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Blog · Coverage and territory · Pharma

Reach and frequency on ten accounts with access status: the whole arithmetic on one page

The complete reach and frequency calculation on ten pharma target accounts over one cycle, small enough to check by hand: each account's dated access status, the calls logged, reach and frequency over all accounts against reach and frequency among accounts that can prescribe, the calls spent on blocked accounts, the open-access accounts with no call, the account whose access changed mid-cycle, and the assertion that targets equal open plus restricted plus blocked plus unknown, so a reader can reproduce every figure and then run it on their own call log and access file.

The short answerTen target accounts, one cycle, twenty-eight calls. Each account has an access status dated within the cycle: six open, one restricted, two blocked, one unknown. Reach over all accounts is eight of ten called, 80 percent; among open and restricted it is five of seven, 71 percent. Frequency over all called accounts is 3.5 calls; among open and restricted, 3.4. Twelve of the twenty-eight calls went to the two blocked accounts. Two open accounts received no call. One account moved from blocked to open on day fifteen and its calls before and after are counted against the status on their dates. The ten accounts are in exactly one state each. Every number can be reproduced by hand.

Reach and frequency are counts over a denominator, and the denominator is where the access file changes everything. On ten accounts the difference can be worked by hand. This page works both versions, the blocked calls, the uncalled open accounts, the mid-cycle change and the assertion.

The accounts and the access file

Cycle: days 1 to 28. Status dated.

Account Tier Access status Effective Calls (day)
A 1 Open Before cycle 3 (2, 12, 24)
B 1 Open Before cycle 0
C 1 Blocked Before cycle 7 (1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 19, 26)
D 2 Open Before cycle 4 (3, 9, 17, 25)
E 2 Restricted Before cycle 3 (5, 14, 23)
F 2 Open Before cycle 0
G 2 Blocked to day 14; open from day 15 Day 15 3 (8, 11, 22)
H 3 Open Before cycle 2 (6, 20)
I 3 Blocked Before cycle 5 (2, 7, 13, 18, 27)
J 3 Unknown 1 (10)
Total 28

The assertion

targets = open + restricted + blocked + unknown, on the cycle's last day

Counted on day 28: open A, B, D, F, G, H = 6; restricted E = 1; blocked C, I = 2; unknown J = 1. Total 10. Holds.

Reach and frequency, both ways

Over all accounts:

Reach = accounts with at least one call ÷ targets = 8 ÷ 10 = 80% Frequency = calls ÷ accounts called = 28 ÷ 8 = 3.5

Among accounts that can prescribe, open and restricted, with calls counted by the status on the call date:

Account Prescribable on day 28 Calls while prescribable
A Yes 3
B Yes 0
D Yes 4
E Yes 3
F Yes 0
G Yes 1 (day 22; days 8 and 11 were while blocked)
H Yes 2

Reach = 5 ÷ 7 = 71% Frequency = 13 ÷ 5 = 2.6

Calls on blocked accounts

Account Calls while blocked
C 7
I 5
G 2 (days 8, 11)
Total 14 of 28: 50%

Half the cycle's calls went where the product could not be written.

Open access, no call

Account Tier Category volume
B 1 High
F 2 Medium

A tier-one open account with no call in the cycle, while the same rep made seven calls on a blocked one.

Where it goes wrong, even at ten

All-accounts reach. Eighty percent, and the report is filed.

Access undated. G's three calls all counted as open; blocked calls read 12 not 14, and G looks covered before it could be.

J counted as open. Reach reads 6 of 8; the unknown flatters it.

Blocked accounts dropped. The fourteen calls vanish with them; the rep's cycle looks efficient.

From ten to ten thousand

The same status per account per day, the same two versions of reach and frequency, the same two lists, per territory. Covirage runs it on the call log and the dated access file every cycle. The formulary status guide covers the dimension, and the reach and frequency guide covers the base measures.

Questions people ask

Why compute both versions?

Because the all-accounts version is what most field reports show and the access-aware version is what happened where it matters. Showing both makes the difference visible: eight points of reach and twelve calls that could not produce a prescription.

How is the mid-cycle change handled?

By the date. Account G was blocked until day fourteen and open from day fifteen. Its two calls on days 8 and 11 are calls on a blocked account; its call on day 22 is a call on an open one. The status on the call date is what counts.

What about the unknown account?

It is neither in the numerator nor the denominator of the access-aware figures, and it is on the access team's list. Counting it as open would flatter reach; counting it as blocked would flatter the blocked-calls figure. Unknown is its own state.