NextPlan Consulting (2025)

16/07/2023

NextPlan Insights-09
Planning & Ex*****on Effectiveness
“अक्रमेणानुपायेन कर्मारम्भो न सिध्यति।”
A work begun with no order and means, does not succeed!

In our first note on enhancing ex*****on effectiveness, we talked about role of different stakeholders and how a collaborative approach is essential for ensuring effective ex*****on. We had also briefly touched about 4 essential dimensions of ex*****on namely,
• Planning | People | Processes | KPIs/OKRs

In this note the focus will be on the first dimension of effective ex*****on -The Planning

PLANNING
“By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail” – Benjamin Franklin

Success or failure of the strategy often is decided at the planning stage. As one starts to prepare a brand or brand group strategy, it is important that a part of the brain is constantly thinking of ex*****on.

Critical components of the planning phase of strategy formulation are -
• Planning through ex*****on window
• Strategy advisory councils
• Sell to excite (WIIFM)
• Clarity on instructions/guidelines
• Less is More
• Balancing act
• Let us see each one little more closely.
PLANNING THROUGH EX*****ON WINDOW
While one is working on preparing for a brand strategy, a part of your brain must constantly think about is - Can I go and execute this in the market myself? How easy/difficult this will be to execute for my team? Will my team understand this? Will they be able to execute and execute effectively? What hurdles can come up that will derail the ex*****on? What will enable ex*****on of this strategy? What is the expected customer response and so on.

STRATEGY ADVISORY COUNCILS
Involving top sales executors across different levels, representatives from sales training/LnD, SFA, medical as your brand/brand group advisory council members helps significantly. Even having customers as part of advisory boards can add significant value during the strategy formulation process.

SELL TO EXCITE (WIIFM (WHAT IS IN IT FOR ME) THE SALES TEAMS
It is necessary for the sales teams to see how the strategy is going to help them in driving their performance. A sufficiently excited person will be motivated to implement. Brand Managers personal connect, own conviction, energy, commitment, and ability to excite sales teams are critical.

CLARITY ON INSTRUCTIONS
The strategist must be able to make the implementers clearly understand the, WHY? HOW? WHEN? of ex*****on. Utilizing multiple touch points like the cycle meeting, promatograms, monthly/bimonthly reminders using digital touch points, being in the field, using the chain of command effectively is useful in the endeavor to enhance clarity on the strategy.

LESS IS MORE
Do I thin spread my investment trying to do too many things on my brand/s or I prioritize and invest in lesser initiatives coupled with solid implementation is the question here. Deeper pe*******on or larger spread, field capabilities, type of customer coverage, product basket, life cycle of the product, market dynamics will be important factors when arriving at this decision.

BALANCING ACT
For a brand manager the brand/brand groups managed by him/her will be the world. Typically, a business unit will comprise 5-6 brand managers, each managing 2-4 brands and their line extensions, means a basket of 10-20 brands. Each of these brands will have different strategies by targeted customer groups, various initiatives, activities, positioning approaches and communication objectives. Now if you put on the lens of a representative, he/she is expected to deliver this in a span of 2-4 minutes with the customers.
This is where the marketing and sales leads must come together and look at a single customer window with 4-5 brands promoted and imagine how my person in the field will be executing effectively in this customer chamber. These sales and marketing leaders need to play a balancing act from ex*****on perspective while each individual brand manager will be focused on his/her brand/s.

Excellence in Commercial Ex*****on (ECE) is the workshop-based program offered by NextPlan Consulting in collaboration with Innovara Inc. This program helps in improving the ex*****on across commercial functions with greater focus on improving ex*****on at marketing, brand planning and translating brand strategies into actionable field programs.
We are eager to know your thoughts on the points brought us here. Please comment on LinkedIn or write to us on nextplan.consulting@gmail.com to share your feedback on this topic.

