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Which product feature of yours is every buyer keen to know about? Which sales tool closes prospects instantly? Your price. Yet, despite the far-reaching consequences of a company’s pricing, I’m surprised at how little time small busin

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

ess owners spend on it. Here are a few ways to bring pricing to the forefront of your marketing plan.

Price is a promise

Let’s say you’re shopping for cereal and come across two varieties. One is a well-known brand in a resealable 2

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

Examples of combination products may in

oz. package, which comes with a toy and sells for $4.99. The other is a store brand, that’s packaged in a non-descript plastic bag and sells for $2.99. Which do you buy?

If price was your only factor, you’d buy the $2.99 brand. But

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

here are other factors. In this example, the $4.99 box promises you the reputation of a well-known brand, a toy to entertain your kids and the convenience of resealable packaging. Remember that a price guarantees all the promises wra

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

ped up in your product or service.

Determine your promises

Before you ever touch a calculator, first take stock of all the value factors that are bundled into your price. If your company sells a product, these might include:

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

Combination pro

the performance of your finished good

· your distribution capabilities or

· your service and installation services.

If yours is a service, value factors might include:

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

our company’s ability to meet tight timelines.

· your experience level.

Pricing financially

After taking stock of all your value factors, grab a calculator. First, add up all your direct costs (those incurred as a result of

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

delivering your service) which include labor and raw materials. Then, add up all your indirect costs (all other costs that aren’t direct) like rent, insurance and utilities.

Now, identify the profit your company needs to attain in or

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

er to fuel new investment and reward your employees. Finally, forecast what your annual unit volumes will be. Now, divide the total of your costs and profit by annual units sold, and you end up with a unit price. Sure, this is a simpl

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

fied example, but the process is sound. This kind of analysis will help ascertain where your prices should be from a financial perspective.

Pricing competitively

It’s important not to stop here. Instead, gather competitive pricing i

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

formation from any of these sources:

After digging around enough, you’ll be able to g

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

Following aspects would a

nerate a range of prices that your competitors fall into. Together with your financial prices, you’ll now have two reference points.

Pricing by position

The last step is to and ask this question “How do we want to be perceived in ou

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

market?” In my book The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses , I identify 13 possible price strategies you could choose from, but to make this easy, consider just three:

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

rket

· Middle Market Prices; the middle 1/3rd

· Budget Price; the least expensive 1/3rd.

Based on the value factors you’ve identified and your chief competitors, which of these 3 price level best matches your product? The le

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

sson in this exercise is that price positions your product.

The worst pricing decision you can make

“Because we’re slow right now, we’ll lower our prices. Then as business rebounds, we’ll raise them.” This is a bad marketing decisio

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

because lowering your prices immediately positions your product differently to buyers. Plus very few companies make attendant cost reductions, so margins erode. And when you try to raise prices again, customers who bought at the lowe

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

prices will expect to get more value factors for the additional price. A better strategy is to maintain your current prices while seeking cost reductions to maintain your margins.

Another bad pricing decision

“If I drop my price to

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

$15, then will you buy?” Here, you signal to a buyer that your list prices are not final. Sensing this, buyers will negotiate harder and the resulting price reductions will cut into your margins. Instead, think about coupling price di

.

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

counts to the buyer with equivalent reductions in your offering. For example, you could say “OK I can lower my price to $15, but I’ll have to reduce our warranty period from five years to two.”

Sure, pricing is a financial decision.

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

ut it has wide ranging impact on your positioning, your selling efforts and your product offering. Remember the words of Thomas Paine “What we obtain too cheap we esteem too little; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.

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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The first year in real estate can be rewarding for those that can set objectives, gather information to support and find resources to meet them. When a new agent that I coach doesn’t have objectives, information or resources it’s a red flag. Being a fresh face in a new career and office overwhelms the majority of we call the future of real estate.

Candy appeals to all age groups, but most especially to children. This is because the countless varieties of candy that are available in the market cater to almost all tastes and preferences. Given this popularity and mass appeal, selling candy has become a popular choice for a fundraising activity, as those who sell them are assured that people would buy their candy. In organizing these fund raisers, one of the most important things to consider is the source of the candy that would be sold because finding a reliable source of candy can lead to the success of the activity.

Is it time to abandon print yellow pages? Think twice before you eliminate your print advertising. Industry specific research will help you make an educated decision.

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