One of the most basic yet far-reaching features of a MapBusinessOnline subscription is the ability to save more than one map. A subscriber to MapBusinessOnline Standard can save up to 200 maps. A Pro subscriber can save 500 maps and a Team subscriber up to 400 maps. Additionally, a user can always delete saved maps, which restores the used map’s slot in the saved map allowance.
You might ask, why is this important? How can a cloud-based business mapping subscription allowing a map user to save up to 200 maps be ‘far-reaching?’ The 200-map allotment per subscription means nobody has to worry about solving all business problems with one map.
There’s no need to be miserly about your map usage.
You smirk. I can see your smile behind your laptop screen. But, the fact of the matter is, many people come to us with a laundry list of issues they want to solve with their business mapping software, and they often expect to solve all these issues with their first business map.
Just last week, a guy called, he’s been in business for years, but he had only recently realized his company could use online business mapping software. He wanted a map that would:
- Layout sales territories by ZIP code
- Display all existing customers with sales activity by address
- Show all possible prospects by address and lead source
- Construct regions and division out of territories
- Define product sales areas for retail stores and distributors
- Expose overlapping sales territories and area with inadequate sales coverage
- Display the locations where all traveling sales reps stat their day (home addresses)
- Includes address or latitude longitude points of all related sales and customer service resources
- Develop market analysis drive time polygons around the top 25 ranked retail stores
While MapBusinessOnline is more than capable of helping to achieve all of these business mapping goals, I advised the eager mapping beaver to slow down and begin his mapping journey one map at a time.
You do not have to solve all problems with one map.
Start with a Customer Map
Start with a map showing all customer locations. A good customer location map, seen for the first time, can provide a new perspective on your company’s business. A customer map is a simple import of an address list. In minutes you’ll be looking at your business arena geographically.
MapBusinessOnline Used to Create a Customer Map
Another MapBusinessOnline Create Customer Map
Customer address lists are easy to come by. And please (PLEASE) do not import a ZIP code-only address list. Always build the full address for your customer list to provide more accuracy. Too many people think that ZIP code lists are good enough. They are not.
Real addresses will spread the points around the map’s area of interest. By using an actual address, you’ll get a realistic view of your geographic customer base. While a ZIP code-only spreadsheet, once imported, will stack multiple customers at ZIP code center points all across your business area of interest. Take the time to get those customer address records corrected in your system.
People work for you. Make them do it. The data is out there online, and you know it. At any rate, if you have a CRM, your customer had better be stored in the CRM by full address. Your customer records are stored this way, right? Right?
With a customer map created, start thinking about territories. Read some of our previous articles about territory creation. Try importing a list of territories by ZIP code or county. Study your business’s overall coverage area. Think about growth, resources, and employee locations and how they may impact your business.
Save Your Map as a Template
With a customer map in front of you, perhaps on top of territories, you’ve got a good sense of your business’s area of operation. You’ve also got a sense of where you’re next area of growth will be. Save this map as a My Map Template in MapBusinessOnline. Template maps serve multiple purposes:
- Templates protect your map work. Maps, like spreadsheets and word documents, can be over-written and lost. Protect your investment in time.
- Templates serve as a jumping-off point for other maps. Your first business map may or may not end up being the map template that saved New York, but through this process, you’ll come to recognize the specific maps that are critical to your business. Many MapBusinessOnline customers use Map Templates once a quarter or once a year to create working maps for their business processes.
- Map templates might be a place to store maps that are critical legal documents, safe from editing. These legal maps serve as base-line definitions of franchisee maps, real estate deals, and other business matters that could end up in court someday.
Business Hint: If maps are sometimes critical to your business’s legal disputes, make sure you purchase a business mapping license for a person with a map-keepers dedicated role. Keep their license up-to-date and make sure they get proper training on map use, map storage, and online security.
So, as you can see, business maps cover a lot of ground. (Get it?) There’s no need to solve every problem with one business map. Use your first maps as a learning experience. Gradually work your way from customer map to sales territory map and beyond – into strategic maps, competitor maps, and maps that can help find all the good chocolate in the region.
Two-hundred maps takes you a long way. In MapBusinessOnline, you can always delete maps to regain map allowances, and if you really need to, you can contact us to purchase more map storage.
So the key take-ways from this blog are:
- Don’t try to solve all problems with one map
- Use map templates
- Make sure your customer address records are stored as complete addresses
- I’m not sure what saved New York
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Find out why over 25,000 business users log into www.MapBusinessOnline.com for their business mapping software and advanced sales territory mapping solution. The best replacement for Microsoft MapPoint happens to be the most affordable.
To access MapBusinessOnline, please register and then download the Map App from the website – https://www.mapbusinessonline.com/App-Download.aspx.
After installing the Map App, the MapBusinessOnline launch button will be in the Windows’ Start Menu or Mac Application folder. Find the MapBusinessOnline folder in the Start Menu scrollbar. Click the folder’s dropdown arrow and choose the MapBusinessOnline option.
The Map App includes the Map Viewer app for free non-subscriber map sharing.
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Contact: Geoffrey Ives geoffives@spatialteq.com or Jason Henderson jhenderson@spatialteq.com
Contact: Geoffrey Ives geoffives@spatialteq.com or Jason Henderson jhenderson@spatialteq.com
