Rep” you can click the plus button to the right out of it. This will allow you to manually enter the name of the sales rep and the home zip code.
Type those two fields in and click OK. As soon as you click OK you will see a little sales rep icon appear in that home zip code that you just typed in. The reason you need the home zip code is so that you can see where the sales rep is located in relation to the sales territory that they are assigned to.
If the sales rep lives outside the sales territory that they operate in, then the sales rep icon will be outlined in a red color. You can also manually add sales reps by clicking on the Edit Sales Rep button that is found on the home menu. Click the plus button at the bottom of that window and then complete the sales rep information.
You can also assign the sales rep from this view by clicking the drop-down menu for the territory and then select the correct sales territory.
Manually entering in a couple sales reps is easy but you would not want to repeat this process for 20-200 sales reps. Instead you can import a full sales rep roster all at once into AlignMix. You only need the sales reps name and home zip code.
Each of these should be in their own column in Excel. If you also have the assigned sales territory, then you can have that in a third column and then during the import process AlignMix will create the sales reps and also assign each rep to the correct sales territory. To import the excel file you simply click on file, import, import from excel and then import the data columns by dragging and dropping the correct fields.
Now that you have imported a full list of reps you will see the icons scattered all over the map. You can customize the way the icons appear in configure layers. Now when you open up the territory properties you will see a sales rep’s name appear in the drop-down menu.
Click the drop-down menu and you will see a full list of every sales rep that has been imported into this AlignMix file. You can reassign a sales rep by clicking on another sales rep from this drop-down menu. You can also reassign sales reps by using the Edit Sales Rep tool on the home menu.
As soon as you click that button the left side of the tool will populate with the names of all the sales reps that have been imported. You can then reassign sales reps by clicking on the assigned territory button and choosing another territory.
You can also assign/reassign sales reps by using the territory table view. To access the territory table, you need to open a new tab and select tables from the left side. The first option will be the sales territory table.
Select that. You will now see a full sales territory table appear on the screen. The table will show all of your data summed up to the sales territory level.
In the assigned sales rep section, you will see all current rep to territory assignments. Double click a sales rep’s name and a drop-down menu will appear showing the names of all the sales reps that are in this AlignMix file. You can now reassign a sales rep by clicking on a different sales rep’s name.
The one limitation in the territory table view is that you cannot create new sales reps from this view. You will need to go back to the first tab and add them in by using the territory properties, edit sales rep tool, or import a new list of reps into your AlignMix file.
Manually Create and Re-assign Sales Reps
To manually add a new sales rep assignment, you first need to locate the territory for this assignment. Then open up the territory properties. You can do this by right clicking on the territory to pull up the radial tool and then click on properties. In this territory summary you will see all the data about this sales territory. This is where you can edit the territory ID, name, and district assignment. You will also see a field for the assigned sales rep. Clicking on the sales rep drop-down menu you can select a different rep (that has already been imported or created) to be assigned to this territory. To add a new rep to this file you click the plus button on the right of the drop-down menu. Then type in the name, zip code, and the role of this rep. In this case it is a sales rep so make sure to select the sales rep check box. Click on OK, then OK again and you will see the new sales rep appear in their home zip code. The sales rep will appear 50% darker than the territory so that you can easily locate them on the map. You can change this percentage in configure layers. If you see a red outline around the sales rep, that means that the sales rep does not live and operate in the same sales territory. You can then use the touch align tool or the lasso tools to bring that rep into their own territory. If the sales rep is colored in a black color that means the sales rep does not currently have a sales territory assignment. You can also use the Edit personnel tool to add, edit, delete sales reps.
Easy Sales Rep Assign
In AlignMix there are three way to re-assign sales reps:
- Territory Properties
- Edit Personnel Tool
- Territory Table View
To re-assign a sales rep using the territory properties you first need to locate the territory you want to create this re-assignment for. Then open up the territory properties. You can do this by right clicking on the territory to open up the radial tool. Then select properties. Here in the territory properties you will see a summary of all the data for this sales territory. This is also where you can rename the territory name and ID. The first drop-down menu will show you a list of all the sales reps that are currently in your file. Locate the rep you want assigned to this territory, click it, and then click OK, and that is it. You can also use the territory properties to add a new sales rep into this file and this sales territory.
The edit personnel tool is found on the home tab. Clicking this tool you will see a full list of the sales personnel that are in this AlignMix file. Select the name of the rep you wan to reassign. The right side of this window will show you the current assignment. Click the territory drop-down menu and choose the territory for this rep to be assigned to. Then click OK to finalize this new assignment. You can also add new sales territories to this file by clicking the plus button at the bottom left of the edit personnel window.
The territory table view is the third way of re-assigning sales reps. Open up the territory table view and then locate the sales territory for this rep re-assignment. The sales rep column will show the name of the rep that is currently assigned to this sales territory. Double click this cell and a drop-down will appear showing the names of every sales rep that is currently in this AlignMix file. Click the reps name you want to reassign and right away that change has been made. You cannot use the territory table view to add new sales reps. You can only make re-assignments using the territory table view.
How to Delete Sales Reps
To delete a sales rep from your AlignMix file you will need to click on the Edit Sales Personnel button and locate the sales reps name on the left. Click that reps name and then click on the delete button that is found in the bottom left of the Sales personnel window. This process will delete the sales rep from your AlignMix file.
