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Do you find yourself offering a wide range of products and services, trying to offer anything that you can to everyone that you meet?

I certainly did, when I started my business! I offered ever

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

y service that I thought I could perform-from design, to CD burning, to printing (off of my home inkjet printer!), to typing and transcription. Once, I even helped a family pack for a move-I had

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

Examples of combination products may in

the spare time in my schedule, and it paid a few bucks!

I thought that this approach would bring me more business. It certainly kept me busy-thinking up new services to offer, finding clients f

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

r those services, and learning how to do them. But being busy is different from being successful. Since I didn't appear to be an expert in any of the services that I offered, I was not able to c

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

nvince my clients that I should be paid well for then. After a while, I decided that this was not the best plan.

But I was scared to offer fewer services-what if I couldn't find enough work in

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

Combination pro

a single specialty to support myself? What if I wasn't the best in the field that I chose? What if I got bored only offering just one service? All of these fears made me really hesitant to narro

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

my offerings. I even argued about it with my business coaches and advisors.

Finally, I decided to narrow the services that I offered in my marketing materials. I started talking about just log

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

designs and stationery sets in my 20-second commercial, on my website, and in my marketing flyers. This helped my clients to focus on the services that I could best deliver to them-I closed mor

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

sales with ease, and got more referrals from both clients and casual contacts.

This type of narrowing and focus is known as niching. It helped me to concentrate on developing clear marketing m

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

aterials about specific services, and to create better processes for delivering them. Niching also helped me to focus on my own business-it helped me to decide which products and services I can

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

est deliver, and what I should outsource or just not quote at all!

Next, I got really brave and narrowed things a bit more-I promoted only logo designs, and only to small businesses. At this po

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

Following aspects would a

nt, things really took off! Not only did the previously noted benefits increase, but also, now that I could really focus on my clients' specific problems, I became an expert in their exact needs

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

Once I gained this expertise and could speak directly to a real need, my services gained a lot of value... and I was able to raise my rates to reflect that targeted value.

Narrowing your servi

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

ces in this way is called niching. By narrowing the types of services you offer, you niche horizontally. By narrowing the types of businesses to which you offer your services, you niche vertical

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

y. Using both types of niching is the most specific and targeted way to niche.

Developing a niching strategy didn't mean that I didn't offer any other services-I still design marketing material

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

and websites, and I even offer stand-alone website coding. But until I established and grew my expertise in one area, I stuck to marketing just that one service. If a client needed additional s

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

rvices, I was happy to provide them. Other clients even came to me specifically for websites or brochures from time to time. So while I did limit the services that I actively promoted, I didn't

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

limit the types of projects that I delivered... or the income I was able to bring in.

Differentiation can also help you to focus in your own business-it can help you to decide which products an

.

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

services you can best deliver, and what you should outsource.

So, instead of trying to be everything to everyone, I recommend that you try niching your services. It will help your clients to f

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

cus on and identify the services that you offer, and it will help you to develop deep expertise in a single area... and niching will help you to raise your rates and create a profitable business

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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Have you ever asked yourself the question? “Is this a good time to sell my business?” That is a question every business owner asks himself, everytime he has a bad day. I once received e-mail from the...

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