Every brand plan I have read says the same thing somewhere near the front: these are our priority brands.
Then I look at where the resources actually go.
In my experience, four things tell you the real strategy, whatever the slide says.
Rep time by brand. How the call plan really splits the field team's days.
The promotion budget. Where this year's money is committed, brand by brand.
The first brand in the call. What the rep opens with, call after call. That is what doctors hear as your priority.
Leadership time. Which brands fill our own meetings and reviews.
When all four point at the priority brands, the plan is real. When they point somewhere else, the organisation is running a different strategy from the one we presented.
So once a quarter I put the four next to the brand plan. Where they disagree, we make a decision: move the resource, or change the plan. Either is honest. Leaving the gap is not.
And the picture is shared with the leadership team and the first-line managers. They are the ones who move the time, so they should see what we see.
The hardest part is not adding a priority. It is taking effort away from something else to fund it.
“Your strategy is not the slide. It is where the people and the money go.”
Lesson 6 of 16 in Step 1: Setting strategy, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.