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The heart of any successful business is a successful sales force. You can have the best innovation, technology, product, marketing, operations and customer services, but if you do not have an excellent sales force, all the rest quickly becomes overhead. While every sales force org

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

anization is different, there are certain key elements that different the average sales teams – no matter how small or how big – from the excellent ones.

Training. The best sales forces spend considerable time training new people. They must know more about the product they are se

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

Examples of combination products may in

lling than anyone in the organization. They must be able to answer any question. And training is not just up front for the new people. Training is on-going. No just with new products and offers, but in sales skills, all aspects of your company and about the competition (more on

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

that later). Training is essential to sales excellence.

Territory. There is no one right answer to how sales forces should be organized and what territory model works best. By industry? By geography? By account? The bigger the company, the more complex the territory models are

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

The model that seems to work best is that small and medium sized accounts are split on a geographic basis. Then the largest (or named) accounts are on a national or even global basis. In that the largest accounts require the most “hand holding” and have the longest sales cycles,

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

Combination pro

it does not make sense to align these accounts geographically.

Sales force retention. This point is a bit of chicken and egg. Successful sales people should be compensated in such a way that they will next want to move on or quit what they are doing for a company. Low turnover

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

of the top sales people is essential. But low turnover is essential for all accounts. Most sales are based on relationships and knowledge of the product or offer. New sales people may not have the relationships or the knowledge of the company’s specific products and offers. Clea

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

rly, poor performer must go. But the successful sales people – and even those who are not at the top but achieve their quotas are essential to retain.

Face time. The value of a sales person is on the phone or face to face with customers. The more time a sales person is doing pap

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

rwork or involved in back office processes not related to either training or customers is sales time wasted. Sales people need to spend the great majority of their time either interacting with a potential customer, a current customer or in training to have sales excellence.

Easy t

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

o do business. It is amazing how companies make it nearly impossible for sales people to do their jobs. To achieve sales excellence, a company must develop processes that make it as easy for sales people to turn their relationship into a sales through a contract and then for that

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

to be fulfilled through an efficient order process. The more paperwork the sales person has to do, the less effective they will be. Additionally, the more support the sales person has to provide back into the company on behalf of the customer for the contract or order fulfillment,

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

Following aspects would a

the less time they are spending generating more sales and revenue. Think about the value of the sales people in your organization and how they are actually spending their time.

Sales centric model. Businesses that do all they can across the organization to support the success of

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

the sales people generate more revenue and grow. Whether it is R&D, product management, marketing or customer service, all functions should be aware that nothing is more important that to make the sales team successful. And this should be tied into their individual and team object

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

ives too.

Leadership. There is an old adage about the best sales people not making the best sales managers. This is often true. But the fact is that the first choice for sales management should be people who have been effective in sales. This may not be the number one sales per

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

son. But having the combination of sales experience plus leadership and management skills are combinations that are critical for sales team success.

Business intelligence. Whether it exists in marketing or elsewhere in a company, someone should be responsible for business intelli

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

gence. Just as in the military and the government there is need to keep an eye on the enemy and know everything you can about them, the same holds true in business. This function needs to know and provide the sales force and management with the latest on: top competitors strategy a

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

d tactics including products, technology, marketing and pricing, big wins, big losses and any other facts that can be useful in building and winning sales.

Compensation. Sales compensation needs to be at least competitive for the industry and geography the company operates in. Mo

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

st sales people are on a combination of base salary and commission. The best sales people want a higher percentage of commission. The more successful they are the more they can earn. A couple of points on this. Sales people should be on at least 50% commission. There should be

.

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

no cap on what they can earn based on their quotas. Finally, find a sales compensation plan that works and stick with it. Changing the sales compensation plan every year will only guarantee confusion and discontent among the sales force.

Sales excellence is often thought to be as

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

much of an art as a science. This may be true. But successful sales people need specific support and infrastructure to be successful. Following the points outlined above, combined with smart and aggressive sales people will insure sales excellence in any business or organization

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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