Useful Advices - Business

One of the most under used and perhaps under rated techniques that all sales reps have in their bag is the power of reverse psychology. When I refer to this, I do not mean the art of manipulating a customer, but rather the ability to help a customer s

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

ee a bigger picture that will lead you to a sale and a long lasting customer relationship.

Let me use an example to illustrate what I mean. I work for a company that sells a product to their customers for a 3 year term. After the 3 year term, we go b

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

Examples of combination products may in

ack into that customer and try and get them to sign up for another 3 years. Typically we do quite well and have somewhere in the neighborhood of 80% renewal rate.

We had a big customer that was neglected for a whole three years. They had 4 different

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

reps over that period of time, none of which spent much time with them. And to make matters worse, our company had just bought a company that competed with a subset of their product offering. I was given the job of going in and “fixing” the mess as it

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

was called and renewing this contract.

The first meeting I had with them, did not start out very well. I had just begun my presentation about the 2 options that they had for renewal, when I was cut off and told in no uncertain terms that they would

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

Combination pro

not be renewing their contract. They then began to spend the next 10 minutes telling me everything that was wrong with my company and why they would begin to migrate to our competitors’ products and services. I remember sitting there and thinking to m

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

yself, “oh boy if I don’t find a way to get them beyond this, we are in a whole heap of trouble”.

After I listened intently, I began the process of reverse psychology. “Listen, I understand that my company has not treated you how you deserve and if I

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

were you I would do the same thing. It is for this reason that I will present you with Option 3, the do nothing Option. You have the rights to our current product set, I suggest you stay at that level for the next 2 or 3 years and we can re-evaluate

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

your technology needs in the future. This way you do not continue to pay us money, for something that we are not helping you use or get the most out of. I only want to ensure that you are able to utilize our products and services and get a return for

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

your business. If we cannot do that, we do not deserve your business.”

You should have seen the reaction to this in the room. My colleague who was in the room and who was counting on his renewal commissions was about ready to jump across the table an

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

choke me, but for me the most important thing to watch was the customer. There were 4 representatives from them in the room. I’m sure they had prepared for this meeting, they were prepared with who was going to play which role and what they were goin

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

Following aspects would a

g to tell us about why they would not renew. When we entered the room their body language was hostile, they were all on edge and not one of them had a warm look on their face. As soon as I said this, I watched their reactions. They all sat back in the

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

ir chairs, they relaxed, they had won after all. I had as much as admitted defeat.

This is when I used the following line. “I only ask one thing for option 3 and one thing only. We may not have treated you like one, but you have been a good customer

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

to us for the last 3 years. I ask that you spend a little time with me over the next couple of weeks and allow me to go through the financials of the decision to do nothing. I want to make sure that your business case for not renewing is solid, so tha

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

t no one can come back to you in the future and say that you made a bad decision, that you cost your company more money in the long run. Is that fair to ask?”

There was not one of them in the room that did not feel that was a fair ask by me. So over

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

the next 4 to 6 weeks, I spent time with them, not telling them why they should renew, but telling them why they shouldn’t renew. You want to know the amazing part? They actually began attacking and finding flaws in my reasons for them not to renew. A

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

nd after this time, the discussions turned from not renewing, to renewing only if they saved at least 10% over what they were spending in the past. The final result was that we not only resigned this customer, but we found a way to partner with them,

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

we helped them grow their business and they signed a new contract with us that was double what their old one was.

Some people will say that I did manipulate them. I do not think that personally. I used an old trick that my parents used to use on me w

.

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

hen I was a kid. Tell me what I wanted to hear and then use reasoning to convince me that what I wanted to hear wasn’t right. They never told me that it was wrong, as I never told my customer that it was wrong. They would lead the horse to water and a

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

llow me to make my own conclusions. It’s a powerful trick that when employed correctly can lead to great results. Oh yeah and that customer, their 3 year renewal just passed again. This time our conversation was a lot better, and we renewed them again

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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What's the most cost-effective, personal and direct way there is to attract new customers to your business? Direct mail marketing.

Do you ever wonder what the secret is to getting great coverage for your event? Do you wonder how to act and what to say to the media? Learning the different aspects of Media Protocol can take you far as well as build your credibility and coverage.

This three letter word is at the root of more failure and success in sales than any other I know. People who consistently succeed in sales, whatever success means to them, do so because they ask for what they want. Salespeople who tend to fail do so because they fail to either know what they want or to ask for it.

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