NextPlan Insights Series draws from more than 100 projects and assignments undertaken by NextPlan Consulting with more than 30 clients over the last 5 years. This Insights Series is an attempt to bring out one specific learning and its application for commercial improvements. We care for the data privacy of our clients and hence NextPlan Insights will provide only necessary information that is relevant for bringing out the key learning

Team NextPlan
Visit us @ www.nextplan.in
View us @ https://youtube.com/
Follow us @ https://www.linkedin.com/company/nextplan-consulting-llp/

27/06/2023

NextPlan Insights-08
ENHANCING EX*****ON EFFECTIVENESS

Ex*****on -The missing Link. Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan

App read time – 3 minutes.

Dear Leaders,
This is our 8th NextPlan Insights series. We are overwhelmed with the responses we are getting from our well-wishers. A big thank you to all. Continuing this journey, in our forthcoming “Insights Series,” we plan to touch on an especially important concern area of the industry – how to enhance ex*****on effectiveness.

This will be a five parts series covering important aspects of ex*****on like; role played by key stakeholders in enhancing ex*****on effectiveness and 4 dimensions (pillars) of ex*****on-planning, people, processes and KPIs and some suggestions to improve ex*****on effectiveness.

When one talks about ex*****on, naturally the focus shifts to the field teams. Rightly so as ex*****on happens in the field-in the customer chamber, where the rubber meets the road. It is commonplace to hear the following in most of our interactions with various business leaders.
• Our biggest worry is strategy ex*****on by our
field teams
• If only our in-field ex*****on improves!
• Another major concern is the gap in ex*****on

When we started putting our thoughts together on this Insights Series dedicated to this topic of enhancing ex*****on, we strongly realized that the onus and responsibility of effective ex*****on is not just with the field teams but there are multiple stakeholders involved in the process-each one required to play a definitive role. Remarkably like the expectations from all the players involved in a team sport or all the musicians in an orchestra. Unless everyone plays their part, you will not win a team sport event or create the magic in an orchestra. Read on to explore further.

ROLE OF KEY INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS

Strategy formulators (marketing and business leadership team) – formulate brand and overall business strategy, communicate/cascade these to appropriate teams for in-market ex*****on, evaluate effectiveness and engage stakeholders in the process. Think ex*****on at every stage of strategy formulation.

Sales Leadership – ensure precise understanding of the strategy by all their team members, set clear guidelines for ex*****on, anticipate roadblocks, feedforward, guide the FLMs, SLMs, Zonal Sales managers and collaborate with LnD/Sales Training, SFA/SFE teams for necessary support.

Sales Teams- effectively execute the strategies planned for various brands, provide in-market and customer level insights to marketing teams for better strategy planning, gaps in ex*****on if any and competitive scenario.

HR – during selection of external hires or internal promotions, look out for right credentials on ex*****on. Make ex*****on rigor as an essential element of managerial selection/hiring process and managerial performance evaluation.

LnD/Sales Training – partner with business teams to understand specific skill/knowledge requirements to enhance understanding and ex*****on of strategies and design programs to build these specific capabilities.

SFA/SFE - enable systems and field teams to capture relevant data, build essential analytics and provide insights to leadership and field teams to sharpen strategy formulation and enhance ex*****on effectiveness.

As you are planning to enhance ex*****on in your organization, kindly look at the role of all the key stakeholders involved in the process and not just the field teams. Agree?

Over next 4 weeks we will be touching upon four important dimensions of effective ex*****on.

We are eager to know your thoughts on the points raised here. Please comment on LinkedIn or write to us on nextplan.consulting@gmail.com to share your feedback on the topics covered and explore how NextPlan Consulting can provide value to your organization.

