Territory Mapping is a franchisor-facing feature for defining, claiming, and tracking the exclusive territories a franchise organization sells to prospects and awards to shops. It lives at HQ → Network → Territory Mapping (/app/hq/[orgId]/territory) inside the HQ admin area, and it is built for franchisor/HQ staff — an individual shop owner does not see this page, and there is no shop-level equivalent. A related page, the Market Scorecard (/app/hq/[orgId]/territory/scorecard), ranks those territories for expansion decisions. Both pages are distinct from the state-level pipeline heatmap under Franchise Sales, which is a rollup of prospect interest, not actual territory records — this page is where the real, named territories with a status and a geography live.
What's in +HQ and what's in +Territory Mapping
Named territories come with the +HQ add-on: the territory list, ZIP-list territories, name / state / notes / deposit terms, reserve, award, release, block and reverse award, deposits, conflict flags, and Rebalance ZIPs. Franchise Sales and franchise agreements work the same with or without +Territory Mapping.
+Territory Mapping is an add-on on top of +HQ: $199/mo per HQ organization. It adds:
- the live territory map, with every territory drawn and colored by owner
- picking and drawing areas on the map (ZIP areas, Census blocks, counties, a radius, a drawn shape) and the on-map New territory / Edit area panel
- Census population and demographics
- location reports (PDF, and emailing a prospect copy)
- the Market Scorecard
- competitors and Find nearby
- drive-time shapes (a Drive time box on the New territory panel's Draw tab, 5 to 60 minutes, up to 60 per organization in any rolling 30 days)
- Suggest a territory and starting from a business address
- Find uncovered areas, which splits the populated areas no territory covers into territories of similar population
- demographics CSV downloads, for one territory or for all of them
- the live overlap warning while you pick an area
- the legal description
To add it, talk to sales — there's no self-serve checkout. Org admins see an Ask about +Territory Mapping button on the Territory Mapping page, and the add-on is listed with its price under Settings → Plans.
The page at a glance
On the left is every territory, grouped by who owns it: Shops' areas, Awarded to prospects, On hold for prospects, Open to sell, and Blocked. Anything that needs attention, like a prospect's hold ending within 3 days or an open conflict, is flagged at the top of that list. You can search by territory name or ZIP. Click a territory to open its details.
With +Territory Mapping, the right side is the map, and clicking a territory on the map opens it too. Without it, the right side shows a short card about the add-on instead of a map.
More tools holds Rebalance ZIPs and Conflicts, plus — with +Territory Mapping — Suggest a territory, Find uncovered areas, Market scorecard, competitors, Download all territories CSV, and map outlines (Census blocks, ZIP areas, counties, metro areas, states).
Adding a territory with +HQ
Org admins click New territory, give it a name, and list the ZIP codes it covers (separated by commas, spaces or new lines). An optional description can be added. Who it's for — a shop, a hold for a prospect, or blocked — is set afterwards from the territory's details. To change the ZIP codes later, open the territory and choose Edit ZIPs.
A territory saved earlier with a radius, a drawn shape, Census blocks or counties still shows in the list and can be renamed, reserved, awarded, released or blocked; changing its area needs +Territory Mapping.
Adding a territory with +Territory Mapping
With the add-on, New territory opens a panel beside the map that walks through two steps.
1. Pick the area on the map, using one of five ways:
- ZIPs: click ZIP areas to add or remove them, or type a ZIP and press Enter.
- Census blocks: click the small Census block groups to add or remove them. These are the smallest areas the Census reports population for, so this is the way to draw exact lines.
- Counties: click whole counties.
- Radius: search an address or click the map to set the center, then set the miles or drag the circle to resize it.
- Draw: click the map to add corners; after three, drag the handles to adjust the shape. Or use the Drive time box on the same tab: pick a drive time in minutes and click Make shape to start from the area reachable by car from the address you searched (or from the middle of the map), then drag the corners to adjust it. Each organization can make up to 60 drive-time shapes in any rolling 30 days, and the box shows how many are left. An attempt that errors or times out doesn't count; one that comes back empty does. When none are left, draw the shape by hand or use a radius.
