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We chronically underestimate the value of the telephone. Having skilled outbound telemarketers is a critical tool for growing any B2B business.

The first step is to find yourself a B2B outbound call center who understands not 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

nly how to use the phone but how large organizations work and how to get inside them for maximum effect. In most cases teams with this experience can outperform traditional inside sales guys because they have veteran players, ar

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

Examples of combination products may in

e better organized, disciplined and trained and are highly motivated because they are rewarded strictly on performance. Plus they will commit to service level agreements (SLAs).

Essentially they promise to deliver based on a fi

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

ed scope of work at an agreed price. They don’t get paid unless they deliver so they don’t make these deals lightly. And they have the professional chops, the tools to measure and monitor activity and the sense of pride to usual

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

ly over-deliver against the plan.

In many cases, my clients have no benchmarks to measure outside calling specialists against inside guys. They usually can’t tell me how many dials, calls and successful outcomes their inside gu

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

Combination pro

s do each day, week or month. They rarely can wield their teams against a new or different target quickly and too often there are turf wars and politics that cloud the relationship between phone-based teams and field sales or ma

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

rketing teams.

So consider two recent successes to illustrate the value and utility of a seasoned outbound calling team.

Fast Market Insight. One client is repositioning a significant division. We are working on crafting a new

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

positioning and toward a value proposition aimed at a specific, narrow swath of the market. Before we commit significant time, effort and cash to the new concepts or a new campaign we want to test them against likely buyers; Vi

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

e Presidents and Directors at Fortune 1000 companies, to see if our big ideas will fly with the people they’re aimed at.

We compiled a list of 1000 companies and target titles based on a profile of who might be a best prospect.

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

We purchased lists against those names, fully expecting 30-45% of the names to be wrong, and wrote a 6 question survey to test our messages. Then we set Stan and his people to work. We asked and they promised to get 100 complet

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

d interviews in 20 business days without revealing who was asking or why.

Fast forward 20 days. 100 interviews are complete; the data is collected, analyzed and displayed in snappy charts and graphs. We got our answers and are

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

Following aspects would a

actively revising our go-to-market story based on the feedback. Every respondent fit the profile, every respondent worked for a firm that is fully capable of being a real prospect. We now have the benefit of what our true market

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

is thinking, real-time intelligence, without telegraphing our moves. Add to that updated lists and contact information plus a performance benchmark should we decide to do a blind survey again.

Generate Leads Quickly. A second

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

lient has a product that works particularly well in manufacturing companies. Unfortunately this product isn’t their main offering or their best seller and doesn’t command the resources or the sales staff that it’s more productiv

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

e cousins enjoy.

Enter the five member calling team. After briefing them on the product, the target market and the competitive set, we compiled a list of target companies and titles and asked them to get us 50 one-hour sales a

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

pointments in 30 days. We carefully defined criteria for qualification, which was reinforced in the call guides we wrote and we gave them access to our Salesforce.com application so they could do all the scheduling and all the d

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

ata work and account updating as they made the calls.

At the end of 30 days we booked 56 appointments with exactly the kind of companies we asked for. We had updated and accurate records for 1000 target companies as well as a l

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

ot of useful information about how people reacted to our brand, our product and our competitors. The performance of the outside team, who had 10 hours of orientation and training on the product and the brand, was 5 times better

.

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

han our inside sales guys, all of whom have been with the firm more than two years, during the same time period. And that’s just based on appointments since we don’t actually know how many dials, calls or records the inside guys

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

handled each day.

A telephone in the right hands is a power business development instrument. Used properly it gives you reach, insight and access at predictable speeds. There is nothing in the B2B marketing arsenal as powerful

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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This article gives 6 key points to great customer service, and allows you to rate yourself and your staff.

What Makes less than 1 in 100 Early-Stage Companies Successful? In my experience, few people understand the many different ways that a start-up must be managed as compared to more mature companies. Decisions must be faster, risks must be higher, and the solutions that are developed must be less complete (80% or less) and more narrowly targeted.

Entreprenuer launches tirade on the reality of Data base Problems in CD ROM Demographic Software.

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