Useful Advices - Business

Are you dog tired because of the way you manage your sales team? Many managers tell me that they cannot see a way out of traditional sales management methods that keep them working like dogs, including focusing strictly on revenue goals, staying late, traveling u

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

p to three weeks a month, tightly controlling teams, and constantly reacting to emergencies. There has to be a better way.

Are you satisfied with the way your life as a sales manager is turning out? Is it giving you all that you wanted? If not, perhaps it’s ti

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

Examples of combination products may in

me to make a revolution. Here are some revolutionary ideas you might consider:

1. THINK THREE TO SIX MONTHS INTO THE FUTURE

What you want to accomplish right now was set in motion a few months ago. The results of your decisions three to six months ago are co

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

ing to fruition today. Think and talk strategically about three and six months down the line as if it were “today.” Describe and write down what you see about:

· The culture of your sales team

· The size of your sales team

· Your ideal customers

· Revenue y

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

ou are generating

· Your competition

· Your target markets

· How your team has changed in the last three to six months

· How hard you are working

While crystal-ball gazing is never an exact science, it can be enormously helpful to “live” in the possibilities

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

Combination pro

2. GO BACKWARD

From the vantage point of three to six months in the future, identify what you did over the past three to six months. Ask yourself the following questions:

· What did I accomplish?

· What did my team accomplish?

· What tasks did we complete

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

· What actions made us successful?

· What were some of the obstacles?

· How did we overcome the obstacles?

3. CREATE A PLAN WITH MEASURABLE GOALS

If you want better clients, the #1 sales team, more money, more time for yourself, and more enjoyable work, you

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

need an effective business plan.

Use your insights from No. 1 “Think three to six months into the future” and No. 2 “Go Backward” to create a plan.

· Don't know how to build one? Make this the year you learn.

· Already know how but haven't built it? Get suppor

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

from a colleague, mentor, coach, or group to make it happen.

· Have a system but aren't using it? Pull your plan out of the drawer and re-commit to doing what it takes to have your dream career.

To help you get started, here is a simple tool I use. You can als

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

o ask each salesperson on your team to create a plan using the same template.

Top 5 Goals – 3 months

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Top 5 Goals – 6 months

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Top 5 Goals – 12 months

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

HOT TIPS:

· Do not put your goals in a drawer! Po

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

t your goals where you will see them every day (computer, fridge, bathroom mirror, wall next to the phone). When you see your written goals, you increase your chances of accomplishing them.

· Communicate your goals. Let others know what you are thinking. Take r

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

Following aspects would a

egular opportunities to talk to your staff and superiors about your plans. It usually takes a village to accomplish great things. You’ll need buy-in and help reaching your goals from many levels within the organization.

4. CHOOSE THE BEST

Serve only those cl

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

ients you, your organization, and your sales team care about and enjoy. Everything becomes a struggle when you work with people you don't enjoy. You wouldn't hire someone you couldn’t amicably work with, so why let them hire you?

Begin today to let go of clients

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

you and your sales team find difficult, and start seeking out those you want. Have the courage to refuse new clients who don't fit your picture of who you most want your business to serve.

5. CREATE ACCOUNTABILITIY FOR YOURSELF AND OTHERS

How many times have yo

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

u said that you were going to do something and then not done it because nobody else would know the difference? Try spreading the word. Just the simple act of telling your plan to another person raises the stakes. Most of us place a high value on doing what we say

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

we'll do. There is something profound about taking our commitments seriously when we profess them to another person or when we join in a pact to reach a common goal.

To hold employees accountable, have them declare their intentions to you. Use these three si

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

ple questions to help you:

What will you do? When will you do it? How will I know you’ve done it?

Then, schedule a follow up time to talk about their accountabilities.

Enjoy reaping the rewards of your revolution.

'Revolutionary' Challenge: BE THE FUTURE

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

NOW is a good time to plan. Conduct a visioning exercise with your team where you go into the future.

Ask your team to close their eyes and focus on the future, one month at a time. First, ask them to see themselves today. Then proceed one month at a time. When

.

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

you all open your eyes, it is six months from where you started.

Discuss what you see, using the points in the “Think Three to Six Months into the Future” section at the beginning of this newsletter. Make sure you capture the ideas on a flip chart.

Please let

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

me know how this worked for you, and any suggestions you have to improve the process. Have fun with it!

---

This article may be reprinted in its entirety with express written permission from Nicki Weiss. The reprint must include the section “About the Author”

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.usefuladvices.org.ua/article/38847/usefuladvices-Its-Time-For-A-Sales-Management-Revolution.html">It's Time For A Sales Management Revolution</a>

BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.usefuladvices.org.ua/article/38847/usefuladvices-Its-Time-For-A-Sales-Management-Revolution.html]It's Time For A Sales Management Revolution[/url]

Is graduate school for you? Are you about to finish your undergraduate degree? Should you go back to school and get your master's? Would it help? hmmm......

In a world with an infinite number of information options, the successful communicator will always be the one who offers what his audience wants to hear.

We all have extremely valuable information that we need to share with the world. You need to anchor in on your talent and learn to market your specialty to everyone. If you don’t you are cheating everyone including yourself.

Tags

Links

Useful Advices - It's Time For A Sales Management Revolution

Related Articles: