Writing a business plan for an interview

[RD chef]

Help!

I am going for my second interview this Friday for a pharmaceutical sales position. The HR person said they were asking the final candidates to prepare a business plan since the VP of sales (doing the interview) is a real "numbers guy." Help! I've been in the clinical health care setting and have never written a business plan. Also, how would I know what to "plan" if I don't know current sales numbers? Can anyone offer any advice?
:(

[honeygirl1971]

Hmm, I can't offer you any concrete advice, but is there some kind of plan online you could use as a model? There must be sites devoted to "how to write a business plan" or something like that, I would think.

Can you get the numbers from anyone? Or maybe you could just make up numbers, or use Xs or something like that. ???

Good luck!

[valeriek]

I had to do this when I interviewed for a promotion at work, but since it was an internal move I knew the history of the business/product, the past numbers, and the upper management shared projected numbers with me. I'm sure there are online resources, but I just bought a book from Barnes & Noble. This seems like a strange request though - these things are very timeconsuming and very detailed. I just don't see how you would have enough information to prepare a traditional business plan. I wonder if they are looking for just an outline of how you propose market/sell their products. Maybe identify target market, possible strategies, future growth, all in generalized terms etc. If the numbers guy is looking for numbers, he should have shared them with you so you could prepare. I'm sorry - I'm probably not being very helpful. Here is the outline of my plan:

Product Overview
Objectives (growth number here)
(Company) Benefits (for meeting revenue goals)
Target Market
Customer Decision Drivers
Product Known Problems (with proposed solutions to fix problems)
Marketing Initiatives


In all honesty, this is more a marketing plan rather than a traditional business plan, but my Director (who is a marketing guy) kept referring to it as a business plan, so I keep calling it a business plan. Good Luck to you!

Valerie

[ColleenT]

Here is a link to the Small Business Administration Website that discusses writing a business plan.

http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/index.html

If you click on specific training, you will see a link to 60 Sample Business Plans under Business Planning Tools.

Hope this helps. Good Luck!

[Molli526]

Hi, I am in pharmaceuticals.

I would do something along the lines of a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) for a couple of the products you will have. This will show them you are familiar enough with the products and the competitors. Talk about growth and how the number of calls a day you will make will drive business and increase market share. With a SWOT, you won't need any numbers. I would also call around to some of the health plans or stop by a pharmacy and ask the top 3 insurance plans for your meds & competition so you can address this.

When I was interviewing, I had to write a 1-page :rolleyes: (You can't do just 1, but I did) statement on managed care. When I was in the interview, I asked why they wanted it and was told it wasn't necessary for my position per say, but they wanted to know my writing abilities b/c they wanted to make sure the person they hired would be promotable.

We did business plans earlier this year and they weren't more than 4-5 pages per product, 1 being a SWOT, Top 10, Bottom 10 and last 2 were what programs etc. we had planned.

Hope this helps!

[RD chef]

Thanks for all the replies. I have looked online at spots on how to write a business plan, but they were so long and detailed that I was overwhelmed. :confused: I didn't know how I would do something like that, if I didn't have some idea of what they were selling currently. Molli, this is for the medical nutrition products (tube feeding formulas, etc) so I am not sure if they are covered by insurance. The SWOT info is good, and I do know some of the competitors of similar products. Thanks! :)

[Melman]

Here's a set of links from a New Business Enterprise course I took in the spring semester. I don't know for sure there's anything specific that will help you, but there are lots of options. Good luck!!!

http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/bp_zimmerer_eesbm_3/chapter1/deluxe.html