NextPlan Insights Series draws from more than 100 projects and assignments undertaken by NextPlan Consulting with more than 30 clients over the last 5 years. This Insights Series is an attempt to bring out one specific learning and its application for commercial improvements. We care for the data privacy of our clients and hence NextPlan Insights will provide only necessary information that is relevant for bringing out the key learning

Team NextPlan
Visit us @ www.nextplan.in
View us @ https://youtube.com/
Follow us @ https://www.linkedin.com/company/nextplan-consulting-llp/

07/06/2023

NextPlan Insights Series -07
Title: Leveraging the Power of 9-Box Segmentation: Enhancing E-Based Distribution in the Pharmaceutical Industry
In the pharmaceutical landscape, stockists and chemists play a vital role in the distribution and availability of products at the point of prescription generation. Recognizing their significance as customers, alongside healthcare professionals and other stakeholders, is essential for achieving success in this industry.
NextPlan Consulting recently collaborated with an organization that developed an innovative digital interface to streamline order placements and offer analytics to enhance the operational efficiency of stockists and chemists. Looking into the benefits many customers onboarded on the interface however their usage patterns were varied which posed as a challenge. A strategy had to be developed to encourage and influence customers to use the interface regularly to ensure maximum order placement happens thru it. Given the diverse needs and profiles of these customers, creating a segmentation matrix was crucial to deploying tailored strategic initiatives and action plans.
This Insight delves into the process and outcomes of developing a 9-box segmentation grid of these customers.
The segmentation parameters utilized were:
Turnover: Total value of purchases made by the customer, categorized as High, Medium, Low (H, M, L)
Contribution Value: Proportion of the customer's purchases made through this digital interface, categorized as High, Medium, Low (H, M, L)
The resulting 9-box grid represents specific customer segments based on the combination of turnover and contribution value.
Benefits of the 9-Box Segmentation: Implementing the 9-box segmentation provided the organization with several advantages, including:
Identification and assessment of customers within each segment, focusing on how to increase usage and not just merely onboarding new customers.
Development of targeted action plans and personalized communication strategies for customers in each grid cell.
Replacement and addition of customers based on their segment characteristics.
Efficient allocation of field force resources, optimizing visit frequency and call capacity planning.
Improved coordination with the back office to address specific customer queries and issues.
Conclusion: The 9-box segmentation for stockists and chemists offers deep insights into customer behaviour, value, and growth potential. By understanding the unique characteristics of each segment, the organization can now tailor its strategies to drive engagement, retention, and growth. While the high turnover high contribution value (HH) segment takes centre stage, all segments present opportunities for expansion and growth.
NextPlan Insights Series draws from more than 100 projects and assignments undertaken by NextPlan Consulting with more than 30 clients over the last 5 years. This Insights Series is an attempt to bring out one specific learning and its application for commercial improvements. We care for the data privacy of our clients and hence NextPlan Insights will provide only necessary information that is relevant for bringing out the key learning
Meanwhile we are eager to know your thoughts on this initiative. Please comment on LinkedIn or write to us on nextplan.consulting@gmail.com to share your feedback on the topics covered and explore how NextPlan Consulting can provide value to your organisation.
Team NextPlan Visit us @ www.nextplan.in
View us @ https://youtube.com/ Follow us @ https://www.linkedin.com/company/nextplan-consulting-llp/

