How to Define Account Locking Criteria Before Territory Planning Starts

Territory Planning gets easier when you decide early which accounts are not moving.

That is what Account Locking Criteria is for.

Account Locking Criteria are the rules that determine which accounts stay with their current rep during Territory Planning. They protect continuity, reduce unnecessary disruption, and make the rest of the design process much clearer. Once the locked accounts are set, the team can focus on designing the movable book.

Why this matters

Most Territory Planning teams are trying to do two things at once:

1. improve Territory quality
2. limit disruption

Those goals can conflict.

Account Locking Criteria helps you manage that tradeoff. It protects the situations that should not move while giving the design process a cleaner set of accounts to work with. That means fewer exceptions, fewer debates, and fewer late-stage surprises.

The big rule

Lock accounts before you model.

Do not wait until draft Territories are already built to start hearing, “This account cannot move.”

That is one of the most common ways Territory Planning slows down. Sellers and managers see a draft, then start objecting account by account. Now the team is solving for exceptions instead of solving for the model.

The better sequence is simple:

1. define the locking criteria
2. collect feedback early
3. lock the accounts that qualify
4. design the remaining movable book

That sequence makes the rest of the process easier.

What accounts should usually be considered for locking

Start with the accounts where rep turnover would create more harm than value.

1. Accounts with live opportunities

If there is a real in-flight deal, moving the account often creates unnecessary disruption. This is one of the clearest locking signals. The Ultimate Guide explicitly uses open opportunities as a core example of when accounts should stay put.

2. Existing customers with upcoming renewals

Customer continuity matters. If a renewal is close, there is usually no good reason to create a rep change just to improve balance.

3. Strategic target accounts

If leadership has already said certain accounts matter most, lock them early. Do not let strategic value get traded away accidentally in pursuit of cleaner balance metrics.

4. Accounts with active relationship complexity

That may include open support escalations, executive relationships, implementation work, or other situations where continuity matters more than theoretical equity.

5. Accounts that moved recently

If an account already changed hands not long ago, moving it again may create unnecessary confusion for the customer and the rep.

Existing customers deserve a higher bar for movement

This is worth stating directly.

Customer accounts should usually be harder to move than prospect accounts.

Renewals, adoption, support, and relationship continuity all raise the cost of change. That does not mean customer accounts can never move. It means they should usually require a stronger reason.

Use locking to give reps agency

This is one of the best parts of a good locking process.

Account Locking Criteria gives reps and managers a structured way to participate in Territory Planning. The source material is explicit that allowing sellers and managers to request the locking of some accounts can strengthen buy-in.

That only works if the feedback path is structured.

Not side conversations. Not Slack lobbying. Not politics.

A real request process with clear rules.

For example:

1. rep or manager nominates an account for locking
2. request is reviewed against the published criteria
3. RevOps confirms whether it qualifies
4. approved locked accounts are removed from the movable design pool

That gives people agency without turning the process into chaos.

Keep the criteria simple

This is where teams often overbuild.

A good locking policy should be easy to understand and easy to apply.

Strong examples look like this:

• lock all accounts with open opportunities at Stage [X]+
• lock all accounts with renewals in the next [X] months
• lock all approved strategic accounts
• lock all accounts with active escalations
• allow each manager or rep to nominate up to [X] accounts for review

That is enough.

If the criteria are vague, the team argues.

If the criteria are clear, the process moves.

Locking works with Balance Goals, not instead of them

This is the final piece.

You still need a clear definition of a healthy Territory. Balance Goals tell you what the movable book should optimize for. Account Locking Criteria tells you what should stay put while you do that work.

The cleanest process is:

1. define Balance Goals
2. define Account Locking Criteria
3. lock the accounts that qualify
4. design the remaining book against your balance definition

That is much cleaner than trying to solve everything at once.

The takeaway

Define Account Locking Criteria before Territory Planning starts.

That is how you limit disruption and simplify the rest of the design process.

A good policy should:

1. lock accounts before modeling begins
2. protect live opportunities, existing customers, and strategic situations
3. give reps and managers a structured feedback path
4. keep the criteria simple
5. work alongside Balance Goals

If you do that well, the design process gets clearer fast.

If you do not, every account becomes a debate.