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The following is a true story. It illustrates the need for even management to be nice to their customers—for a variety of reasons.

The brothers Long started a drug store in Northern California a number of years ago. By the 19

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

70’s they had built a respectable chain in the north and had started expanding to Southern California. For years, when I was in the sunglass business, I sold to this glowing chain. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s they grew and

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

Examples of combination products may in

sold sunglasses to most of their stores. I really appreciated the amount of business I earned from them over the years. Also, over the years, the department heads that I worked with in the early days became store managers and

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

one, a district manager.

Because of my loyalty to this particular drug store chain, I continued doing business with the store in my community for years after I was no longer in the sunglass business. As a matter of fact, to t

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

is day, my family still uses the store in my community—the one that I personally set up their sunglass department when the store opened for business.

With all of that being said, a while back I visited my local store to retur

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

Combination pro

a camera that I had purchased that turned out to be defective. It was an evening and I ended up getting help from the store’s assistant manager. While she did not remember me, I remembered when she was a clerk in the cosmetic

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

department. She told me that she could not replace the camera because she did not have that EXACT one in stock. She told me to ship it to the factory and they would take care of it.

After selling sunglasses to this chain for

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

lmost two decades, I was reasonably familiar with their return policy. It was less the fact that she told me to send the camera back to the factory, but more her attitude. I knew that she had the authority to do pretty much an

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

thing she wanted to do to take care of the situation. She could have given me a refund. She could have given me the same brand camera but the next model up, which she did have in stock. But rather than to serve a customer that

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

had been shopping at the store since it had opened, about 10 years before, she selected to have an attitude (the big A in Ego Attitude Training).

I didn’t make a fuss about her lack of customer service—instead I simply left t

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

e store with my defective camera in hand. Unfortunately for this assistant manager, she decided to (in my opinion) to screw over, a longtime customer who coincidently knew her boss’ boss pretty darn well. In fact, I had served

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

Following aspects would a

Ron, the district manager, as a vendor to the chain for about 20 years. She made a BIG MISTAKE!

Because my personal relationship with the chain (a number of people from clerks to executives) was much stronger than any single

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

mployee, I mailed a friendly letter to Ron explaining the situation. I told him that my relationship was with the store, and not the manufacturer. I also mentioned my thoughts on customer retention and a couple of other though

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

s. I did not ask him to take action, but simply informed him about the behavior of one of his managers.

It took a few weeks, but wow! The letter of apology from this assistant manager was amazing. Not only did I receive the a

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

ology but also it came with $20 worth of store script (about the retail difference between the defective camera I wanted adjusted and the next model up). Also, in her letter was the pledge that if I brought my defective camera

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

in the store she would personally exchange it, even if she had to upgrade it.

I never took her up on her offer to exchange the camera but instead just left her wondering if I’d ever come back. No need to in that situation, th

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

camera was a great brand and I had sent it to the manufacturer myself the next day. Within a week, the manufacturer had mailed me a replacement. I did though use the store script—heck, why not?

Ron, the district manager, is

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

really great guy so I’m sure he didn’t rip the assistant manager’s head off—at least too much. But I must admit, I would have really enjoyed being a fly on the wall at that meeting. Is the moral of the story to be nice to peo

.

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

le who know your district manager? I don’t think so. How could one ever know?

Just be wonderful to every customer—just because you should. Besides, you never know whom they know. Being crummy to any customer could prove to be

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

a career killer—you just never know!

To access helpful additional information from Ed Rigsbee at no charge, please visit www.rigsbee.com/downloadaccess.htm

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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In a newspaper report by The Straits Times (attached below), it was reported that ComfortDelGro has submitted a position paper to the Ministry of Transport, giving their two-cent worth on how the public transport industry should be structured. Two specific suggestions are given: to merge with rival SMRT to create one big giant transport company, or to have two separate companies with different areas of expertise – one running buses while another operating trains. (Note: It should be quite obvious that SBS Transit will be the natural bus company and SMRT will be the train company).

Printing needs of companies need quality, catalogue printing is another major form of advertising for your company, and this is basically a form of publicity for businesses.

Big business will make a big difference in fighting climate change. Carbon Credits are becoming a lucrative growth market that is giving businesses and politicians a reason to join the carbon market.

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