Territory Sales Representative

A Day in the Life of a Territory Sales Representative

A typical day for me would begin about 7.45 - 8am. I am fortunate enough to live in the middle of my territory but if you don't, an earlier start time may be required. Surgeries generally open at 8.30am and this is the ideal time to put your card in to see the GP. GP's generally see between 10.30am - 1pm. This is a small window of opportunity and every effort should be made to see as many GP's in this time. I try to see at least 3 GP's face to face, two of them being targets, two nurses and two pharmacies. I tend to work in the hospitals in the afternoon. I like to be home by about 4.30 - 5pm. This gives me enough time to download my activity for the day on the computer, plan for the next day and respond to my emails. Days can easily run much later than this, factors being, traffic, late appointments, preparation of presentations etc.

What do we do when in front of that healthcare professional? I have three products to promote. My first priority is always promoted first with the majority of my time spent on it. I use my detail aid for each of the products to give detailed and useful information to the GP whilst making sure I'm keeping the call tailored to his needs. Relevant questions often reveal the GP's needs. A 'full' detail in each call is not always required, especially if that GP has already been detailed a few times. Looking at patient pictures and dealing with objections may only need a short detail to reinforce the company messages. Each healthcare professional will have different interests in the drug; again, tailoring the call is vital.

What do you do if you've had a terrible day - seen no GP's, receptionists been rude to you, missed appointments because of traffic, arrived at a meeting to find it cancelled - the list could go on. The answer is: do not despair and become demotivated. We all have bad days. The answer is to learn any lessons from what went wrong. Could I have prevented any of these occurrences from happening? Talk to colleges, ask for advice and help if needed. Motivation, positive attitude and a drive to change are some of the qualities you need to become a successful Representative, but they need constant work and nurturing and it's quite normal to feel the need to push yourself some days! Remember 'the road to success is always under construction'.

Probably one of the most important aspects of a successful day is the planning. A day should be well planned; pre-made appointments should be planned around with specific calls. Travelling long distances over one day makes poor use of time not to mention being exhausting. Keep it local to the appointments you have covering as many health care professionals as possible in that area. My area covers Avon, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire - so you can see the importance not to be driving all over the place.

Planning should not be done on the day - it is stressful and long enough as it is, the week before or even if time were short, the night before would be fine. A detailed plan should include - times, call types, objectives for each call and a back up plan if all else fails! A 'to do list' should also be included (telephone calls, surgery booking days etc).