Possibly the most requested interview presentation is ‘Prepare a plan for your first 6 months on territory’. What most people seem to proceed with here is a theoretical text book presentation full of buzz words and fancy acronyms, an easy way to ‘death by power point’ for your interviewer. What they really want to see is a proper working business plan. If the day after your appointment they go on a 6 month holiday, do they know exactly what you want to achieve in your first 6 months and what you will be doing to achieve this? If the answer is yes, the manager’s job has just got a whole lot easier if he appoints you, surely the feeling you want if you can generate it?
The critical point is to present a simple but well reasoned approach to generating results. Here’s my top tips for a 6 month business plan.
Have a clear goal for the additional sales you expect within 6 months. Remember, this is a best guess based upon research.
Create achievable milestones along the way to this goal. The first milestone should clearly be within present grasp.
Rank your territory by postcode brick based upon ‘brick potential’
Rank your territory by postcode brick based upon ease of access
Rank you postcode bricks in terms of numbers of existing/know sponsors of you product (Key opinion leaders or KOLs)
For short to medium term results, allocate the highest proportions of your time and promotional budget to the bricks which score highly on all three of the above criteria.
Should be able to link achievable milestones along the way to realistic increases in market share in your targeted bricks.
As time proceeds the criteria above will shift. High potential bricks will be become lower in potential as you generate more sales and take a higher market share. Access may improve in some areas as you employ your access skills to generate better access in high potential areas. New sponsors will emerge as you convert newer users into supporters of your product. Hence, you need to repeat the exercise of ranking your bricks as above on a quarterly basis. For presentations particularly, remember all goals/objectives should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, reviewable and time specific).
Good luck
