Advice You - Business

If you are working in a traditional repeat-business company, you probably have a field based sales team. If so, the team are probably calling o

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

n the same customers on a monthly (maybe more frequent) basis. Because your sales team is well trained and enthusiastic, as well as servicing t

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

Examples of combination products may in

eir existing customer base, they will be trying to follow-up new leads and find new customers by networking with other sales people, searching d

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

irectories and asking existing customers who their main competitors are.

In a nutshell, they’re pretty busy!

There is also a good chance that

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

hey have some latitude to negotiate prices; I don’t mean customer terms here, I mean the price of individual items. The customer asks, “how muc

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

Combination pro

are your widgets?” and your sales guy replies “?11.29”. The customer then says “Acme Widgets is doing them for ?10.99”, so your guy matches th

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

e price and walks away with the order.

Well, that’s a result isn’t it? I don’t know, because, just like you, I don’t know the price at which A

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

me is selling widgets! Here’s why your sales team shouldn’t do it:

1. Because if the customer can buy from Acme at ?10.99 then, a) your price

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

is too high; b) your product is better, c) your service is better, d) your availability is better. If it’s a), then your prices need reviewing

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

enerally and papering over the cracks with one customer won’t resolve the wider issue and not all customers will tell you, they’ll just buy else

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

here. If it’s b), c) or d) then you deserve a premium don’t you?

2. Because they don’t really know the Acme price, only the customer’s version

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

Following aspects would a

of it and buyers always tell the truth don’t they? What’s needed here is some properly structured market research rather than one buyers opini

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

n.

3. Because by freeing the sales team from the ability to negotiate price, they are able to get back to real selling; explaining the company’

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

s proposition and waxing lyrical about your service, quality, availability, delivery frequency, superb sales team, extensive product range etc.

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

Let’s face it, Acme probably doesn’t have them in stock anyway and if it does, it’ll be next Friday before it can deliver them.

4. Because the

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

ustomer may not be set-up on the right deal. Sales people can be dilatory about reviewing customer terms – it’s admin and their job is selling,

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

right? If your widgets and Acme’s are the same and all other things are equal, is it time to review customer terms?

5. Because it wastes time

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

and effort. Customers will soon understand that your prices are competitive and the sales team has no price control, so that challenge has gone

.

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

away, leaving more time to discuss new ranges and extensions, this month’s specials and new product launches.

The sales team won’t like it muc

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

to start with, but the good ones will soon see the benefits as will the company from the extra sales at higher margins that will result from it

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 - 5 Good Reasons To Take The 'Price Negotiation' Burden From Your Sales Team

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