Digg It - Business

Today’s business environment isn’t getting any easier, nor will it get easier anytime in the future. I’m not psychic but I have learned that business NEVER gets simpler. More competition, shrinking profit margins, increases in

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

fixed and operating costs are just a few of the issues we deal with everyday. You can lament this fact or, you can take proactive measures to bullet-proof your business. Here are few strategies that can help:

Clearly define y

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

Examples of combination products may in

our business. The most successful business people know what they are in business for. They have one or two areas of specialty or expertise and they stick to what they’re good at. They avoid the temptation to try to become every

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

hing to everybody. In many fields, specialists tend to do better than generalists and, in bookselling, it’s no different.

Have you created a niche market for yourself?

Is your niche viable in your location/city/town/market?

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

Are you the best at what you do in your trading area?

Do you stick to what you’re good at or do you stray from this when revenues are lean?

Mounting bills, a slow month or months, pressure to generate dollars to the bottom li

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

Combination pro

e; it’s tempting to take on new work or do something in an area you don’t have a lot of experience. Unfortunately, this spreads our resources thin and can cause us to lose focus in our specific area of specialty. And, because w

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

e’re in an area that isn’t our strength, the quality of our work may not be as good. This causes customer dissatisfaction which leads to lower repeat and referral business. It then becomes a vicious circle; we take on more work

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

that falls outside our area of expertise because we need the sales. We don’t execute at 100% and we lose a customer. Our sales continue to drop so we pick up more work. And so on.

Create and maintain customer loyalty. In toda

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

’s competitive environment, many business owners think that consumers are concerned only with getting the lowest price for the product or service they are buying. So, they spend money trying to attract new customers based on pr

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

ice which means they constantly erode their profit margins. Although price is a factor in every sale it is not always the most important factor. It is much more effective, not to mention profitable, to create and maintain custo

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

er loyalty. Here are a few questions to consider:

Do you keep a data base of clients and stay in regular contact with them?

Do you know and use your customer’s names?

Do you give them a reason to continue doing business with

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

Following aspects would a

you?

Do you know what your customers want or expect?

The benefits of investing your time, effort, energy and money to create loyalty include: more referral business, higher margins, and reduced advertising costs. It’s import

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

ant to note though, developing customer loyalty is not something you do once in a while, it is the way you conduct and run your business.

Deliver outstanding customer service. Virtually every business recognizes the importance

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

of delivering excellent customer service. Yet, few actually consistent execute. The excuses run from “I have to reduce my head count” to “My employees are just here to collect a paycheck” to “I can’t be in the store twenty-four

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

hours a day.” Again, it comes back to why you are in business. Obviously, if you want to deliver great customer service on a consistent basis you won’t be the lowest priced vendor; it’s economically impossible to achieve this

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

oal.

To deliver outstanding customer service you need to get personally involved. You need to determine what great service means to you and, even more critical, what it means to your customers.

Improve your selling skills. Co

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

nstant refining of your sales skills will help you close more sales and/or increase the value of each sale. I don’t suggest you adopt or use aggressive, hard selling tactics. Instead, I recommend you develop your skill at uncov

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

ering your customer’s needs, suggesting solutions that are appropriate to their needs, and overcoming objections. Learn how to engage the customer in the sales process and how to ask for a referral. There are many selling skill

.

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

books on the market; review a few and adapt some of the concepts to your specific situation. And make sure you teach your employees how to apply these concepts too.

Running a small business is not easy. Define your business,

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

give people a reason to buy from you, hire and train the right employees and get involved in your community. These strategies will help you remain competitive now and in the future.

© 2004 Kelley Robertson, 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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Nobody notices normal. An article on how to embrace your uniqueness in business. How to take assumptions and shatter them. How to think outside the box by looking AT the box.

A business plan is your most important tool when going after financing - private and government.

We were impressed with South Western Colorado as a good place to hang your hat and a pretty good place to run a business. Great labor supply, good transportation and excellent tourist flows. The town is growing in Cortez and up the hill in Durango as well.

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