19/05/2023

NextPlan Insights Series – Replace 25% Customers.
Customer Segmentation for better marketing ROI
NextPlan Case Series draws from more than 100 projects and assignments undertaken by NextPlan Consulting with more than 30 clients over the last 5 years. Every case study attempts to bring out one specific learning and its application for commercial improvements. We care for the data privacy of our clients and hence case studies will provide only necessary information that is relevant for bringing out the key learning.
Background
This case is about application of Customer Segmentation to deliver higher returns on the commercial investments made by the organization for a franchise. This is about a mass speciality business (not super-speciality) that was driven by a few thousands of customers. The client franchise has slowed down over the last several quarters. Increasing competition, static prescribing population and static P/ D were resulting into slowdown of the business. Desperate increase in investments had not resulted in any specific traction in the business volumes nor it had resulted into enhancement of number of prescribers.
Observations
As a part of NextPlan 360 Consulting Project, it was observed that quality of customer profiling and customer understanding was not deep enough. Also, segmentation approach followed was very general at best and was not resulting into differential activation / engagement plans. Visibility of customer profiling, assigned initiatives planned at customer level and outcome tracking post initiative implementation was inadequate at HO level as well as field level. Teams were allocating resources on the basis of past impressions about customers and their support rather than dynamic evolving data.
NextPlan 360 Solution
NextPlan team studied the existing segmentation processes, the level of data captured at customer level and also frequency of data updation. It also looked at abilities of SFA and other internal platforms to gather data and MIS capabilities to analyse the data to draw insights relevant for commercial teams. Through conversations with multiple stakeholders, NextPlan team also understood the challenges of utilizing more data driven approach for this exercise.
Jointly, the team arrived at Classical 3 X 3 customer segmentation matrix. This uses customer potential and customer support data and helps in creating meaningful segments that can be acted upon. The customer profiling data (with accuracy levels of around 70-80%) was superimposed on the 3 X 3 matrix. NextPlan and client team worked together to draw out several insights using that data at national and regional level.
One big insight was almost 25% of the customers were in the low potential low support segment needing relook at their coverage and marketing investments. Similar outcomes were observed among multiple projects with range of 21-32 % of customers requiring re-look or replacement

These insights were translated into concrete steps and action plan including resources allocation, individual customer level planning and tracking, monitoring changes into 3 X 3 matrix on ongoing basis and getting discipline of making this as DNA of the organization. Post this initiative, the franchise performance showed improvement over 2 quarters till the time the project NextPlan 360 was tracked.

NextPlan 360 is an consulting assignment that helps in diagnosing current brand / franchise challenges and the reasons for that performance. It also helps in co-creating solution and implementation of the same over 2-3 quarters. Customer segmentation for generating higher marketing ROI is an effective component of NextPlan 360. You can reach to nextplan.consulting@gmail.com for more queries.

10/05/2023

If your sales teams are facing any of the following challenges, this article is for you and your sales and marketing teams.
• Consistent sales pressure
• Large to vary large % of customers are low contributing
• Driving brand mix sales
• Low success rate of new product launches
• Almost every month-end struggle to deliver on targets- sales closing
• At times compromised sales process hygiene

Support based customer segmentation is the most used segmentation by many companies. This is simple and easy for field teams to implement. This Uni-Dimensional segmentation of the customers is half the story.
Compared to this, 2-dimensional-Potential x Support based segmentation provides significantly enhanced insights on business growth opportunities.
This area of, “potential x support” based segmentation, is a focal point of intense discussions in all our “Sales By Design” workshops. While the merits of this approach are widely acknowledged, concerns often arise:
Workload on field teams - Are we burdening our field teams with excessive data gathering responsibilities.
Data sanctity -There is strong concern about the accuracy and reliability of the collected data
Garbage in- Garbage out- The quality of the data collected may impact the effectiveness of segmentation
Imperfect data – It is important to recognize that in the Indian Scenario, the data collated by our field teams is often the only source of individual customer level. Data perfection is a journey, and we must show faith and confidence in our field force. We must demonstrate the benefits of capturing this data and involve them in the process with open communication, rather than mandating data capture.

Moving to this 2-dimensional segmentation approach offers both short-term and long-term benefits:
• 9 box customer segmentation through a combination of 3 potential levels (H-High, M -Medium and -Low) and 3 support levels (1-High), 2-Medium) and 3 - Low). This can be at overall value level and for individual brands
• Identification for business growth opportunities in each customer segment
• Tailoring strategies for different customer categories
• Drive systematic demand planning
• Defining policy to address high percentage of non-contributing doctors

Key enablers of success include:
• Robust technology support for data capture, storage, and processing
• Development of differential analysis for sales and marketing teams
• Clear definition of potential and support slabs
• Comprehensive field force training
• Building faith in the field teams and demonstrating benefits they will gain through this approach (WIIFM- What’s in it for me?)

