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Everyone loves a party—especially your customers. Consider opening your doors for a one-day special event.

Have you ever been to a bad party?
Probably not. Why is that? Well, when you go to a party, the hardest thing you have to do is chose an outfit and pick up a gift for the hostess. Even if the food is bad—you didn’t have to prepare it.

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

If the d?cor is not to your liking—you didn’t have to clean it. If the people weren’t your favorites—you probably won’t see them again. And unless your date goes home with someone else, chances are the worst party is still better to attend than to give.

On the other hand, you may have given a party that didn’t meet your expectations; people th

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

Examples of combination products may in

at you didn’t like showed up, people you liked didn’t, or maybe no one came at all. There are so many more details to giving a party than attending one, and the better the details are handled, the more successful the party.

Now think about your business.
Have you ever had an event that was less than successful? Perhaps your employees we

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

en’t engaged, your vendor showed up late, the advertisement didn’t run in the paper, or the whole town went to the local high school football game instead of your event. Planning an event to drive traffic is an extremely effective way to reach potential customers in your market. However, if you don’t have a handle on the details, it could fal

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

l flat. Throw a party—spread the word—and people will come.

During the majority of the 1990s, I was a Regional Franchise Manager for Pearle Vision, a retail optical chain, where I managed over 50 optical stores owned by 30 different franchise owners in the New England area.

One such location decided to host a Customer Appreciation Day with th

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

Combination pro

goal of driving customers into their store. There wasn’t a model to go by, so everything they did was done for the first time. Some of it worked and some didn’t. The bottom line? A successful one-day event.

I learned about this event and spent time asking questions and learning what went well and what they would do differently next time.

I wr

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

ote down the details in my workbook, It’s a Party, Planning a Successful Retail Sales Event, in which I walk through the planning process, offer tips for success, and discuss a few things to be cautious of for a successful event. Your event will only be as successful as the effort and energy you and your team put forth. How do you measure succe

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

ss? It isn’t just the ringing of your cash register, although that is a beautiful sound.

A successful event is one that:

• Drives traffic

• Brings new people to your store

• Educates your customers about the products you carry

• Builds relationships with vendors and local businesses; and

• Creates an excitement and an awareness of you

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

business in the

community.

Nine Elements of Planning and Executing a Successful Event

1. Determine the purpose of the event: Before you begin planning an event, you first need to determine the objectives. Is it to celebrate a Grand Opening? Make people aware of your location? Clear out inventory at year-end? Create a local buzz?

2. Select a

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

n offer: When planning a retail event, the first thing you’ll need is a “hook” or an incentive that will bring people to your store. Your first consideration should be: What will appeal to the customer? What offer will inspire your customers to change their plans and come to your store during your event?

3. Select a date: I recommend selecting

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

date at least eight weeks in advance, to give you enough time to plan. Think of the last big event you planned (maybe it was a wedding). Think of the months you spent planning so that the special day went off without a hitch. Give the same care and attention to your business event to ensure its success. Also, make sure to choose a day of the we

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

Following aspects would a

ek when you will benefit from the most traffic.

4. Obtain Employee’s Buy-In: Take your employees on as partners. Let them know that a successful retail event can mean more business in the future. Consider a one-day employee incentive program for your event. Although you may already offer commissions or bonuses, for this one day, consider someth

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

ing additional to give them a reason to get excited.

5. Vendors: As mentioned before, an important component to a special event or party is having something special that will entice customers to come in. Consider having vendors participate. Look at your inventory and select one or two vendors that you would like to highlight. Take them on as pa

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

tners. If your event is successful, they will be as well. Let them know your plans and see how they can help.

6. Marketing Plan: A clear, detailed marketing plan is essential to having a successful event. Marketing a retail event should be simple, focused and inexpensive. Luckily, there are many ways to do this. Concentrate on a three-mile radi

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

us to begin to get the word out. Communicate with the other businesses within your area, mall or strip center. Talk to the other store managers, and get permission to put up a flyer/poster in their break room. They may even agree to put flyers in their customers’ bags the week of the sale. Start to line up simple ways to get the word out with ar

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

a businesses about a month in advance. For those willing to put flyers in their customers’ bags, you might consider offering a special discount to the manager or the entire staff. Another way to promote your event is to utilize the technique of viral marketing—put the word out on your website and send a special email announcement to your subscri

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

bers.

7. Food: Who ever heard of a party without food? I would recommend a simple fare that includes cookies or brownies—something small and easy to pick up without the mess of a cake or cupcakes or the need for plates and utensils.

8. Planning Calendar: It is essential to plan the tasks out on a calendar so that you stay focused and remember

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

all the numerous details that go into an event, such as: sending out postcards to existing customers, writing a press release, confirming attendance with your vendor, and ordering additional inventory.

9. Follow-up: In the week after the event you will want to debrief with your staff and vendor(s). Ask what they thought went well and what could

.

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

have been done differently, and take notes so you can remember next year. (You think you’ll remember, but you won’t.) Concentrate especially on the following questions: Did you achieve your goals? Was it a success? Will you do it again?

Planning and executing a successful event can be challenging, but the opportunity to build brand awareness in

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

your community, drive new customers to your door, and grow sales is rewarding and worth the effort.

If you'd like more ideas for marketing your small business, check out 49 Marketing Secrets That Work to Grow Sales. This article appears as one of the chapters. Over 30 business executives shared their successful ideas for marketing a business

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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Motivational humorous speakers can help to motivate meeting attendees at your next event. Motivation has been defined as the deployment of physical, mental and emotional energy toward a specific task or goal. In pure psychological terms motivation is often referred to initiation, intensity and persistence of a specific behavior and by employing a motivational humorous speaker you can tap into true motivation. Motivation can be a temporal and dynamic state that should not be confused with emotion or personality. A motivational humorous speaker can help point out that motivation is having the desire and willingness to do something.

Business coach. As a business coach I show business owners how to become a better business person. In this article I explain several concepts that will help you become a better business person.

Organizing a really big fundraising extravaganza can be hard in the pockets. As they say in order to raise big money, you’ve got to have the money and other resources to raise it. This is kinda hard for organizations that do not have the funds yet to organize a big charity event. This is especially true with those that are newly established and those that have yet to get financial supporters from the outside.

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