Watch: Importing Sales Accounts
The account import will place icons on your sales territory map representing the location of every sales account. If you use an account ID for the sales account import, AlignMix will locate any duplicates and merge the data into a single icon on the map.
Using segmentation allows you to display different types of sales accounts as different icons on the map. Any data that is imported can later be exported using Excel Exports or Batch Exports.
Supported Data Types for Import
In AlignMix you can import Sales Accounts, Zip-to-Territory assignments, Sales Reps, Employee rosters, and zip code data. There is no required order for importing data into AlignMix, and sales accounts can be imported at any time.
If you use a sales account ID during import, you will be able to import updates to account data in the future. The account ID also enables searching for accounts using the Paste from Clipboard tool.
Using Account IDs and Handling Duplicates
Using an Account ID or Unique ID in your sales account import is highly recommended, though not required. If you import accounts without an ID, AlignMix will automatically generate one, starting at 1 and continuing sequentially through the Excel file.
If duplicates exist in your Excel file and no Account ID is provided, AlignMix cannot merge those records. To automatically locate and merge duplicate accounts, an Account ID must be included in the import.
Required Fields for Account Imports
When importing account data, two data elements are required: an Account ID and/or Account Name, and the location of the account (most commonly the zip code). Without these fields, account data cannot be imported into AlignMix.
Instead of zip or post codes, you can also import latitude and longitude values. Geo-coding accounts has become inexpensive, and uploading geocoded accounts allows AlignMix to place each account icon in its precise map location.
You may also import street address, city, and state fields. These fields do not affect account placement on the map, but they are included in exports for reporting purposes. Additional numeric data such as sales, call volume, potential, or workload can also be imported and linked to the account’s unique ID.
You can optionally import assigned sales territories and sales reps during the account import process.
Importing Segmented Accounts
If your accounts are segmented, each segment can be imported into AlignMix and displayed as a unique icon on the map. You can toggle segments on and off using the view options to focus on specific customer types.
Mapping Columns During the Import Process
During the import process, AlignMix will default to showing column labels from the first worksheet in the Excel workbook. To select a different worksheet, click back and choose the appropriate tab before proceeding.
From the import screen, drag and drop column labels from the left panel to the corresponding fields on the right. This tells AlignMix how each data column should be interpreted. For account-based imports, most fields will map to the accounts section.
Occasionally, errors may appear at the end of the import process. This is normal and usually caused by typos, blank cells, or invalid geographies. You can save the import, review the error report, correct the issues, and then re-import the corrected file.
Next Steps After Importing Accounts
Once the import is complete, account icons will appear across the map. If all accounts appear as small blue boxes, this indicates that no customer segmentation was included in the import.
You will also notice that no geographic sales territories are displayed. This occurs because only sales accounts were imported and zip codes have not yet been assigned to territories.
To create geographic sales territories, the next step is to either import a zip-to-territory file or use the clean alignment tool to automatically assign zip codes to sales territories.