Advice You - Business

“Never fear the want of business. A man who qualifies himself well for his calling, never fails of employment.”—Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

I know you.

You started your business because you are passionate about it. You’re better than mos

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

t, maybe even the best at what you do and yet clients and customers are not beating a path to your door. In times of desperation you’ve even dramatically lowered your price and STILL you are not getting your fair share of the market, the share you know you DE

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

Examples of combination products may in

ERVE!

Sound familiar? Well let me share a little secret with you. There are four simple steps you need to follow in order to develop a thriving business.

The Waterfall of Business Development Growing a thriving business is a lot like runnin

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

g a waterfall rapid in a kayak. Sure there are lot’s of ways to get over that waterfall but typically there is just one that will allow you to pass without loss of life and limb! When it comes to running the waterfall of business development you’ll want to fo

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

low this path:

Step 1: Get the Right Names Step 2: Have Conversations with the Right People Step 3: Hold Meetings with Qualified Prospects Step 4: Deliver on Expectations…Profitably.

Told you it was simple. Now let’s get into the details

Step 1: Ge

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

Combination pro

t the Right Names (Strategic Marketing)

Do you know your target market? I understand that you’ll take money from anyone, but who do you want to spend your precious resources marketing to? This may see counter intuitive but the more tightly you defin

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

your target market the more effective and efficient you will be at attracting the most qualified prospects. So how do you go about defining your target market? There are many ways, but if I were to work with you we would begin by defining your specific goals

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

and objectives and your unique value proposition (UVP). Once your UVP has been defined we would develop your target market by matching the UVP to demographics, (size, industry, etc.) operating variables, (technology, frequency of use, etc.), purchasing appro

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

ches, (centralized, specific policies, etc.), situational factors (urgency, size of order) and personal characteristics such as attitude towards risk. Next, since no business operates in a vacuum, we’ll evaluate the competitive environment and the macro-econo

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

mic environment. From this we will have clearly defined those “suspects” that are worth investing your precious time, energy and resources with.

Next we would develop a marketing strategy that uses the optimum mix of active and passive marketing strategies t

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

generate sufficient interest in your offering. The optimum mix represents a balance between the target audience’s potential life-time value and your available resources.

Step 2: Have Conversations with the Right People (Prospecting)

Your

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

Following aspects would a

consistently communicated highly targeted marketing message will resonate with a portion of the “suspects” it reaches. No matter how that initial contact was made your next move is to have a conversation to determine which suspects are really “qualified” pros

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

ects. By qualified I mean they are in sufficient “pain” and are interested in meeting you face-to-face to discuss their issues and what you can do to relieve their pain. Depending upon your personality this initial contact, typically by phone, will either be

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

second nature or absolutely terrifying! Regardless, how effectively you conduct this phone call will largely determine your overall success in developing your business. If you don’t know what to ask, how to ask it, and how to get off the phone with a confirme

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

meeting appointment then please seek professional help!

Step 3: Hold Meetings with Qualified Prospects (Selling)

Congratulations! Your prospecting activities have you meeting with a highly qualified prospect. Now it’s time for your first f

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

ace-to-face meeting and its time to begin the selling process. Selling is about questioning and one of the most common mistakes I hear people who are passionate about their businesses make is thinking that selling is the same as spewing features and benefits.

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

Are you guilty of this? Then please stop, selling is not about “telling”! Throughout this initial meeting your job is to gather information, not give information. By the time you leave this meeting you should know: - The specific reasons (pain) why the prospe

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

ct would like to do business with you - Roughly how much the prospect is willing to spend to get rid of the pain - How the prospect goes about making investment decisions. If the answers to these questions meet your requirements for doing business then chance

.

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

are you are going to make the sale.

Step 4: Deliver on Expectations…Profitably (Business Marketing)

You’ve made the sale and now it’s time to deliver on the expectations you created with your marketing message at the top of the waterfall.

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

You are an expert in your field, so this should be relatively simple, right? Not so fast! Do you have an accurate grasp of your; Cost of acquisition? Cost of product? Cost to serve? What type of pricing model are you using? Cost plus? Value? Competitive? Skim

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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Six Sigma is a buzzword floating around corporate America, but how many executives really know what it means? Do they really know how it will help or hurt their company? The following 6 steps will give a solid foundation to the basic idea of Six Sigma.

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