I have a brand new product for which I would like to sell sole
distributorship licenses across the USA.  What I need are models that
divide the USA into roughly equal parts so that the licensees all have
approximately equal territory with which to sell/advertise, etc.
Would someone please provide me with a few various models that I can
start with?  Thank you.
P. Richardson

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Clarification of Question by netbus-ga on 30 Jun 2003 16:07 PDT

Re-reading my question, I should have clarified the number of zones. 
While this is somewhat open at the moment, I am thinking between 10
and 30.

Thanks.

-PR

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Clarification of Question by netbus-ga on 30 Jun 2003 16:11 PDT

To include more possibilities - I should go lower.  6 to 30 zones...
although it seems rather arbitrary at the moment.  Fewer zones would
mean a higher price for the license, etc.

Netbus --

The "traditional" way to divide the U.S. into territories is to use
some purchasing measure, most-typically BPI, which is defined here:
Thomson Dialog
"Support"
http://support.dialog.com/searchaids/dialog/f581_defs.shtml#bpi

BPI is extremely powerful, because it can be used in fine detail (such
as certain zip codes within Chicago) to determine potential sales. 
Here's an excellent Kansas State University document that discusses
application of BPI in detail (and it uses 9 regions):
Kansas State University
"Sales Analysis for Managerial Decision Making" (undated)
http://syllabi.cba.ksu.edu/alexander/DCE%20542/additional%20readings/Reading%205%20%20ANALYSIS.doc

There are a couple of problems with this definition : the most
important is that an industry may be unequally distributed across the
country.  As an example: in distributing products for the
semiconductor industry, Santa Clara County in California would be more
important than Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota - even
if BPIs matched.  To overcome this, you'll need statistics on where
the most-likely customers are located.

For example, if you're concentrating on selling a product to computer
stores, you might use Census statistics on computer store locations or
even the location of superstores from the major chains.

A second problem can be geography: widely spread small accounts are
expensive to service if a personal visit is required.

There are some interesting commercial companies helping with detailed
analyses of customer bases, such as:
MapMentor.com
http://www.mapmentor.com/applications/applicat.htm

Here are some sources for BPI data:
JCCC Billington Library
http://library.jccc.net/reference/guides/measkc.html


Google search strategy:
sales + region + BPI


Good luck with the decisions and if any part of this Google Answer is
fuzzy, please request a clarification before rating it.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

A very good answer - thank you for your time.  You have provided me
with an educated starting point from which I can begin my research -
very important; and what I needed.  Thanks again for your help and
research.