Territory Planning

Medical Affairs Spotlight Newsletter Edition 20

There’s a big storm coming.

Which means flights might cancel, calendars might implode, and at least one perfectly planned week is about to get a little… creative.

And while we’re not here to talk about the weather, it is the perfect reminder of this:

Territory planning isn’t a travel schedule.
It’s a strategy for how you keep things moving, even when the week doesn’t behave.

1. If your plan is Dr. A → Dr. B → Dr. C… that’s a route

We see this all the time: a “territory plan” that’s really just a list of names and states.

A real territory plan answers deeper questions:

Which relationships need to shift over the next 90 days?
Where am I being reactive instead of intentional?
What do I want leaders to notice about how this territory is progressing?

Instead of planning visits, plan moves:

moving a relationship forward
re-establishing presence
creating consistency where there’s been drift

When the week changes, those moves still matter, even if the order does.

2. “Is this travel-dependent?” (and what your company expects)

This question is a territory-planning lifesaver.

Start here:
“If this turned into a 20-minute virtual touchpoint, what would we actually lose?”

Then add the reality check:
“What does my company require or strongly prefer?”

Because sometimes:

a certain % of in-person HCP/KOL visits is expected
priority accounts need visible field presence
being there sends a signal that matters

A simple way to think about it:

Travel-dependent (by value): impact drops if you’re not there
Travel-required (by company): it could be virtual, but in-person is expected

Once you separate those two, planning gets easier — and weather stops feeling like a crisis.

Give yourself the gift of a yearly calendar

Weekly planning is great… until it makes you forget the big picture.

That’s why we recommend a yearly territory calendar you can actually see:

where you might be over-investing
which relationships quietly go cold
how your territory rhythm looks across the year

This is the yearly territory calendar we recommend: LINK

Yes, we mean buy it.
Yes, we mean hang it where you’ll actually look at it.

Blog to Read This Week

Why a KOL List Is Not a Territory Plan (and What to Do Instead)

In this post, we break down:

why “coverage” ≠ strategy
what most territory plans are missing
how to shift from lists to intentional planning

If territory planning is on your mind, this one’s worth the read.

Snow Day Mira Prompt (fun + useful)

“It’s a snow day
Give me 3 slightly unexpected, high-impact things an MSL can do today (from home) that would genuinely set them apart. Keep it practical and compliant.”