It is tempting to hand a new rep a full target and a full call plan in week one.
The territory has been empty. The numbers are waiting. It feels like the responsible thing to do.
In my experience, it is the fastest way to create a rep who is busy, anxious and not very effective.
Michael Watkins' The First 90 Days makes the point that the early weeks in any new role shape how quickly someone becomes effective. For a new rep, I think of the first thirty days in four steps:
Week one: know the product. Core messages, the patient type, the questions doctors actually ask. Enough to hold a conversation, not to recite a slide.
Week two: know the territory. Ride with the buddy. Meet the key doctors, the pharmacies and the distributor contact. The map comes before the call plan.
Week three: one real call. A friendly doctor, me watching, one skill in focus. One real call teaches more than a week of role play.
Week four: agree what comes next. We review what went well and set the first development goal together.
Only then do we talk seriously about the target. By that point the rep knows what they are selling, where, and to whom, and the number means something.
“In the first month, build the rep. The numbers come after.”
Lesson 6 of 12 in Step 7: Hiring and onboarding, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.