Busywork shouts. Selling work rarely does.
The priority matrix often linked to Eisenhower separates urgent from important. For a medical rep, most of what fills the day is urgent and not important. The work that builds a territory is important and never urgent, so it gets pushed to tomorrow.
What I see pulling reps away:
- Answering every group message the moment it arrives.
- Polishing a report nobody asked for.
- An extra trip to the office to drop something off.
- Long chats in the waiting room with other reps.
What gets pushed aside:
- Preparing tomorrow's A-list calls.
- Keeping the promise you made a doctor.
- Visiting the pharmacies around your key clinics.
- Studying the science behind your next message.
One rule helps more than any app: batch messages and admin into two fixed slots outside clinic hours. The rest of the day belongs to doctors.
Managers have a part in this too. Every extra request we send eats into selling time.
“Busy is not the same as productive. Guard the hours that sell.”
Lesson 4 of 13 in Step 8: Habits and integrity, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.