To start from a business address, search the address (or click a shop under Jump to a shop), then under Around an address enter a size in miles, people, or both. With both, choose Whichever is greater or Whichever is smaller. Select ZIPs around it picks them for you; click the map to add or remove any. The ZIP, Census block and county outlines appear once you've zoomed in far enough to click them. As you pick, the panel shows what's selected, the Census population estimate, and a warning if a picked ZIP, block or county already belongs to another territory.
2. Who it's for: give it a name (one is suggested) and a state (filled in automatically when you picked counties or Census blocks), then choose the owner: an existing shop (this is that location's area), hold it for a prospect for a set number of days, nobody yet: open to sell, or block it. For a hold or open territory you can also turn on Requires a deposit and set the amount here. Set it now if you need it: deposit terms can't be changed once the territory is on hold. Create territory saves it.
To change an area later, open the territory and choose Edit area; the same picker opens with its current area selected.
Location reports: Report on a territory (or Preview report in New territory, before saving) opens a PDF with a map picture of the area that compares its Census figures with U.S. averages: residents' median household income, vehicles per household, driving alone to work and home ownership, each marked Above, Near or Below U.S.
Population and the competitor shops you've saved are shown as figures only, never rated. The comparison is left out, with the reason, when the U.S. figures didn't load, fewer than 3 of the 4 Census measures are available, or Census figures loaded for less than 90% of the area.
Every report carries a notice that it isn't a financial performance representation. Email report sends a prospect copy (figures and U.S. values only, no summary or ratings), with your note, to a prospect on file: pick them, or type an email that matches one of your prospects.
Emailing it to prospects must be turned on by your HQ owner after your franchise counsel approves it, and each send asks you to confirm FDD delivery, state registration, and that your note has no financial figures. It goes out from "your organization via SalesThumb" with your organization's unsubscribe footer; replies come to you, and anyone who unsubscribed isn't sent anything.
Admins also get Nearby competitors on a territory, which opens the competitor list for that area: add competitors by hand or by bulk paste, or use Find nearby to search the general area around the territory (results are approximate and not limited to its exact boundary). Suggest a territory under More tools proposes a radius or set of Census blocks sized to a target population and opens it in the New territory panel.
Find uncovered areas (under More tools) looks at the map view, a set of counties, a state or a metro area and shows the populated Census block groups that no territory covers yet. Choose a number of territories or a number of people per territory, and it proposes territories of roughly equal population; save the ones you want as territories open to sell. Saving them needs +HQ too.
CSV downloads: Download CSV on a territory gives one row per ZIP area, Census block group or county plus a total, with the same Census figures the location report uses. Download all territories CSV under More tools gives one row per territory (up to 500) with its status, owner, area type, population and key demographics. Both are for org admins.
Changing, removing and rebalancing
A shop's area can be changed any time. An area that's on hold, or awarded to a prospect, is locked: release the hold (or reverse the award) first. Name, state, notes, and deposit terms are under Details (deposit terms are locked while the territory is on hold or awarded; the state follows the same rule as the area). A territory with a deposit set can't be awarded until the deposit is recorded as received, unless an admin confirms Award anyway (logged in the audit log). The amount is tracked for reference only, never charged (see Things to know).
A Blocked territory can be put back on the market with Unblock in its details. A territory that was never sold, never a shop's area, and never had a deposit or a conflict can be removed with Delete; anything that did is kept for the record, so block it instead. Both are recorded on the HQ Audit Log.
Rebalance ZIPs (under More tools, open to any org admin with +HQ) moves a batch of ZIP codes from one ZIP-list territory to another when one has grown too dense. Previewing each side's population needs +Territory Mapping; the move itself doesn't. Shops' areas can be rebalanced; territories on hold or awarded to a prospect can't. Every change to a shop's area is recorded on the HQ Audit Log.
The status lifecycle: reserve, award, release, block
Every territory moves through four statuses, shown in the UI as Available, Reserved, Awarded, and Blocked. From a territory's details panel:
- Reserve puts an Available territory on a time-boxed hold (14 days by default) for a chosen prospect. You can't reserve a territory that's still under an active hold for someone else, already Awarded, or Blocked.
