Coverage model
A coverage model specifies how many accounts of what type each seller or team is responsible for, and what level of attention each account tier receives.
Coverage binds capacity to the segmentation boundary. It answers how many named accounts a field seller carries, what ratio of SDR to AE a motion requires, which accounts get pooled coverage and which get none. These ratios are derived from cycle length, contract value and touch intensity, not chosen by convention.
A coverage model is the mechanism that turns a capacity plan into an executable territory design. Without it, quota is set top-down and territory assignment is negotiated, which makes attainment a measure of territory quality rather than of selling.
Where it breaks
Territories are balanced on account count rather than on opportunity, so quota attainment measures assignment luck.
Related terms
- Go-to-market motion
- A go-to-market motion is a repeatable path by which a specific offer reaches a specific segment, including the channel, the qualification standard, the selling model and the economics that make it viable.
- Territory design
- Territory design is the allocation of accounts to sellers such that each territory contains comparable attainable opportunity, not merely a comparable account count.
- Capacity planning
- Capacity planning derives how many productive selling resources are required to hit a revenue target, given ramp time, attrition, productivity and coverage assumptions.
- Pipeline coverage
- Pipeline coverage is the ratio of qualified open pipeline to the target it must produce, evaluated for the period the pipeline can actually close in.
Field notes on this
- Write the stop rule before the pilot starts
A market-entry pilot with no decision rule written before exposure cannot end. It gets extended until it is the default motion, without anyone choosing that.