If you’re a sales rep who spends half your week in the car or fighting with Google Maps, you know route planning isn’t just a “nice to have.” It’s the difference between hitting your quota and burning out. This guide is for field sales reps, territory managers, and anyone sick of wasting hours zig-zagging across town. I’ll walk you through exactly how to use Badgermaps to plan smarter routes, avoid common pitfalls, and actually get more selling done (without working longer hours).
Let’s get into it.
Step 1: Get Your Data Ready Before Touching Any Software
Before you even open Badgermaps, make sure your customer data is in decent shape. Crummy data leads to crummy routes, no matter how slick the tool is.
What you’ll need: - A list of all your accounts, leads, or appointments. - Addresses for each location. Full street address, not just city. - Any notes or priorities (e.g. “high value,” “urgent follow-up,” etc.).
Pro tips: - Clean up duplicates and obvious errors. A 5-minute review now saves you hours later. - If you’re exporting from a CRM, double-check that addresses are standardized. “St.” vs “Street” can mess things up.
What to ignore:
Don’t bother adding every possible data field. Start with the basics—name, address, and priority.
Step 2: Import Your Accounts into Badgermaps
Now, fire up Badgermaps and sign in. Most reps either use the web app or the mobile version—both work, but for bulk importing, the web app is usually easier.
How to import: 1. Export your customer list as a CSV (Excel works too, but CSV is less finicky). 2. In Badgermaps, look for the “Import” or “Add Accounts” button. 3. Upload your CSV and match up the columns (name, address, etc.). 4. Double-check that your addresses look right on the map. Sometimes pins land in the wrong state—watch for this.
Pro tips: - If you have hundreds of accounts, break them into chunks (e.g. by territory or week). Too many at once can get overwhelming. - Use tags or color-coding in Badgermaps to separate your “A” accounts (top priority) from the rest.
What to skip:
Don’t obsess over perfect categorization. You can always tidy up tags and notes later.
Step 3: Set Your Sales Goals and Priorities
Don’t just plan routes for the sake of driving around. Have a goal for each day or week. Are you trying to:
- Hit as many new prospects as possible?
- Check in with high-value clients?
- Cover a neglected part of your territory?
How to use Badgermaps for this: - Filter your accounts by tags, priority, or last visit date. - Use the built-in “Layer” feature to see where your most valuable stops are clustered. - Mark must-see accounts as “Favorites” or with a unique color.
Real talk:
If you try to visit everyone, you’ll end up seeing no one well. Focus on your best opportunities first.
Step 4: Build Your Route—The Right Way
Here’s where Badgermaps earns its keep. The route optimization algorithm will try to find the most efficient way to hit your selected stops.
How to do it: 1. Select the accounts you want to visit (click or tap to add them to your route list). 2. Set your starting location—usually your home, the office, or wherever you’ll be. 3. Hit “Optimize” or “Build Route.”
Badgermaps will reorder your stops to cut down on drive time. You’ll get a map, turn-by-turn directions, and an ETA for each stop.
Smart habits: - Limit your routes to 8–12 stops per day. More than that, and you’ll get stuck in traffic or run late. - Always look at the proposed route before you drive off. Sometimes, the algorithm misses local quirks (like morning school zones or areas with bad parking).
What doesn’t work:
Blindly trusting the software. No app knows your territory like you do. If something looks weird, drag and drop to reorder your stops.
Step 5: Tweak and Fine-Tune Your Route
No matter how good the software is, you’ll need to make adjustments.
Things to consider: - Appointment times: If you’ve committed to a 10am meeting, lock that stop into place. - Traffic patterns: Use real-world knowledge. If you know the highway’s a parking lot after 4pm, avoid it. - Breaks and flexibility: Build in buffer time for lunch, gas, or the inevitable “can you come back at 3?” requests.
Badgermaps lets you adjust stop order manually or set time windows for visits.
Pro tip:
Leave 15–20 minutes between appointments for those “just one quick question” conversations that always run over.
Step 6: Save, Share, and Use Your Route on the Road
Once your route looks good:
- Save it for future reference (good for recurring visits).
- Export or share it to your calendar, email, or with teammates if you’re splitting accounts.
- Use the mobile app while driving. It’ll provide real-time navigation (usually via Google Maps, Waze, or Apple Maps integration).
Honest heads-up:
No app is immune to last-minute changes. Be ready to adjust on the fly—Badgermaps makes it easy to add or drop stops, but you still need to check your schedule throughout the day.
Step 7: Track Your Visits and Take Quick Notes
Don’t trust your memory. After each visit, log a quick note in Badgermaps—something actionable, not a novel.
What to jot down: - Outcome of the visit (deal closed, follow-up needed, gatekeeper stonewalled you, etc.). - Next steps or reminders.
This keeps your next planning session faster and helps avoid awkward “remind me who you are again?” situations.
Skip:
Don’t spend more than a minute per note. You’re a sales rep, not an author.
Step 8: Review and Refine Each Week
The best reps treat route planning as a living process. At the end of each week:
- Review which stops worked out and which were a waste.
- See where you spent too much time driving.
- Adjust your tags and priorities for next week.
Pro tip:
Try the “Lasso” or “Radius” tools in Badgermaps to find clusters you missed or to fill gaps in your schedule.
What to ignore:
Don’t get obsessed with “optimizing” for its own sake. Sometimes a longer drive to a great client is better than making five pointless stops nearby.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore
What works: - Prioritizing your best accounts and building routes around them. - Keeping routes to a manageable number of stops. - Adjusting for real-world quirks—software can’t account for everything.
What doesn’t: - Overloading your day. You’ll spend more time rescheduling than selling. - Trusting any tool to know your turf better than you do.
What to ignore: - Fancy features you’ll never use. Stick to the basics: mapping, notes, and route optimization. - Buzzwords about “AI-powered sales enablement.” Focus on what gets you in front of the right people.
Keep It Simple—And Iterate
Route planning shouldn’t become your new part-time job. The real value comes from keeping things simple, learning what works in your patch, and making small tweaks as you go. Badgermaps is a solid tool—just don’t expect it to save you from bad data or unrealistic expectations.
Start with clean data, pick your top priorities, and let the tool do the grunt work. Review, adjust, and keep getting a little bit better each week. You’ll spend less time driving and more time selling—without losing your sanity.