NextPlan Insights Series draws from more than 100 projects and assignments undertaken by NextPlan Consulting with more than 30 clients over the last 5 years. This Insights Series is an attempt to bring out one specific learning and its application for commercial improvements. We care for the data privacy of our clients and hence NextPlan Insights will provide only necessary information that is relevant for bringing out the key learning.

In our upcoming articles, we will delve deeper into the application of this 9-box segmentation by marketing and sales teams. Meanwhile we are eager to know your thoughts on this initiative. Please comment on LinkedIn or write to us on nextplan.consulting@gmail.com to share your feedback on the topics covered and explore how NextPlan Consulting can provide value to your organization.

Team NextPlan
Visit us @ www.nextplan.in
View us @ https://youtube.com/
Follow us @ https://www.linkedin.com/company/nextplan-consulting-llp/

27/04/2023

NextPlan Insights Series – Enhancing Organizational Effectiveness through Competency Mapping and Assessment.
NextPlan Insights Series draws from more than 100 projects and assignments undertaken by NextPlan Consulting with more than 30 clients over the last 5 years. Every Insights Page attempt to bring out one specific learning and its application for commercial improvements. We care for the data privacy of our clients and hence NextPlan Insights will provide only necessary information that is relevant for bringing out the key learning.
Approx Read time: 5 Mins.
Introduction: In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, organizations must continuously adapt to stay competitive. As skill requirements transform, competency mapping and assessment have emerged as crucial tools to identify, measure, and develop the competencies essential for success. This insight brings out the significance of competency mapping and assessment and how organizations can leverage them to unlock their full potential.
Insights and Observations: Competency Mapping and Assessment enable organizations to clearly identify the key competencies, including knowledge, skills, and attributes, necessary for success in specific job roles. By identifying gaps between the current and desired levels of proficiency, organizations can take informed steps towards talent management processes such as performance management, coaching, compensation, recruitment, talent retention, and leadership development. Organizations equipped with a well-defined and integrated competency framework are poised to effectively meet present challenges and capitalize on future opportunities.
Based on our experiences in assisting various organizations in developing, implementing, and internalizing competency mapping and assessment frameworks, we have identified several key learnings.
Foremost, the entire framework and process must be simple, easily understood by every individual involved, and widely accepted.
Success in this endeavour requires the collaboration of cross-functional teams, a detailed study of job descriptions, identification of on-the-job demonstrable behaviours, and insights from stakeholders, including individuals currently in the roles for which the framework is being developed.
Transparent communication and clear management intent are crucial, ensuring that employees perceive this exercise as a means of their personal development.
Furthermore, it is essential to define the expectations of every individual involved in the process and ensure a shared understanding among all stakeholders.
A key outcome of this work is the establishment of a 4-level behavioural descriptor framework for each identified competency within a specific job role. This framework assigns proficiency levels to individuals, ranging from beginners (level 1) to experts (level 4), thereby facilitating assessments and encouraging personal development. The simplicity of this framework contributes to its wider acceptance, while the use of a 4-level model discourages median rating biases.
The Benefits of an Effective Competency Framework: Implementing a detailed competency framework provides numerous benefits to organizations.
Firstly, it clearly articulates the key competencies, their definitions, and their relevance to the organizational context and business strategy.
By outlining key behavioural indicators and desired results, as well as various proficiency levels for assessments, the framework ensures that expectations are transparent for each role.
Moreover, it fosters a common language and culture across the organization, focusing not only on managing performance but also on improving it.
Competency-based reviews assist in identifying gaps, enabling the creation of customized group and individual development plans to enhance job effectiveness.
Additionally, an effective framework facilitates proactive succession planning and ensures clarity in recruitment and selection processes.
Conclusion: In conclusion, the practice of competency mapping and assessment is an invaluable tool for organizations aiming to enhance their effectiveness. By simplifying the framework, engaging cross-functional teams, gathering insights from stakeholders, and communicating transparently, organizations can successfully implement competency mapping and assessment processes. This holistic approach fosters a culture of development and growth, driving performance improvement across the organization. Embracing the power of competency mapping and assessment will enable organizations to thrive in today's ever-evolving business landscape.
We are eager to know if you are finding this interesting. Please comment or write to us on nextplan.consulting@gmail.com to share your thoughts on this new initiative and these insights sharing topic and how NextPlan Consulting can be of value to your organisation.

