How to plan your month for maximum impact as an MSL is not something that you learned in school. Most folks pick up on what they should be doing through trial and error but are not nearly as structured as they could be. Even senior MSLs often think, “Oh man, I have been doing this forever, but I still don’t really know what I am doing.” Here is a simple 5 step process for how to plan your month for maximum impact as an MSL.

This will make you feel confident that you are doing the right things and get you out of reactionary mode. If you want some templates to help you get started, check out the MSL Impact Bundle. 

Step 1: Identify your needle movers

Make a list of your needle-moving activities. At a high level, these are the same for every MSL:

• Build relationships with HCPs
• Gather insights
• Be an expert in your TA

You may have additional priorities and initiatives at your company like providing internal training, supporting clinical trials, etc. Add those to the list! Review your job description and the goals you listed in your HR system to make sure you don’t forget anything. If your team has metrics/success factors for each needle-mover, get those on the list as well.

The example I will use in this article is building and maintaining relationships with the 60 HCPs on my HCP list, with the company set expectation that I will meet with them quarterly.

Check out the MSL Habits for Success Template to help you identify your goals. It will also help you with step 2 and breaking down your needle-movers into weekly habits. 

Step 2: Break each needle mover into monthly milestones & tasks

Now that you have identified your needle movers, break them down into what you need to do on a monthly basis to meet your goal. Using our 60 KOLs meetings per quarter goal, this means I need to have 20 meetings per month.

Because of the variability in MSL’s day to day activities, I recommend breaking all your needle-moving activities into monthly milestones. In other words, what do you need to do monthly to successfully execute that needle-moving activity? If the monthly timeline doesn’t feel right, use something that works for you. Some initiatives work better on a quarterly timeline.

Now we need to get more granular and list out the tasks we need to complete to meet our monthly milestones. The 20 KOL meetings per month target is not specific enough. How will I get those 20 meetings? List out all the tasks you need to get the meetings. You may break it down like this:

• Email/call HCPs to set meetings (32 – 35 hours per month)
• Send follow-ups to those that do not respond (10-15 hours per month)
• If you have a congress, send meeting invites to attending KOLs (3-5 hours per month)

Don’t forget to estimate how much time you will need to complete each task. This will help with the next step.

Step 3: Create your monthly plan

Now you have a list of monthly milestones for each of your needle movers and the specific tasks you need to do. The next step is to get them scheduled out in your monthly plan (and why I suggested estimating how long you need to complete each task). When will you do each task? This step is CRITICAL. This is where most planning fails. You need to get your tasks on your calendar and commit to doing them. Learn more in my article on controlling your time by assigning tasks to time blocks.

Something that may work well for you is batching tasks and dedicating certain days to completing that batch. For example, you could dedicate Monday afternoons to doing all your follow-ups.

There is no right or wrong on this. Figure out what works for you. If you try to batch your tasks on Monday afternoon and you can’t stick to it, the problem isn’t you, it’s the system. Try something different.

Check out the Monthly Plan Template in the MSL Impact Bundle for inspiration on how to plan your month. 

Step 4: Develop templates and checklists to help you execute

The MSL job, like most jobs, is repetitive. You will be doing the same tasks over and over again. Create templates and checklists to make this process smooth as butter. With the 20 KOL meetings per month target, I will need to send out a lot of emails and don’t want to start from scratch each time. Creating a library of email templates I can use will save me a ton of time.

With outreach to KOLs, checklists come in handy. Which steps do you need to take every time to set meetings? Create a checklist so you don’t reinvent the wheel all the time.

Download this free MSL pre-meeting planning checklist below to get started!

Step 5: Track your progress in a monthly impact report

Assess if you did the things you set out to do in your monthly plan. Why or why not? Include your wins and one area you could improve upon. This also serves as a record of the impact you are having. You may consider using an MSL Monthly Impact Report template. Check out my yearly insights review template and my weekly reset routine for more inspiration.

What I love about tracking your progress is that it is a motivational tool. You will forget most things you accomplished over the month but your progress tracker will remind you. Then you feel motivated. My article on progress tracking outlines more reasons why it’s beneficial.

READ NEXT: How to Make Your Monthly Plan STICK

Conclusions: How to Plan Your Month for Maximum Impact as an MSL

If you just show up each week and just attend the meetings on your calendar, you will not have as large of an impact as you could be. Being strategic and focusing on your needle-moving activities requires planning and discipline. Your single most important resource is your time. Use this simple framework to be strategic about how you spend it.

Want to have a monthly planning routine but don’t want to build out the templates and process on your own?

The MSL Impact Bundle is perfect for you!