- Award assigns a Reserved (or Available) territory to a shop and/or prospect, moving it to Awarded. An admin can undo a mistaken award with Reverse award (a reason is required and it's written to the audit log), which returns the territory to Available. If the territory has a deposit set, it must be marked Received first, or the award is refused; an admin can confirm Award anyway instead, and that is written to the audit log. Converting a prospect only hands over territories whose deposit is Received; the rest stay reserved and are listed on the prospect's timeline.
- Release clears a Reserved hold back to Available. It's safe to call even if the hold already expired.
- Block pulls a territory out of circulation entirely (a legal hold, a franchisor decision, etc.), moving it to Blocked. A Blocked territory can't be reserved again until it's explicitly restored.
A hold expiring doesn't happen automatically behind the scenes — there's no background job clearing it. The list flags any hold ending within 3 days (or already ended) at the top, so HQ remembers to award or release before it lapses.
Deposits, conflicts, and legal descriptions
If a territory requires a deposit, HQ records what happened off-platform rather than SalesThumb collecting any money: mark it Received (with a method like wire or check, plus an optional reference), then later mark it Refunded or Forfeited if the reservation doesn't turn into an award. A territory can't be Released or Blocked while it has a Received-but-undecided deposit — refund or forfeit it first. Once a territory is Awarded, its deposit can only change through Reverse award, which resolves a received deposit as refunded or forfeited as part of undoing the award.
Every Reserve and Award checks the territory against the ones already claimed (a shop's area, an active hold, or an award), and this runs for every +HQ organization. It catches the same territory claimed twice, two ZIP lists that share a ZIP code, and overlaps between different kinds of area — a county against a ZIP list, a radius against Census block groups, a drawn shape against a county — by comparing both areas as Census block groups. An overlap stops the reserve or award and says what it overlaps; an admin can go ahead anyway, and that choice is written to the audit log. If the Census lookup needed for the comparison doesn't load, you're told the overlap couldn't be fully checked, so review the map by hand. With +Territory Mapping, the New territory and Edit area panel also warns about overlap live, while you pick.
The Check conflict button runs the same check on request. When the overlap is between two prospects, it's flagged as a conflict. Flagged conflicts collect on an "Open territory conflicts" list (flagged at the top of the territory list, and under More tools → Conflicts) where an admin resolves each one as Awarded First, Awarded Second, Split, or Withdrawn.
With +Territory Mapping, the details panel also includes a Legal description generator: an auto-generated plain-text restatement of the territory's saved geography that you can copy and paste into a franchise agreement's territory exhibit. It's explicitly not a substitute for legal review.
The Market Scorecard: opportunity and performance rankings
The Market Scorecard is a separate page reached from More tools → Market scorecard on the Territory Mapping page. It requires ORG_OWNER or ORG_ADMIN access and the +Territory Mapping add-on; without either, the page shows a plain access or add-on message instead of the rankings. It's a read-only view built for a franchise-development conversation, not a survey-grade market study — every figure on the page is labeled as an estimate.
Two ranked tables:
- Opportunity ranks every Available territory highest-opportunity-first by population relative to how many competitor locations HQ has already mapped nearby. A radius-defined territory searches within its own radius; every other resolvable geography searches a default 10-mile radius from an estimated center point. Territories defined by a zip list or by whole counties don't have a resolvable center point yet, so their competitor count and opportunity score show as unavailable — population is still shown for them.
- Performance ranks every Awarded territory that has an operating shop by trailing-12-month revenue per capita — the same revenue definition (completed payments, net of refunds) HQ's other reports already use for that shop, compared against the territory's Census population.
A third section, Richer signals, offers to layer additional third-party demographic data (median age, per-capita income, a diversity index, bachelor's-degree-or-higher attainment) and a crime-density read onto the top-ranked opportunity territories. As of this writing those vendor connections haven't been turned on for any org, so this section shows a "not connected yet" placeholder — it will populate automatically once they're enabled.
Things to know
- Territory Mapping and the Market Scorecard are HQ-level franchisor tools. An individual shop owner does not see either page; there is no equivalent territory view at the shop level.
