Territory, area and route are three things
A territory is the season-long allocation to a rep or team. An area is the block of streets worked on a given day. A route is the ordered list of doors for one session. Conflating them is why territory conversations go in circles, because two people using the same word about different scales will never agree.
Three scales, three time horizons
Territory is measured in seasons, area in days, route in hours. Once you notice the time horizon, the distinction stops being pedantic: they are assigned differently, disputed differently and planned differently.
Where the confusion causes damage
A rep saying "that is my area" may mean the season-long allocation or the streets they happen to be working today. The other rep hears whichever is less convenient, and a disagreement that was about vocabulary becomes one about character.
How KnockMode uses the words
Routes exist in the product: an ordered list of doors for one session, built by tapping or lassoing. Areas exist informally as whatever you lassoed. Territory in the assigned, enforced sense does not exist, because that is a team feature and it is unbuilt.
Common questions
- Is an area the same as a territory?
- No. A territory is the season-long allocation; an area is the block of streets worked on a given day inside it.
- Which word do companies use for what?
- Inconsistently, which is most of the problem. Agreeing the vocabulary inside your own team removes a surprising share of the arguments.
- What does KnockMode call these?
- Routes are routes. Areas are whatever you lasso. Territory as an assigned, enforced thing is not in the product.
More on territory
Turf: how areas get cut, assigned and worked without two reps hitting the same street.