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"We all sell the same thing... there's no difference between what one company offers compared to another." Those are the words a manager of a large, but struggling technology s

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

olution provider revealed to me.

Here's why that view is a problem...

When you see yourself as marketing essentially the same technology products and services your competitors

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

Examples of combination products may in

sell, you immediately become a "victim" to brutal price competition. You are reduced to a commodity where the company with the lowest price wins.

Winning the lowest price war 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.

the least profitable way to build a business. Lowest price attracts the most disloyal group of buyers in any market. I call them "the cheapskates".

Second, your competitors ca

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

easily cut your legs out from under you, by beating your price. 'Winning' comes down to who's willing to earn less. Even maybe taking a loss.

That's why communicating a compet

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

Combination pro

tive advantage that makes you the only logical choice is critical.

If you can't see and articulate a clear competitive advantage, how much less will your potential client see a

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

reason to choose you over someone else?

There is a solution to the fierce competitive market. Cutting the rates for your managed service contracts isn't the way to go.

There

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

re more profitable ways to win the lion's share of the market without dropping your price. How?

For starters, become a celebrity within your industry. Become the high-price lea

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

er who only deals with a certain caliber of clients.

Differentiate your company by the way you market services to clients.

In every industry there are marketing strategies tha

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

are accepted as "the right way" to build a business. Unfortunately when you do what everyone else is doing, you sound and look like everyone else. You become a commodity.

Inst

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

ad of becoming an 'also ran', borrow strategies from other industries.

Using marketing techniques uncommon to your technology industry instantly makes you distinct. You sound u

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

Following aspects would a

nique because no one else sounds like you. And if anyone tries to copy you, they instantly sound like a copy cat. A "me too" loser.

This is an easier process when you have a li

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

t to work from. If you need some ideas, go to my list of articles at www.andrebell.com/articles/ and grab the report of 101 ways to market your company.

Besides differentiating

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

yourself by selecting from over 100 different marketing strategies you can:

- position yourself as first in some category or accomplishment or activity - be contrarian in your

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

marketing approach or service - set yourself apart by being exclusive in the type of client you will accept or the types of services you deliver

Another step is to take a non-

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

raditional approach to marketing. Traditional marketing involves paying more and more money in ads or worse, cold calling people who don't want to hear from you.

A non-traditio

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

nal marketing approach focuses on what you're already doing (or should be doing) and making it more responsive and more predictable without sounding like everyone else.

This is

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

critical because in today's global marketplace differentiating yourself in the mind of clients and potential clients is the key to a company's survival. Failure to differentiate

.

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

is the number one reason I believe companies struggle unnecessarily.

It's the reason clients fail to see you as anything other than a commodity.

--- You may publish this arti

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

le in your newsletter, on your website, or other online or offline publication as long as the article content is not altered. Online the resource box MUST include an active link

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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I can't tell you about my success with vending routes, but you can learn what not to do.

Are you open to explore what's preventing you from achieving the level of succcess you want ?

Car washes and cookie dough are old hat when it comes to fundraising. If you are looking for a new and exciting way to fundraise how about selling cosmetics. Women love the stuff, lip gloss, blush, eye shadow all the basics can be part of a fantastic fundraiser.

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