- Viewing territories, their detail, and open conflicts is available to any org member with access to the organization. Adding, editing, reserving, awarding, releasing, or blocking a territory, and resolving a conflict, require ORG_OWNER or ORG_ADMIN and the +HQ add-on. Checking for a conflict does not require admin access, since it only flags overlap — it never awards or reserves anything.
- Recording a deposit as received, refunded, or forfeited additionally requires full HQ access — an admin whose org invite was scoped to CRM-only work can manage territories otherwise, but can't attest these off-platform money events.
- Deposit amounts are tracked and attested only. Nothing is ever charged automatically through SalesThumb; real deposits are collected off-platform and HQ manually records what happened.
- With +Territory Mapping, every member who can view territories sees them on the map and can view saved competitors; picking and drawing areas, population, reports, adding or finding competitors, Suggest a territory and the Market Scorecard are for ORG_OWNER or ORG_ADMIN.
- The overlap check compares areas as Census block groups, so it's close but not a survey line: treat a flagged overlap as a reason to review, and use Check conflict or the map to confirm.
- Find nearby is capped at 20 searches per organization in any rolling 30 days, drive-time shapes at 60, and the all-territories CSV at 10 downloads per organization per hour.
- +Territory Mapping is $199/mo per HQ organization on top of +HQ, added through sales (no self-serve checkout).
Frequently asked questions
Q: Who can use Territory Mapping and the Market Scorecard?
A: Both are HQ-level franchisor tools, not something an individual shop owner sees. Any org member with access to the organization can view territories and open conflicts. Adding, editing, reserving, awarding, releasing, or blocking a territory needs ORG_OWNER or ORG_ADMIN and the +HQ add-on. The map and the Market Scorecard also need the +Territory Mapping add-on, and the Market Scorecard is for ORG_OWNER or ORG_ADMIN only.
Q: What's included in +Territory Mapping, and what does it cost?
A: +Territory Mapping is $199/mo per HQ organization, on top of +HQ. It includes the live territory map, picking and drawing areas on it, Census population and demographics, location reports, the Market Scorecard, competitors, Find nearby and drive-time shapes (drive time is capped at 60 per organization in any rolling 30 days), Suggest a territory and starting from an address, Find uncovered areas, demographics CSV downloads, the live overlap warning while you pick an area, and the legal description.
Q: What can we do with +HQ alone?
A: Keep your named territories in a list, create ZIP-list territories and edit their ZIP codes, edit name, state, notes and deposit terms, reserve, award, release, block and reverse awards, record deposits, flag and resolve conflicts, and rebalance ZIPs between territories.
Q: How do we get +Territory Mapping?
A: Talk to sales. There's no self-serve checkout for it. Org admins see an Ask about +Territory Mapping button on the Territory Mapping page, and the add-on is also listed under Settings → Plans.
Q: What happens when a reservation hold expires?
A: Nothing happens automatically — there's no background job clearing it. The territory stays on hold (marked "ended" in the list) until an admin releases it, awards it, or (once the hold has lapsed) reserves it for a different prospect. The top of the territory list flags holds ending within 3 days as a reminder.
Q: Does SalesThumb charge the franchise deposit for me?
A: No. Deposit amounts are tracked and attested only — HQ marks a deposit as received, refunded, or forfeited based on money collected off-platform (wire, check, etc.). Nothing is ever charged automatically through the platform.
Q: Why can't I award a territory to a shop?
A: Award is refused if the territory has a deposit that hasn't been marked Received yet, if the territory is already Awarded to someone else, or if it's been Blocked. Record the deposit as received (or release/reconsider the block) first. For an unpaid deposit an admin can also confirm Award anyway, which is written to the audit log.
Q: Why is a territory's Opportunity score showing as unavailable on the Market Scorecard?
A: The Opportunity ranking needs a resolvable center point to search for nearby competitors. Territories defined by a zip list or by whole counties don't have one yet, so their competitor count and opportunity score show as unavailable — the territory's population estimate is still shown.
Q: What's the difference between Territory Mapping and the territory heatmap under Franchise Sales?
A: Franchise Sales' territory view is a state-level pipeline heatmap built from prospects' free-text territory interest. Territory Mapping is the actual system of record — named territories with a real status lifecycle, a defined geography, and conflict tracking.