If you manually un-assign a sales rep from a sales territory, that rep is not deleted. That rep will still appear on the map as a sales rep because they are still in this file. They will appear in a black color to show you that they are not assigned to a sales territory.
Customize New Sales Rep Icons
By default, the sales rep icons will appear as people icons on your map. You can change this icon in configure layers. There are about 200 different icons you can choose from. If for example you are mapping warehouses or distribution centers then the default people icon will not work, you can then choose a different icon like a building for all of your warehouse locations.
When you open up configure layers you will see the options for every layer in your AlignMix file. Click the sales rep section from the left. Here you can customize at what zoom level the icons and names will appear. By default, the sales rep icons will appear at a zoom level of 6. This means that you will not see the sales rep icons if you have zoomed out 100%, the rep icons will only appear on the map if you have zoomed into zoom level 6 or more. You can change the zoom levels by moving the slider to the left or right. You may have noticed that the sales reps appear a bit darker than the sales territory that they are assigned to. This is so that you can easily spot the icons on the map. You can change these settings where you see the 50% section. If the sales rep lives and operates in a different sales territory, then the rep icon will be outlined in a red color. You can turn this outline off by de-selecting the check box for “out of territory”. By default, you will have two different icons based on the name of the imported sales reps. If the name is historically male, then you will see a male icon and the same for the female names. You can turn off the gender icons by clicking ignore gender and then all the icons will be the same for any sales rep in your file. Clicking the icon drop-down menu, you can now select from over 200 different icons. Select the new icon and then click OK. You can also have AlignMix safe this new icon for future AlignMix projects.
Create and View District Managers
There are several ways to create district managers. You can import a full personnel roster with district managers names, and current district assignments. You can also manually create district managers by using the edit personnel tool or by adding them in the district properties.
The edit personnel tool is found on the home menu. When you open up these options you will see a full list of all the current sales personnel that are found in your AlignMix file. You can add a new person to this file by clicking the green plus button and then fill in the contact details for the rep. Then select the correct role for this new person and at the same time you can assign this manager to a district from the drop-down menu.
Right clicking on a district while in district map view will open up the radial tool. From here you can click in the properties button to view the district properties. If this district already has a district manager assigned you will the name of that manager in the first drop-down menu. If you do not see any names in this drop-down that means that you have not assigned the role of district manager to any of the personnel in your file. While in this properties view you can click the plus button to add a new district manager. Type in their name, home zip code and then make sure to check the district manger box for this new person. Click OK, and OK again and you will create and assign this new district manager.
Create and View Region Managers
Creating region managers follows the same process as creating district managers. But before you can create a region manager you first need to have regions created. You can then use the region properties to create and assign new region managers or you can use the edit personnel tool to create those new assignments.
While in region map view you can right click on a region to pull up the radial tool, then click on Properties. The region properties will now appear on your screen showing you all of the data linked to this region. The drop-down will show you the name of the region manager that is currently assigned to this region. If there are no names in this drop-down, that means you have not assigned the role of region manager to any of the sales personnel in your AlignMix file. While in the region properties view you can click on the plus button to add a new region manager. Fill in the name and home zip code and make sure to check the region manager role. Then Click OK, and OK again. This will create this new region manager and also assign that manager to this region.
You can also use the edit personnel tool to create new region managers and reassign managers to different regions.
Promote Sales Reps to Manager Role
If you have created a hierarchy and would like to promote some sales reps to district or region manager positions, then you will need to assign this new role to the sales reps. You can do this by clicking on the Edit Personnel Tool that is found on the home menu. Locate the name of the rep you would like to promote on the left side of the window. Then select the new role for this person. You can select district or region manager. Make sure to also de-select the current role of sales rep. As soon as you select the new role you will see a new drop-down appear on the right. Here you can assign this new district manager to a district. The same process will work at the region level for creating the region manager role and assignments.
You can also assign district managers to districts from the district table view. If the assigned manager cell says open, that means there is no manager assigned to this district. Double click that cell to see the full list of people that have the role of district manager. If no names appear, that means that you have yet to promote any people to the role of district manager. If this is the case, then you will need to click on edit personnel from the home menu and promote the sales reps to the new management positions.
Finding Imported Sales Reps
If you have imported sales rep data into your AlignMix file each sales rep will appear as a little people icon in their home zip code. If you do not see any little people scattered around your map when you zoom in then there is a chance that the people layer is turned off, or you may still need to import a full rep roster into your AlignMix file.
If you import a sales account list with assigned sales rep, you are creating a sales rep assignment for those territories and accounts. But those sales reps will not appear in the correct location on the map until you import a rep roster that has the home zip code for each sales rep. You can also manually enter the home zip code for each sales rep by using the edit personnel tool. To import the locations of your sales reps all you will need is the sales reps name and their home zip code. You can also import the assigned sales territory, but that data set is not required for importing the sales rep’s locations. Then during the sales import process, you drag and drop those two categories on the import screen.
If you still do not see your sales reps appear as people icons on your map, then there is a chance that the people layer is turned off. You can turn this layer back on by clicking on the layer’s menu, and then click the people button. You can also toggle this layer on and off in configure layers.
If your people icons appear as different icons, like a building, that means you have changed the default settings in your AlignMix file. You can change the icons for the sales reps in configure layers.