How to use it
- Enter the working days in one cycle (usually a month) and the days the rep spends away from customers in that cycle: meetings, training, leave, holidays, admin.
- Enter the calls a rep is expected to make on a field day, and how many reps share this customer list.
- Add one row per segment, highest priority first, with the number of customers and the visits each should get per cycle.
- Read the summary: coverage, calls short or to spare, reps needed and the calls per day the plan really asks for.
- If coverage is under 100%, read the table to see which customers drop off, then decide which lever to pull.
How the call plan maths works
This is the workload method of sales force planning, described by sales force researchers such as Andris Zoltners, Prabhakant Sinha and Sally Lorimer in Building a Winning Sales Force (2009): work out the calls the customers need, work out the calls one rep can make, and compare the two. Calls needed are each segment’s customers times its visits per cycle, added up. Capacity per rep is field days (working days minus days away) times calls per field day.
When capacity is short, the calculator does not spread the shortfall thinly across everyone. It gives the top segment its full frequency first, then the next, and so on, because a key doctor seen once instead of three times is usually a bigger loss than a low-potential customer not seen at all. Whether that is right for your brand is a judgement; reorder the rows to change the priority. For how to choose the segments and frequencies in the first place, see the medical representative guide and the 30-60-90 day plan.
Limits of the method
- It treats every call as the same length. A hospital visit with a long wait costs more of the day than a quick pharmacy call; if the gap is large, put those customers in separate segments and lower the calls per day.
- It ignores travel. A territory spread across several towns fits fewer calls into a day than a dense city route.
- It counts calls, not quality. A plan that fits on paper still needs a clear objective for every call; the pharma selling skills guide covers the call itself.
- It is one cycle. Launches, congress seasons and Ramadan working hours change capacity from month to month, so run it for the cycles that differ.
Frequently asked questions
What is a call plan for a medical rep?
A call plan is the list of customers a rep will visit in a cycle, usually a month, with how often each one is seen. Customers are grouped into segments such as A, B and C by their potential, and each segment gets a visit frequency. The plan only works if the calls it asks for fit inside the field days the rep actually has.
How do you calculate call coverage?
Multiply each segment's number of customers by its planned visits per cycle and add the segments up: that is the calls the plan needs. Then take the working days in the cycle, subtract the days away from the field, and multiply by the calls a rep can make per field day: that is capacity. Coverage is capacity divided by calls needed.
How many calls per day should a medical rep make?
There is no single right number. It depends on the customer type, travel time between calls, waiting time at clinics and hospitals, and whether the rep also visits pharmacies. Use your own company's expectation and check it against what reps actually report over a few cycles. The calculator shows the calls per day your plan needs, so you can see whether it asks for more than is realistic.
What should I do if the plan needs more calls than the team can make?
You have four levers: fewer customers on the list, lower visit frequency for the lower segments, more field days by cutting time away from the field, or more reps. The calculator keeps the top segments at full frequency and shows which lower-priority customers drop off first, which is usually the right starting point for the conversation with your manager.
How do I use the calculator to size a sales team?
Enter the whole customer universe for the area as segments with their target frequencies and set reps to the current headcount. The reps needed figure is the calls needed divided by one rep's capacity, rounded up. Treat it as a first estimate: travel distances, account complexity and the launch calendar can all change the final number.
Planning a territory in Saudi Arabia? Booklet 2 of the Field Booklets, “Your Territory and Call Plan”, walks a rep through segmenting the list and building the monthly plan, in Arabic and English. The first booklet is a free sample. Or join the community and tell us which calculator to build next.