Useful Advices - Business

As a group of sales trainees took a break from our workshop on selling, the distress they were feeling, was clearly manifest in their intense discussions. It was obvious from their unrestrained conversations that the software being installed to track their sales performance was the reason for their anxiety. It was also evident from their negative

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

comments, that many of these trainees had already given up on selling their company’s services and that no amount of sales training could help them sell their firm’s services. Our client, a large midwestern service firm, was willing to pay generous incentives for their customer service staff to up sell additional services. Yet, most participants

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

Examples of combination products may in

in this training session felt, for a variety of reasons, that obtaining additional sales was impossible.

Jenny, a customer service representative from one of the inner-city offices of the firm was typical in her feelings about being asked to sell. She talked about how difficult it was to achieve sales success because of her location and the uniq

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

ue customer base she worked with daily. She said it would be impossible to achieve the sales success of coworkers in the more wealthy suburban locations—“so why even try?”

Jenny specifically talked about a coworker by the name of Arlene who had been exceptionally productive in producing sales over the last three months. Arlene worked at a branch

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

in an upper middle class suburb. She had earned over half the incentive pool for her sales success, doubling her income. Jenny told the group, that she was sure she could do the same thing, if she could work in the suburbs like Arlene.

On meeting Arlene for the first time, you might surmise that her warm and friendly disposition produced her ong

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

Combination pro

ing sales success. She has a great personality. As Jenny inferred, you might also feel, after visiting her office, that her location assisted in her phenomenal sales success. Her customers certainly have the money to invest in her products and services. However, to learn exactly what was behind Arlene’s success, the firm’s regional sales manager

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

had her “shopped,” (had someone act like a customer to check her performance). They also had her local manager observe her work for a few days to see if they could learn more about her success. On closer scrutiny, the sales manager learned that Arlene consistently used the selling process The $elling Edge®, Inc. had taught her in our workshops an

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

our Self-Directed Learning reinforcement series. Along with Arlene's warmth, friendly personality and favorable location, it appeared that using our “selling process” was the major factor in her consistent sales success.

Because there were so many complaints about the unfair incentive and tracking system being implemented by the firm, the regio

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

nal sales manager decided to run a test on his staff. He wanted to see if Jenny was correct in her assessment. Did the location of a branch dramatically impact an employee’s ability to sell and earn additional income? Was it true that location alone determined the amount of incentive bonuses paid out? Overnight, this manager reassigned Arlene to

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

enny’s inner-city location. Jenny then took Arlene’s place in the suburbs.

The first week after the transfer, Arlene’s sales plummeted, possibly giving some credence to Jenny’s theory. What few sales Jenny had been making also declined her first week in the suburbs. Since neither employee was familiar with their new customer base, these reductio

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

s in sales seemed in order. However, on checking the two representative's sales success on a weekly basis, the sales manager soon learned that location had little to do with sales or lack of success. As the weeks progressed, Arlene’s sales began to steadily climb. After a month and a half in the inner-city location, her level of sales success was

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

Following aspects would a

right back up to her production levels before her move to the inner-city. Jenny, on the other hand, over the test period, was never able to move her sales beyond what she had been doing before her move. Of course, she had an excuse for not performing well. Jenny told everyone that her sales were low because she had not had the time to get to kno

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

the customers in her new location.

Although Jenny had a pleasant personality and seemed to get along well with people, her new manager observed that she seemed unwilling to learn and then use any of the sales techniques taught in our workshops. When she was “shopped” during the test period, it was obvious that Jenny tried to use her personality

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

to persuade her customers to buy from her. Not once did she move out from behind her desk to greet customers, nor did she shake their hand. She immediately got down to business, and failed to build rapport with the people she served. She preferred to be efficient and in turn was not at all effective in selling her firm’s products and services. I

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

short, Jenny did none of the things that would help her build the kind of customer relationships that regularly produced additional sales.

As the manager evaluated the results of the test, it became clear that Jenny’s bad attitude about selling was at the heart of her poor sales record. Also, not learning and using the sales tools she had been

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

iven was the deciding factor in her lack of sales success. Arlene, on the other hand, had proven that an office location was not a major factor in the sales process for this firm.

On closer scrutiny, the regional sales manager found that a bad attitude about sales permeated the entire inner-city staff. To a person, they felt that they could not

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

sell the customers they served, so they quit trying. While at the suburban location, everyone was upbeat about the new sales skills they had acquired from our workshop and used the methods to consistently sell their customers and earn more money while they generated more business for the firm.

As the regional sales manager looked into this attit

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

de problem further, it became clear that the contrast in staff feelings about the consultative sales process they had been taught, primarily emanated from their respective managers. For the most part, Jenny only parroted back what she had heard her inner-city manager say about the selling process. On the other hand, Arlene’s attitude about sellin

.

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

g simply mirrored what flowed daily from her suburban manager.

As you lead your sales team, what messages are you sending to them about the selling process? Do they know that you believe in and personally use the sales tools that they must master to succeed? Are they able to use your example as a springboard to staff sales success? It really is

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

our extended shadow that controls how well your staff performs their sales duties. As the research into the selling process outlined in this lesson clearly shows, sales success, truly lies in the extended shadow of the sales manager or supervisor. Check out our personal sales coaching training at:

http://wwwTheSellingEdge.com/personalCoaching.ht

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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Whether you are CEO of a multinational or a one person business, without a marketing strategy, your products and services will not reach any one.

One of the common sales traps that many salespeople fall into is the loss of control of the sales process. Here are a few common examples.

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