Digg It - Business

The Sales Cabinet concept is a sophisticated process for analysing, planning, directing, and monitoring the activity of a sales team.

It is an essential tool for setting sales policies and the manageme

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

nt, at whatever level, of a sales team, if not every sales call produces an order and there is a time lag between the first contact with a potential customer and that company placing an order.

SC is al

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

Examples of combination products may in

so a valuable tool for marketing and business development personnel.

The Dimensions of Sales Cabinet:

Sales Cabinet is a four drawer filing cabinet and each drawer represents not only a stage in the b

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

uying cycle, but also the critical tasks a sales team should be performing if they are operating in a “balanced” mode. The aim is to elevate as many of the inhabitants of the bottom drawer up to the top drawer

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

as possible, whilst continually finding replacements for them.

The Buying Drawers:

We have two buying drawers, the top two. In the very top one, we keep our long term stable partners. We might well h

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

Combination pro

ave preferred supplier agreements with them or a clearly defined and established purchasing history.

In the second drawer, we place the less well established clients, the occasional buyers or the one off buye

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

rs.

A great deal of purposeful, strategic, objective-based selling can and should be done within these two drawers. In the precarious second drawer of the cabinet, every piece of business has to be fought for

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

and often secured through sacrificing margin. Whereas in the secure environment of the top drawer, the inhabitants respect the added value we bring to the relationship and seek stability and value for money r

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

ather than lowest price. However, developing and promoting Drawer Two occupants has obvious benefits to the growth and profitability prospects of the Company.

The Working Drawer:

In Drawer Three
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 keep our prospects, potential customers who we have visited and qualified, but have yet to win the first order. Though this is a crucial part of the development of an ideal customer base, sales work in t
ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi
he Working Drawer is, in general terms, the least cost effective unless rigorous qualification processes are followed.

Its importance and its costs make it, therefore, yet another important focus for the Sale
ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a
s Manager.

What can we do to heighten our success with a major sales opportunity? When are we best to back off? How can we capture big opportunities more quickly? Etc.

The Marketing Drawer:

Drawer
dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod
Four, is where we keep our suspects, those potential opportunities identified but not yet visited or qualified. As with most things in life, the more work that is put into the preparation phase of the sal
cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin
es process, the less effort will be wasted in the long-term.

The selection of the right opportunities from the market place can ensure better sales, better profits and can reduce the cost of the sales work.

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen
Selection criteria have to be established and graduated by experienced sales personnel. Once in operation and proven, their continued use can be maintained by other members of the organisation who will develop
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
, to a much higher level, the specific skills needed.

Banks of qualified prospects can be built up if appropriate – ready for a concerted attack on a targeted part of the market place.

Summary:

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust
I first designed Sales Cabinet, I realised just how important it is that balance be maintained between the four drawers (where market conditions permit). Excessive top drawer activity will constrain the growth
y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products
of the business into those areas that are identified as the opportunities of the future. It is also a symptom that the organisation has got itself into a rut or a ‘comfort zone’, that the communication of pol
.

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
icy is poor, that management is not controlling the work, or that people lack the confidence to tackle new areas (or a combination of all of them).

Too much emphasis on the bottom two drawers is inefficient a
elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip
nd will dramatically reduce the potential for growth, will increase the cost of sales unnecessarily and could well lower the reputation of the Company.

Copyright © 2006 Jonathan Farrington. All rights reserve

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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