Engel & Völkers
Who is responsible for this address? The answer sat in separate maps, outside the CRM.
I led the introduction of territory management in the CRM, so shops can maintain their territories in one place and colleagues can find the team responsible for an address in one search.
A simpler route to the right team Call centre agents and advisors can find the responsible shop and team from a single address search, instead of checking separate maps and sometimes getting in touch with shops over the telephone.
Engel & Völkers · Senior Product Manager · Q4 2025 – Q2 2026
I led the work from discovery through delivery and adoption, covering requirements, migration planning, pre-release validation, delivery with the development team, user walkthroughs, supporting documentation and post-launch follow-up.
Shops kept track of which teams and advisors covered which parts of their city in maps outside the CRM. Maintaining those territories, and finding the right team for an enquiry, meant leaving the CRM.
The challenge
Each shop divides its area between teams and advisors. That information lived outside the CRM, so the people who needed it had to look for it elsewhere:
- Shop managers and team leads switched tools to keep territories and advisor allocations up to date.
- Call centre agents searched separate maps to find the right team for each new enquiry, sometimes getting in touch with the shops over the telephone to confirm.
- Advisors referring a customer to another shop had no direct way to find the responsible team.
What I did
- Interviewed shop managers, CRM managers and call centre agents, and mapped how territories were maintained and how enquiries reached the right team
- Defined the problem and requirements with regional stakeholders and CRM managers, and agreed priorities
- Worked with design and engineering to deliver territory management and an address search in the CRM
- Coordinated moving shops’ existing territories into the CRM, with validation by shop managers before go-live
- Ran walkthroughs and created videos and knowledge base articles
- Followed up after launch and turned feedback into improvements
What changed
Observed
- One search
- to find the responsible shop and team for an address, instead of checking separate maps
- One place
- for shops to maintain territories and advisor allocations, inside the CRM
- Faster handover
- of enquiries to the right team, as reported by call centre agents
Intended
- Quicker contact
- with customers, as enquiries and referrals reach the responsible team sooner
- A foundation
- for further improvements in the CRM, such as automated lead allocation
Specific operational and outcome figures are not disclosed on this website to respect confidentiality obligations.
Before
Many maps
a separate map for each shop, and sometimes getting in touch with the shop over the telephone to confirm
After
One search
inside the CRM shows the responsible shop and team
One gap, three groups of users
1Shop managers and team leads
BeforeKept team and advisor territories in map files outside the CRM. Every update, and every check of who covered an address, meant switching tools.AfterMaintain their territories inside the CRM, in the same place as their leads and contacts.ResultLess switching between tools, and territory information that the CRM can build on.2Call centre agents
BeforeCheck new enquiries and pass each one to the right shop and team. Finding that team meant searching separate maps and sometimes getting in touch with the shop over the telephone.AfterSearch an address in the CRM to find the responsible shop and team.ResultAgents reported that handing enquiries to the right team became faster and simpler.3Advisors referring customers
BeforeHad no direct way to see which team covered a customer’s area in another shop, so referrals needed extra coordination.AfterUse the same search to find the team responsible for the address.ResultReferrals can go straight to the responsible team, so customers can be contacted sooner.
My approach
Understanding the work
I interviewed shop managers, team leads, CRM managers and call centre agents, and mapped how territories were maintained and how enquiries reached the right team.
Defining the problem
I turned these findings into a shared problem statement and requirements, so that stakeholders and the delivery team worked towards the same outcomes.
Agreeing priorities
I aligned priorities with regional stakeholders and CRM managers, starting with the foundation: getting territories into the CRM before building on them.
Evaluating options
I evaluated solution options with the tech lead and engineers, weighing user needs, delivery effort and long-term maintenance, and verified that the chosen solution could scale.
Designing and testing
I worked with design and engineering on the experience, and tested the features with stakeholders and end users, using prototypes, before implementation and release.
Coordinating migration and rollout
I coordinated moving shops’ existing territories into the CRM, organised validation with shop managers before go-live and supported the rollout.
Change management & adoption
Getting the technology and the user experience right is only part of the job. Success also depends on whether people can rely on the feature in their daily work and stop depending on workarounds and other tools.
For territory management, my ownership continued after release: I supported users as they got started, listened to how they were using the feature and used their feedback to refine it.
Helping users get started
I ran feature walkthroughs and demonstrations, and created videos and knowledge base articles that users could return to. I encouraged questions, so people felt supported as they moved to the new way of working.
Listening after launch
I followed up with shops to understand how they were using the feature, where friction remained and whether it was replacing their previous tools. These conversations surfaced needs that discovery had not fully captured.
Fitting permissions to how teams work
Feedback showed that responsibility for territories sits at different levels in different shops. We refined the permissions so that the people responsible for a team’s territory could maintain it themselves.
Making everyday actions clearer
Some users found the map-editing controls hard to interpret. We clarified icons and labels and made common editing actions easier to find, which helped more people use features that were already there.
Looking for signs of lasting change
We watched for signs that shops were maintaining their territories in the CRM rather than elsewhere. Fewer requests to re-import updated maps suggested this was starting to happen in some shops.
Discovery and delivery brought territories into the CRM. Enablement and follow-up after launch helped shops keep them there.
How we worked
I worked with designers and engineers, with requirements and feedback from regional stakeholders and CRM managers.
What we learned
- Teams organise their work in different ways. Territory tools need enough flexibility to reflect how shops actually work.
- A tool is only as useful as its setup. Clear setup, suitable permissions and good usability matter as much as the feature itself.
- Adoption needs ongoing support. Walkthroughs, reference material and follow-up after launch are part of delivering the feature, not an afterthought.
