Account Tiering 101 with the 3 R's: A Way Sales Managers Can Teach their Team to Prioritize
Getting promoted to managing a team means you get 8-10x the patch you used to have overnight. And your VP expects you to know those accounts inside and out, so you can help your salespeople move the revenue needle.
Talk about an overwhelming task.
Most new sales managers respond to this in one of two ways:
Try to manage the entire territory like they did as an AE (which is both impossible and exhausting)
Completely abdicate the task, letting reps figure it out on their own (totally ineffective and frankly, super risky)
I've seen this pattern play out countless times. New managers drowning in pipeline reviews, scrambling to understand every deal, and burning out trying to be everywhere at once. Meanwhile, opportunities slip through the cracks, and their teams never develop the skills to prioritize their own time effectively.
If this sounds familiar, you're not alone.
But the reality is, if you aren't teaching your AEs how to tier and prioritize their accounts, you're leaving serious money on the table, and I can guarantee you and your team are spending way too much time on the wrong things.
The good news is you can overcome this with a system that allows you to see the big picture while empowering your team to think strategically.
Why Most Sales Managers Get Territory Planning Wrong
Most new managers have an idea how to prioritize accounts, because they did it themselves as successful salespeople. But the problem is, your system doesn't scale across 8-10x the patch you used to have.
If you try to look over each account and understand which are the 'big fish' on your own, you'll likely overlook some major opportunities. The sheer volume of customers will force you to make assumptions and oversights that you wouldn't make if you had time to look more critically at the details.
And if you leave your reps to tackle this on their own without showing them how to do it effectively, they'll likely ignore important signals because they may not have ever been taught what the difference between "good, better and best" accounts look like.
But here's the good news: teaching your salespeople to tier their own accounts in a way you can TRUST is totally possible.
Remember: your individual contributors are always going to be closest to the customer relationships, by nature of their job. They have insights you don't, simply because they talk to the customers more than you do (at least they should be).
I have a framework for you to teach your team when it comes to Territory Planning, and the great news is these 3 key factors apply across all levels of sales (business development, SDRs, AEs) and customer type and size (prospect or current customer, SMB to Enterprise).
The 3 Key Questions for Effective Account Tiering
Most people look at their patch and ask themselves one or two of the below questions when putting accounts into tiers (Tier 1 = Top Opportunity; Tier 2 = Mid Opportunity; Tier 3 = Lower-Opportunity). But to paint the full picture of where to prioritize time, you need to ask all three of the following questions (and re-evaluate at least 2x per year). I like to call these The 3 R's of Territory Planning:
1. Revenue Potential - How big is the $$ opportunity?
This is about the raw sales opportunity an account represents. Train your people to assess:
Company size and financials (revenue, employee count, recent funding, IPO, mergers or acquisitions, etc.)
Current total addressable spend in your product category (apps like BuiltWith, Similarweb or Datanyze can help with this for tech or SaaS products)
Current or past spend with your company
Industry economics (do companies in this sector typically invest heavily in your solution?)
Upsell or Cross-sell value (expansion potential into other products you offer)
Don't just tell them "bigger is better." Show them how to spot companies with budget for your solution.
2. Relevance - How well does our solution fit for them?
This dimension measures how well an account matches your ideal customer profile (ICP). Teach your AEs to look at:
Industry alignment (Are they in an industry that typically spends $$ on your solution?)
Use case and pain point match (Is there a potential fit between their pain points and your product?)
Technology stack compatibility (again, tools like BuiltWith, Similarweb and Datanyze can help understand if your solution will work with what they currently have)
Company size and scalability match (Are they growing? Do companies like this typically spend $ on solutions like yours?)
If you're only looking at Revenue potential, a massive company that already has things figured out and doesn't need your product isn't actually a top-tier account. Make sure your reps understand this. Bigger doesn't always equal better.