Team NextPlan
Visit us @ www.nextplan.in
View us @ https://youtube.com/
Follow us @ https://www.linkedin.com/company/nextplan-consulting-llp/

22/04/2023

NextPlan Insights Series draws from more than 100 projects and assignments undertaken by NextPlan Consulting with more than 30 clients over the last 5 years. Every Insights Page attempts to bring out one specific learning and its application for commercial improvements. We care for the data privacy of our clients and hence NextPlan Insights will provide only necessary information that is relevant for bringing out the key learning

BACKGROUND
New growth levers are important in today's hypercompetitive world. At NextPlan, while working on multiple brands and businesses, we continue to discover new or less explored levers that could unlock great value for the business.

This page of Insights Series highlights a new lever discovered (path less travelled) and used effectively to harness extra growth for the brand. The business performance was tracked as part of assignment for over 6 quarters and the additional growth lever could demonstrate incremental growth over the tracking period. For an established brand adding about 3 % incremental growth was significant.

OBSERVATIONS AND BUSINESS CONTEXT
Prevention is better than cure. There are several situations where taking an action before happening of an untoward event could be of immense value. It could be a cardiac event, respiratory exacerbation for asthma/ COPD patient, pain flare up for arthritis, fall prevention and many more occasions of similar nature. Acting before an untoward event could help a patient get better quality of life and can also lead to less hospitalizations. It is also a great opportunity to expand brand usage beyond treatment to covering both, treatment as well as prevention.

This case and insights derived refer to a situation of respiratory illnesses and their propensity to worsen during certain times of the year / season. It is also now understood that viral infections further increase the chances of exacerbation of lung diseases. While this was a known fact and medical practitioners had similar observations, this growth levers of advancing appropriate product usage was not explored by the brand.

While working on the project the team realized that it is not knowledge alone about what is possible, but actual discipline of making it possible is very important. Initial data analysis indicated limited data availability for scientific promotion. But number of customer interactions helped understand current practices in this space and how they would react to this concept, if promoted. A cross functional team was put together that included marketing, sales, medical, regulatory, and even KOLs.

INSIGHT TO IMPLEMENTATION
Team with the help of NextPlan guidance, put together road map for estimating size of this opportunity, data availability around this, possibility of any regulatory hurdles and so on. Detailed action plans were made for medico marking data mining and additional data generation. Also, simultaneously, plans were made to launch this concept in a big way prior to next seasonal upsurge of symptoms flare up. Right nomenclature was created and suggestion from KOL panel were dialled in as appropriate. Monitoring over 6 quarters led to noticeable increase in secondary sales and also opened up new opportunity doors for meaningful conversations with important doctors and engaging them.

While this insight relates to a particular therapeutic area, it has multiple applications across other categories. Discovering such unexplored (less explored) levers and making them work for a brand could be worth the effort.

NextPlan 360 is a consulting assignment that helps in diagnosing current brand / franchise challenges and the reasons for the current performance. Then it helps in co-creating solution and implementation of the same over 2-3 quarters. Finding new growth levers like the one described in this NextPlan Insights Page could be a necessity for the growth of your franchise. We can help with strategizing as well as hand holding for effective implementation. Write to us on nextplan.consulting@gmail.com to understand how NextPlan 360 could benefit

Team NextPlan
Visit us @ www.nextplan.in
View us @ https://youtube.com/
Follow us @ https://www.linkedin.com/company/nextplan-consulting-llp/

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