Digg It - Business

In recent years the opportunity to extend your influence, develop connections and build relationships beyond your immediate circle of associates, colleagues and friends has been made a lot easier thanks to the development of multiple online networks and the proliferation of clubs, societies and groups on your d

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

oorstep. Indeed, just in the last month, three new "networks" have launched in my town creating three new opportunities for me to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with local business owners, discussing opportunities, sharing knowledge and making referrals. Alternatively, I could look at them as three new opportu

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

Examples of combination products may in

nities to distract me from the short-term objective of getting money into my business.

So, where to start? The answer, as is often the case when a strategic problem arises, is at the end. You need to decide what you want to achieve out of your networking? Is it a 50% improvement to the bottom-line or is it to

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

gain access to a specific group or individual? Is it to build the profile of your business in advance of an AIM listing or is it to build your knowledge and skills with a group of like-minded people? Whatever your reasons, you need to write them down. Once your goal is clear, you will find that your decisions a

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

nd activities will also become more focused. Now it's just a case of chipping away at your goal, one new connection at a time.

Whenever I am in conversation with someone who is considering becoming better networked I always advise them that networking will deliver at best a medium term return on their investme

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

Combination pro

nt. True there are innumerable intangible benefits on the way such as new friendships, exciting new insights and a lot of fun, but for those who are results oriented these can be inconsequential and frustrating distractions. The key is to stay focused but leave the door open for serendipity. For example, one cl

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

ient of mine was so focused on gaining access to the key influencers inside his target retail client that he turned down the opportunity to attend a charity golf event as it did not involve anyone from the industry and was mostly attended by retired "city" guys. The local paper covered the event the following w

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

ek, and there, holding up the winners cup was the Finance Director from his target client - apparently a late replacement for his father (you guessed it, a retired "city" guy). It took my client another eight long months before he finally developed a relationship that got him into his target organization. Somet

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

imes you walk by the right ones because you're trying too hard to see them. Remember, you can count the seeds in an apple but you can't count the apples in the seed.

Once you've set your networking goal, here's a 5 Step plan to achieve it.

1) Plan for each event - this needn't take hours, just get the attende

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

e list, highlight the individuals you would like to talk to, grab your business cards and get going. Even this amount of planning will put you ahead of 95% of the other people there!

2) Make a memorable first impression - if you are genetically outside of average, this can be ticked off straight away (you wou

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

ldn't forget someone who is 6' 10" would you?), otherwise, what can you do to make a memorable impression? Maybe it's an item of clothing or an accessory, maybe you can practice some jokes and make people laugh, maybe you can be a great introducer or perhaps you just have a smile and a persona that lights up t

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

Following aspects would a

he room? Whatever, just ensure that you do not fade into the "wall of suits". After all, your aim when networking is for people to remember you long enough that they can refer you confidently, and if their mental image of you is a blur, you are not doing yourself any favours. Seek advice from friends and rel

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

atives until you discover something that you are comfortable with AND helps you to stand out.

3) Employ the Caring principle - remember, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care! In the networking context that means listening to them, intently. Build rapid rapport through active

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

and literal listening, matching body language and even speech moderation. Do whatever it takes to help the other person relax in your company and you will have the foundation of a great relationship.

4) Have some Networking Enlisting Words - and use them to help people remember what you do. Scientists have e

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

timated that we are exposed to more than 2 million messages a day - so how can you make your message stick? The answer is, with difficulty. Remember that you are trying to develop advocates not recruit customers so be excruciatingly specific about who you help, what you do and with what results. Don't worry

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

about all the things you don't cover with these words, people will make assumptions or ask questions if they understand at least one thing that you do. So, if you are an expert in stress relief, don't say "I can help anyone suffering with stress" because that does not help me. Instead, focus on one key ailmen

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

t (maybe long-term shoulder pain) and tell me what amazing results you have achieved with a recent client. I will make the mental leap about your overall competence and maybe even ask if you also cover back pain, but more importantly, I might know or be a potential client for your shoulder services! At the ne

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

xt meeting, focus on another area.

5) Follow Up - or everything you have done before is wasted!

So, we've got a goal, we've even got a 5 Step implementation plan, do we need anything else? Yes we do, we need to measure our progress and success, otherwise networking will become another bucket for lost time in

.

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

our business. Measurement transforms networking from an activity that we feel we ought to be doing into a powerful strategic tool. The Networking Scorecard below will get you started, email me if you'd like a formatted pdf version.

Choose a period to monitor and capture your Target and Actual totals

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

in the spaces provided.

NETWORKING SCORECARD

Period ................................ - ................................................

Targets Actuals

BUSINESS (Bottom Line Value)

REFERRALS (Given / Received)

FOLLOW-UPS

1-2-1 MEETINGS

CONVERSATION

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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Medical billing and trailer records is like food and water. They are both needed if a claim file is going to be paid. In this installment, we conclude our review of the XA0 record.

No, it’s certainly not enthusiasm. There’s usually more than enough of that to go around. And it’s certainly not a lack of ideas. Would-be business owners can pop those out faster than fireworks exploding on the 4th of July. And by now most wannabes seem to realize the importance of a written business plan, whether using their own money or they anticipate a need to borrow, so it’s not that. The key ingredient most start-ups lack is a Professional Support Team.

Newsletters are a great way to reach out to your current customers as well as attract the attention of potential customers. However, if customers aren't reading the newsletter, then the effort and investment are wasted. The focus needs to be on designing a newsletter with content that your customers will read. It needs to be informative, eye catching, hold their interest, and leave them wanting more. They will then be eagerly awaiting the next issue of your newsletter.

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Digg It - The Networking Scorecard

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