4 Ways to Reduce Time & Complexity in Field Planning

For decades, field planning couldn’t be done without spreadsheets. In yesterday’s world, maybe they were good enough. Today, powerful analytics tools generate moment-by-moment insights that help field reps take the next best action. A variety of channels enable more tailored customer touchpoints, whether the rep is at home or in the field. Commercial teams are becoming more agile to address field conditions and customer needs in this faster, more connected world. However, spreadsheets prevent a lot of this agility. The complicated processes required to maintain them eat up valuable time, slowing down field planning and delaying execution. Even the most seasoned commercial teams can lose the race at the starting line if their plans are not deployed at the right time. Many life sciences companies are turning to field planning solutions to streamline their processes and get their sales plans to the field faster. Here’s how these solutions can help.

1. Keep all your information in one place
A flexible field planning solution can provide a space for multiple teams to work on the same sales plan—resulting in shorter communication cycles and fewer silos. Instead of having multiple teams each hold their version of a spreadsheet, feedback from all units is consolidated by default. This makes it faster and easier to converge on a set of territory alignments and activity plans that combines the best of each team’s expertise. Switching to the right field planning solution helped one life sciences company cut down on alignment spreadsheets by 90%, from 20 spreadsheets to just two.
2. Put the right people in the driver’s seat
Digital engagement frees up field teams to react quickly to changes in the market and put focus where it’s needed most. However, business users are often reliant on IT teams to update sales plans for them, a process step which can take away that speed. Digital field planning solutions designed for the non-technical business user allow the same people who propose and understand sales strategy changes to execute them. Business teams won’t have to lose valuable time delegating to IT or a third-party vendor and can take back control to help the field navigate rapid shifts in market conditions. One large pharma company reduced the time it takes to adjust territories by 95%—from several weeks to just a few hours—after switching to a field planning solution that let commercial operations users make changes directly.
3. Adjust and iterate
Beginning a new sales cycle shouldn’t mean starting from scratch. A field planning solution can store historical alignments so that each new cycle can use an old cycle’s alignments and activity plans as a starting point. The most agile tools also offer the ability to collect field feedback in the goal adjustment process for territories and targets, eliminating time spent consolidating field feedback from different sources. This enables a nimble, adaptive approach to field planning so leadership can be more in sync with changes reported from the field. Iteration doesn’t have to happen only between cycles, either. The right field planning solution should also have modeling capabilities so you can fine-tune activity plans, especially when digital channels are taken into account. Simulating the effect of different channel ratios helps teams use digital channels in a way that fits their existing territory plans and pairs the right channels with the right customers.
4. Integrate to drive speed
Getting the right data to the field to drive sales plan execution can be time-consuming and costly. Manual data loads not only take time, but also increase the risk of errors, which can result in reps operating against the wrong set of accounts or goals. A field planning solution that integrates directly into your CRM can reduce errors that come with having to load alignments manually. By syncing alignments and activity plans automatically, the right system can help close the gap between field strategy and execution. Removing the field from CRM is expensive and slows down sales. One enterprise pharma company used to lock their reps out of their CRM for four days to implement new alignments. After switching to an integrated field planning solution, they can make that same transition in just one day. Some field planning solutions have other capabilities built-in that can help the field move faster, like roster management. With an integrated roster management system that includes CRM user management, home office can make sure the reps get the right tools, the right customers, and the right activity goals all from the same interface.

Having the right field planning system is key to making the most of each sales cycle. Watch how Boehringer-Ingelheim left behind their spreadsheets and adopted Veeva Align for field planning at digital speeds.