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Do you know what the best way is, to follow up with a lead or a referral?

Before answering the question, let's start with a distinction, because leads and referrals are two different things.

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

ng>A "referral" is someone who has found out about you and your business through a friend or associate (from someone they trust). The referrer typically knows you and/or has first-hand know

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

Examples of combination products may in

ledge of your products or services, and enthusiastically tells others about you because they like (or love!) what you have to offer.

For example, when you recommend your favorite restaurant to a fr

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

iend, you're giving the restaurant a "referral". Or when you urge your sister to contact your financial advisor for help and advice on the best way to manage her money, and you go on at length about

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

how this financial advisor has helped *you*, you're giving your financial advisor a "referral".

A "lead" is a name and contact information you get from any source; such as, busine

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

Combination pro

ss cards you collect at your trade show booth, or names people give of others who may be interested in what you have to offer. A "lead" knows little about you (if anything), and certainly hasn't had

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

anyone rave to them about you.

So, for example, if you give your financial advisor your sister's name and contact information, and never tell your sister that you did so, or how good this financia

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

l advisor is, or that she should call the financial advisor even if he doesn't contact her, you're essentially giving your financial advisor a "lead".

As a business owner, which one would y

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

ou prefer: a lead or a referral? And are you currently mistaking one for the other?

So back to the original question: given the difference between leads and referrals, the way you follow u

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

p with each will obviously be different.

Following up with a "lead" is like making a cold call, since the "lead" doesn't really know you. For more information on cold calls and how

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

to approach "strangers", check out my favorite sales book, "The Accidental Salesperson" by Chris Lytle. Part 3 of this book covers this information.

Following up with a "referral" is differ

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

Following aspects would a

ent -- ideally, your "referral" will call *you*!

Within the last month, two different "referrals" called me, wanting to work with me.

The first person was referred to me by a past client.

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

By the time this person called me, she was ready to work with me. She already knew from my past client how I worked, the kinds of results she could expect to get from working with me, what *she* ne

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

eded to do to get the most out of our work together, how much I charged, etc. So literally, all I had to do was ask this person when she wanted to start!

The second person was referred to me by a b

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

usiness owner, with whom I've been talking about collaborating on certain types of projects. Although we haven't yet established our business partnership, we have spent a lot of time understanding e

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

ach other businesses and ideal client profiles. So when the second referral called me, he was almost ready to work with me. By the end of our conversation, once I had answered all his questions and

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

addressed all his concerns, he too scheduled an appointment to start working with me.

So... what do you think allowed these "referrals" to come to me? And how can YOU cultivate relationships with p

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

eople so they send you good quality "referrals" (not "leads") like these?

If you can't find the answer in these examples, or want more ideas or information on how to cultivate and

.

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

encourage your referral sources, here's a book that can help: "Business By Referral" by Ivan Misner and Robert Davis.

My point is this: if you can understand and experience for you

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

rself *exactly* what it takes to give good quality referrals to others, you can use this first-hand knowledge and information to help and make it easy for others to give *you* good quality referrals

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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Embossing is a method to accentuate a particular part to make it visible. It is a technique that creates a raised image or text on metals and non-metals using embossing powder, tools, dies, stamps and embossing stencils.

Operations Management is an area of business that is concerned with the production of goods and services, and involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient and effective.

In Sun Zi Art of War, Sun Zi advocated five essential characteristics of a General. Want to know what they are and how to apply them to business? Read on to find out more.

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