3. Relationships - How is our relationship with them?
This gauges the existing connection between the account and your company. Coach your team to consider:
Current status (Consider color coding "existing, past, never" or their current sentiment if you're only dealing with existing customers)
Personal connections and champions (Who are we connected to? Do we have relationships with decision makers? Are there new people we need to know?)
Engagement signals and buying intent (Are they actively talking to us?)
Account history and sentiment (Who likes us and doesn't like us in the organization? What's their feeling toward our company?)
Strategic partnerships or alignments (Is there an opportunity to partner beyond our product contract? Are they currently doing this with us?)
An engaged, warm account often converts faster than a cold one, no matter how big it is.
How to Turn Your AEs Into Tiering Experts
Here's my four-step process for teaching your team to master Territory Planning:
Step 1: Workshop the Framework
Don't just email over the tiering criteria. Run a workshop (ideally during a team meeting) where you:
Explain the 3 R's
Share actual examples of accounts in each tier
Walk through a scoring methodology
Demonstrate how tiers translate to different engagement strategies
This creates understanding of both the "what" and "why" of account tiering.
Step 2: Share Territory and Account Plan Templates
After you explain the 3 R’s, show them a template they can use to start digging into their accounts.
Show them how to use a template (like my Territory Tiering Template) in your workshop:
Provide an example of how it should look (you can use some of your previous accounts as a sample)
Set clear expectations on what a Tier 1 account looks like
Coach them through the scoring process
Have them start tiering in the Team Meeting so they can work on it and discuss it in real time with their peers!
Step 3: Review and Adjust Together in your next 1:1
Dedicate your next 1:1 to review their initial tiering attempts. This is where the real learning happens. Ask them to add to your mutual 1:1 Doc a list of all Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 accounts.
You can then ask questions like:
"Tell me what made you decide to place this account in Tier 1?"
"What signals make this seem like a particularly hot account?"
"Which criteria were most challenging to assess?"
Use these conversations to refine their understanding and address misconceptions.
Step 4: Connect Tiers to Action Plans
Next is ongoing learning, and coaching AEs on how to execute differently based on tiers:
Tier 1 accounts need high-touch, personalized outreach, and strategic value exploration
Tier 2 accounts need regular outreach and an open mind (they could become Tier 1's!)
Tier 3 accounts benefit from lighter-touch, more scalable approaches
When you have an idea of what accounts should be where, you can coach better. If you notice a rep is spending too much time on a low-opportunity account, you can coach them up and return to the original Tiering workshop. When your team understands how to adjust their approach by tier, the whole system starts to fall into place.
Step 5: Reassess Quarterly / Semi-Annually
Things can change rapidly - and in a matter of months your Top Accounts could become your lowest priority because of loss of funding, leadership turnover, and other factors outside your control. Make sure you review your territory plan and tiers at least every 6 months.
Just like opportunities can be lost when things shift at an account, new opportunities can emerge from others that may have been previously overlooked.
Remember, Your Job is to Be A Coach
Once your AEs understand tiering, your role shifts from "task assigner" to "territory coach." Instead of telling them which accounts to focus on, you're helping them refine their judgment about account potential.
Besides being more efficient in the long run, you're actually building crucial skills in your team that make them better salespeople (and future leaders) overall.
Your conversations evolve from: "Why aren't you working these accounts I gave you?"
To: "Talk me through how you evaluated the potential for this account. Where do you see opportunity here? Why or why not?"
One approach breeds resentment; the other builds collaboration and expands capacity.
The Bottom Line
Teaching your AEs to tier their own accounts is one of the highest-leverage activities you can do as a sales manager. It:
Develops their strategic thinking
Creates ownership over territory plans
Gives you visibility into their decision-making
Frees you from constantly being IN all the accounts all the time
The best part? When AEs understand how to evaluate accounts, they'll start spotting opportunities you might have missed. That's when real magic happens; when they're enhancing the plan you taught them, instead of merely following it. Suddenly your team becomes a territory planning powerhouse, not just a group of order-takers churning through a list without any thought behind it.
What's your approach to territory planning with your team? Do your AEs understand the "why" behind account prioritization?
