Top Adding - Business

Recently we asked which was more important: new customer growth or repeat business?

The answer depends on your business goals. If you want fast-paced quantum growth, you should concentrate energy on adding new customers. But if your goals are more incremental - if you envision con

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

tinual year over year growth in the 10 to 20 percent range - booking repeat customer revenue is far easier than adding new customers.

(Of course, don't lose sight of new customer acquisition; doing so entirely would doom the future of your business.)

While it is not easy to double

; 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 existing customers spending year after year, it is easy enough to 1) keep them happy and loyal, and 2) develop additional products and services for them, which they will buy if they are happy and loyal.

How can you build loyalty and garner repeat business? With two customer wor

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

ds: service and communication.

Enhance the customer's service experience
Customer service is all about fixing customer problems. What kinds of problems?
Fixing things which are broken, or that don't work as expected.
Facilitating deliveries, exchanges and retu

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

ns.

Resolving billing and payment issues.

Fulfilling the exceptional need or the odd request.

Providing technical advice and user guidance.

This last is very important because many products are so complicated they can't really work without solid service.

And tha

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

Combination pro

t doesn't go just for technical products. It applies to self-assembled furniture - the kind you can't seem to put together based on cryptic instructions. Or home repair - consider those valuable retired plumbers in orange aprons at Home Depot. Or what about your weekend hotel stay,

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

ransformed by that special concierge into something you remember the rest of your life.

In each case customer service is a critical part of the product. And in every case, it's the part that makes customers feel great about doing business with you.

Customer Service = Repeat

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

Business

McDonalds believes that once you successfully address a customer's complaint, that customer is several times more likely to come back and buy more Big Macs. McDonalds store managers search for problems; they long for problems; they pray for problems.

Train your p

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

ople to listen closely for problems and look for things that are out of whack. Establish customer service protocols to insure those issues are dealt with quickly and completely.

Plus, your company gets a bonus for good listening: creatively solved complaints are often the genesis of

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

new products and services. Build a system which rewards both customers and employees for those new business ideas.

Too many companies see customer service as an expense. In reality it is the most cost-effective customer retention program you could possibly have. So hire reps who

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

ant to help people and train them to spot opportunities. Use technology to make it easier to find solutions. Lavish money on it. Gather knowledge and wisdom in databases and make it available to everyone in the service chain.

Customer Communications

Continual com

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

Following aspects would a

unication is another key to building the kind of customer loyalty that translates into repeat, and increasing, business.

Here are seven ways to stay in touch with your customers.

Find out how customers are really using your products and services. Call them casually or cond

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

uct formal surveys. Visit and observe them in action. Track their online behavior. Look for ways to enhance the value they get from you.

Put yourself in front of your customers. User groups, conventions, conferences, road shows, tours, online forums, and even interactive webcast

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

, are viable ways to create a two-way free flowing dialogue. Give customers a deeper understanding of how you help them, and find out what's on their minds so you can serve them even better. For high-end, big-spending customers, schedule an annual review or strategy meeting to set

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

the agenda and lock them in.

Publish a valuable newsletter. Most newsletters are filled with self-serving drivel about the company. Who cares who got promoted, or that you just had a wonderful company picnic? Fill your newsletter with stimulating ideas, case studies and practic

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

l tips that add value to your customers and help them do better business. Important to your newsletter's success is frequency and consistency, so publish often - monthly or even twice a month, and keep it on schedule.

Ask your customers the magic question: "What would you like

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

to buy from us, if only we'd offer it to you?" Do this yourself or outsource it. Either way, these answers are like customer retention gold.

Keep your product and service offer fresh. Keep upgrading and adding on, and announce to your customers that you are doing so.

Mak

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

special offers to your special customers. And all your existing customers are special. Give them special offers and loyalty discounts that plain old new customers can't get. Make sure they know it is only for them.

Revive the art of the hand-written note. In this age of hyper

.

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

-convenient email and instant messaging, a hand-written note acknowledges the unique nature of the recipient. There's just no way to duplicate the one to one feeling a note will create. Do this and you could have the customer for life!

These customer service and communications

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

tips are just a few of the hundreds of ways to communicate with customers to build loyalty and repeat business. Combine them with judicious up-sells, re-sells, and cross-sells, and that 20 percent annual revenue growth is yours forever.

(c) Copyright Paul Lemberg. All rights reserve

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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