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  • Digg It - Setting Sales Targets - The Biggest Mistakes

    Tips on Setting Sales Targets, Sales Target Management

    Eyes Wide Open works with owner-operators to help them set and achieve their sales targets. At this time of year a lot of businesses are revisiting their sales goals and target. We thought it would be
    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
    timely to share the biggest mistakes we see businesses making when it comes to sales planning.

    Mistake 1: Accelerated Growth Rates

    In this context, your growth rate is the percentage change in your turnover each year. If you have a turnover of $100 000
    ; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

    Examples of combination products may in
    in 2004 and then $120 000 in 2005, your growth rate is 20% / annum. One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is setting unrealistic growth rates for their business. For instance, consider the following data.

    Historically the business has achieved:
    lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.


    o 2003 = $50 000

    o 2004 = $70 000

    o 2005 = $100 000

    Then they start planning sales goals for the future:

    o 2006 = $200 000

    o 2007 = $550 000

    o 2008 = $1 200 000

    On the surface these figures may look reasonable, just a few $100 000 here and there. H
    here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe
    wever, the growth rates tell a different story.

    o 2004 = 40%

    o 2005 = 42%

    o 2006 = 100%

    o 2007 = 175%

    o 2008 = 118%

    It's not so much that these growth rates are impossible but you must seriously question how a business is going to go from a growth rat
    d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

    Combination pro
    e of 42% to 100%+ in just 12 months. Most business owners setting ambitious sales goals don't think through this in enough detail and fail as a result. But shouldn't sales goals be ambitious?

    A lot of management books push business owners to "shoot for th
    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
    stars" when setting goals for their business. We disagree with this mindset when it leads the business owner to set goals that lack a pragmatic foundation.

    Substantial growth is possible but you have to carefully plan how it will happen. What's going to
    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
    ive you the leg up? More Sales staff? A merger with another business? A new contract? Better facilities or more warehouse space?

    Be very careful about setting your business on a course for substantial growth. It will most likely put your people, cash flow
    nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically
    and other resources under enormous pressure. Failure to achieve the goals can be devastating to the business, your credibility and the confidence of the people within the business.

    From our experience, you are likely to be more effective setting more conse
    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
    rvative, well considered goals. We call this "setting yourself up for a win". After all if you achieve them quicker than expected you can always set new ones! (Of course, you only set new ones after you've celebrated your win!). Taking this approach leads
    ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi
    o business growth being a more enjoyable and rewarding journey for all involved.

    What growth rates are reasonable?

    The level of growth that is considered "reasonable" will vary depending on the age of the business, industry and how well it is run. New bu
    ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

    Following aspects would a
    inesses can have amazing growth rates because they're working from a small base (e.g. Eyes Wide Open experienced 400% growth in its second year of business!). Some of the large, heavy industrial corporations in Australia rejoice when they get growth of 15%.
    dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

    Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
    Which combination prod
    Also it depends on what industry you are in. For instance, aged care at the moment is booming so you can expect most businesses to have strong growth rates whereas other industries are in decline and growth is incredibly difficult to achieve.

    Mistake 2:
    cts are meaningful and rational?
    Which therapeutic categories to select?
    Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
    Do combin
    Lack of Change

    The old axiom "To get a different result you need to do things differently" is highly applicable to the process of increasing sales. Sales growth generally doesn't happen purely through working harder. You've got to work smarter. There nee
    tions increase the patient compliance?
    What would be the developing cost?
    How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen
    s to be a fundamental shift in the way you are generating sales for there to be a significant increase in sales.

    Once you have clear and practical sales goals for the year, you then need to do a gap analysis. That is, look at the difference between what y
    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
    u want and what you've got to determine what changes are required to achieve those sales levels. Perhaps you need a better system for generating leads, or more products and services to sell or perhaps better internal administration. Then take these changes
    ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

    Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust
    and break them down into specific steps and allocate a completion date and person responsible for each step.

    Mistake 3: Lack of Accountability

    This is particularly an issue when there are more than 1 or 2 people in the business. It needs to be clear who
    y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products
    is accountable for sales performance in the business and what that specifically entails. A lot of activity is required to achieve sales growth. Nobody ever achieved sales growth by just sitting around and thinking about it. Clearly specify what type of acti
    .

    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
    ity you want to see; client visits, speaking gigs, mail outs, quotations, and follow-up phone calls etc. Then set levels for each activity, for instance 3 client visits per week. These are commonly referred to in planning as KPI's or Key Performance Indic
    elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

    Companies that provide selfless information through particip
    tors. Your aim in implementing KPI's is to give people a structure to work within, to help them manage their own activity and know what they are meant to be working on. This ultimately enables everyone to be more productive.

    http://www.eyeswideopen.com.au


    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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