Articles
What we have learned building this.
Territory software fails in a small number of specific ways, and most of them are known before you start. These are the ones worth writing down. There is an RSS feed if you would rather not check.
Territories
Drawing them, versioning them, and arguing about them.
How 38 franchise brands define a protected territory
We read the territory section of 38 franchise disclosure documents. Most are drawn in one unit, sized in another, and can be redrawn.
Routing a lead inside a franchise network is a contract problem
In a franchise network the routing rule is a promise somebody bought. Here is what changes about the software when the map is part of an agreement.
How a territory dispute is settled, and what it needs from you
Territory disputes turn on a date, a boundary and a rule. Most software can answer one of the three, which is why the argument goes to a spreadsheet.
What a territory version has to record to be worth having
Versioning a territory map is not saving a copy. Here is what has to be in a version for it to answer a question about last March.
Routing
Getting an inquiry to the right place, and being able to say why.
Lead routing accuracy is four different numbers, not one
A routing accuracy figure usually hides four separate failures with four separate fixes. Here is how to take them apart and which one to work on first.
What a serviceability API should return, and what it should refuse to
Whether you serve an address is a yes, a no, or an admission of uncertainty. An API that only has the first two is one that guesses.
Addresses and data
Geocoding, boundaries, and what a postal code is not.
We counted. Almost a third of ZIP areas cross a county line
In the Census Bureau's 2020 ZIP areas, 30% overlap more than one county and 137 cross a state line. What that means for territories built on ZIP lists.
Geocoding precision belongs in the answer, not in a footnote
Every geocoder returns a point. What separates a usable decision from a confident wrong one is knowing whether that point is a building or an average.
A geofencing API is not a territory system, and the gap is the rules
Geofencing answers whether a point is inside a shape. Territory software answers who should do the work and why, which is a different amount of problem.
ZIP codes are not shapes, and territory maps built on them leak
A ZIP code is a set of delivery routes, not an area. Territory maps built on ZIP lists have gaps and overlaps nobody drew, and here is where they show up.
Operations
What happens after the decision is made.
We read 105 home service websites. Few let you check your address
How HVAC, plumbing and electrical sites tell visitors whether they serve them. Mostly a list of towns, rarely a check, and often only after the form.
The checker is on your page and nothing happens
The embedded checker draws nothing, refuses to answer, or says every check failed. Each symptom has one usual cause, and all three are fixable in the app.
Why an address resolves to no, and which no it is
The checker said no. There are four different kinds of no, each with its own fix, and the reason code tells you which one you have before you change anything.
What to look for in service area software, and what to ignore
Most service area tools answer whether you cover an address. The questions that separate them are about capability, precision, history and refusals.