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Digg It - Speed-up Your Sales Cycle
This week's article is my response to a question by David Cohen of Bridge-Soft.
"Quite a few prospects have told me that business is stagnant at the moment, but they are hopeful towards the 4th quarter. How do you approach the sales cycle where the cost 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
f the product is relatively high and the sales cycle is lengthy, sometimes six months or more, in good times. I have little trouble generating interest in our products during my cold calls, but the relationship of a slow economy, long sales cycle, in combination with the c
; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.
Examples of combination products may in
Examples of combination products may in
st of the software puts a few road blocks up. Any ideas on how to either avoid or breakdown these road blocks?"
-David Cohen, Sales Director, Bridge-Soft
Thanks for writing in David. Essentially what you want to know is how to speed up the sales cycle.
-David Cohen, Sales Director, Bridge-Soft
Thanks for writing in David. Essentially what you want to know is how to speed up the sales cycle.
lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.
et's start the discussion from the standpoint of why people and businesses buy when they do.
Everyone buys to solve a pain or fulfill a desire. This is true for individuals and businesses alike (businesses are nothing but a group of individual decision-makers). Buying d
Everyone buys to solve a pain or fulfill a desire. This is true for individuals and businesses alike (businesses are nothing but a group of individual decision-makers). Buying d
here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe
cisions are always prioritized, whether people are aware that they do this or not. Businesses making buying decisions usually have formal procedures for prioritizing their acquisitions. Individuals also prioritize their buying decisions, but this generally is a much more c
d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.
Combination pro
Combination pro
sual and often unconscious process.
To speed up your sale, you must move the pain that you are offering to solve near the top of the prospect's priority list.
Here are three ways that you can do this.
To put it simpl
To speed up your sale, you must move the pain that you are offering to solve near the top of the prospect's priority list.
Here are three ways that you can do this.
#1 - Choose Your Prospects Ruthlessly
To put it simpl
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
y, the fastest sales happen when the prospects know they are in pain. For a given problem, the businesses (or people) who have this in common will likely share other characteristics. Look at who has been spending money during this slowdown with either you or your competito
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
s, and ask yourself what they have in common. You want to have a profile of what these customers look like when you are prospecting. This will enable you to quickly decide whether to engage in a sales effort. Prospects who don't meet your profile should be thrown out.
nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically
>#2 - Get To The Executives First
Not getting to the decision-makers early in the sell cycle is a common reason for lengthy sales cycles. To get there, you have to know how to talk to them. Exec's want to know how you are going to increase revenues or efficiency, an
Not getting to the decision-makers early in the sell cycle is a common reason for lengthy sales cycles. To get there, you have to know how to talk to them. Exec's want to know how you are going to increase revenues or efficiency, an
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
save money or time. Their biggest fear of salespeople is that you will waste their time with techno-babble.
You can create a direct mail and telephone campaign to make contact with your target executives. This is a topic that demands way more space than I have here to
You can create a direct mail and telephone campaign to make contact with your target executives. This is a topic that demands way more space than I have here to
ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi
rite. But the strategy is to get their attention with specific stories and questions that dramatize the pain using examples that they can identify with.
You can also have your current executive customer contacts refer you to other executives that they know within your t
You can also have your current executive customer contacts refer you to other executives that they know within your t
ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.
Following aspects would a
Following aspects would a
arget prospect accounts. Or You can use your management as a "power meets power" way of getting access. And you can also form partnerships with complementary vendors who might have access into your accounts.
In the case of a small software company, it could make sense t
In the case of a small software company, it could make sense t
dd to the challenges in developing combination products:
Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod
Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod
partner with a larger company who already has the executive relationships. Companies like IBM, HP, or Accenture have salespeople for every account you can imagine. When you show them how they can sell more of their products and services, they will want to work with you to
cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin
get into the account.
When your sale is low on their priority list, it is because the executives believe they have bigger problems to focus on. You can influence their perception and priorities by getting them to experience the conseq
#3 - Intensify Their Pain
When your sale is low on their priority list, it is because the executives believe they have bigger problems to focus on. You can influence their perception and priorities by getting them to experience the conseq
tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen
ences of the unaddressed problem in advance of it happening. You want to make this problem feel real in the present moment.
There are two very effective techniques for doing this. One is to tell stories. You mentioned that you had a number of customers both large and sm
There are two very effective techniques for doing this. One is to tell stories. You mentioned that you had a number of customers both large and sm
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
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
ll. Interview your customers and find out precisely why they bought your software. Determine the specific pains, and the specific results they got from installing it. Create detailed stories about your customers such that your prospect will identify with the pains that you
ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.
Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust
Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust
r customer's had. Discuss how bad things would have gotten if they hadn't solved the problem with your software.
Stories are an effective indirect way to get a prospect to open up about a potential problem. The most powerful motivation for a sale is the prospect's own f
Stories are an effective indirect way to get a prospect to open up about a potential problem. The most powerful motivation for a sale is the prospect's own f
y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products
ars and desires. You can uncover this and use it to propel your sale forward with planned persuasive questioning. People make decisions to buy, or move your sale up on their priority list when they are in an emotional state. Questions that get them to experience the conseq
.
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
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
ences of problems that they are not dealing with can bring the pain strongly into the present moment.
You cannot control the slow economy.
Here are some things you can control.
Focus On The Right Things
You cannot control the slow economy.
Here are some things you can control.
- Who you sell for and what you sell.
<
elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.
Companies that provide selfless information through particip
Companies that provide selfless information through particip
I>Which prospects you choose to engage.
The level at which you first engage your prospects:
What you do, say, and ask when you engage people.
© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved
- executive, middle management, or staff.
© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved
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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