Advice You - Business

It's The Little Things That Make or Break a Small Business

If you make a poor impression in small things, why should customers trust you with larger ones like buying your product regularly or giving you a big order? In the last two

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

days, I've seen this simple fact proved three times.

I ordered software from Company A. It came with a 30-day trial period, after which I was to be charged for the purchase if I hadn't returned the package. It's now 44 days later and I'm

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

still waiting to be charged for my purchase and receive the code to convert to the full version. I'm having to chase them to take my money.

Company B took an order from me in person, then failed to deliver the goods. When I

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

alled them, they remembered the order, but said they had "mislaid" my credit card details, so hadn't shipped my order. No call to me to explain or get my credit card details. Just silence. Until I called to complain.

Now it may be only me

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

but in both cases I made a mental note not to do business with those companies again. Since they couldn't handle basic administration, I have little confidence in their ability to do anything else well.

The Hallmark of Success

It

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

s nothing fancy. In fact, it's just the opposite.

Successful businesses consistently do all the boring, fundamental, basic, necessary and unexciting little things unsuccessful people put off, ignore or do only when they have to.

It's att

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

ntion to details. Making sure regular customers are remembered and called by name. Keeping up to date with vital paperwork. Calling people to stay in touch, not just to push a new product. Giving helpful advice and not trying to turn every

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

conversation into a sales pitch.

All the small things that turn a customer into a regular who will choose your business, even if you charge a little extra than the "big box" store down the road.

If you don't sweat these every day, you mi

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

ht as well give up.

Are You Serious?

Small businesses don't have a stranglehold on their market. You never have to buy from them because there's no one else. Typically, they're trying to make their way against flat-out competition

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

from every angle, and you, the consumer, have all the choice in the world. If they screw up the basics, you have many other people to deal with.

Why buy from a small business?

Because they offer things the big stores find really hard: a

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

ight focus on a single product area, with people who truly know their business inside out, not a green college kid trying to make a few bucks.

Because they aren't always trying to sell you whatever the management in Idaho or Vancouver or

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

Hong Kong has decided is the thing to push this month.

Because they remember your name and treat you like a human being, not just a "customer:" a walking credit card to be relieved of as much cash as possible in the shortest possible time

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

Sure they don't have a massive stock. Or the lowest prices. Or wall-to-wall TV advertising. But people buy from people, not faceless bureaucracies.

So What's The Problem?

Why do many small businesses fall down on the vita

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

small stuff?

I guess entrepreneurs aren't much drawn to admin. They're originally salespeople or inventors or marketers or dreamers. The admin is an unpleasant chore they do only when they must. But it matters. Lord, how it matters!
tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen
>

They say every disgruntled customer tells around 15 other people about their bad experience. Can your business handle that much negative publicity? If you really hate admin, or you're more disorganized and memory-challenged than
t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel
our Uncle Chaz who's been hospitalized for twenty years, hire someone efficient to do it for you. Until you do, you're wasting your hard work selling by losing customers as fast as you get them.

Here's how it should be done. I call
ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust
d a small nature tour company recently with a query about one of their upcoming tours. Next morning I got an e-mail from their president. He explained he's presently leading a tour to one of the remoter parts of Mexico, answered my query a
y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products
d apologized for not being able to call me in person.

That's sweating the small stuff!

Guess who I'll be doing business with in future

Your brand isn't just your logo and color scheme. Nor your carefully crafted marketing message
.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de
It's what everything you do says to potential customers about who you are and what it will be like to do business with you. And it's usually the small things that speak loudest. Most people get the big things right, because they're payin
elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip
attention to them. Then they trip themselves up in some small area, giving an impression that's quite different from their public face.

Which do people believe? Okay, you answer that one. I know which I think better shows the real person

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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Advice You - You MUST Sweat the Small Stuff

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