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Periscope — June 2011 Issue

 

New Business Opportunities for Companies Serving Pharma

June 2011

The PharmSource PERISCOPE provides valuable insight into sales issues and trends for companies that sell goods or services to bio/pharma. It helps you recognize new business opportunities, and overcome sales obstacles. Enjoy the June issue.

The PharmSource Team

360 overall leads for pharma vendors were reported by the PharmSource Lead Sheet in May 2011:

Lead Type May 2011 YTD
Non US 127 702
Early Dev 82 423
Late Dev 71 300
Large molecule 76 339
Small molecule 142 636
Newly-funded 76 418
New sourcing 13 88
Parenteral 96 441
Oral 84 380
Total Leads 360 1,819

Below are two actual leads from recent issues of the PharmSource Lead Sheet (PLS), the weekly, web-based information service that delivers new business opportunities and key market intelligence information to companies serving Bio/Pharma. It includes new information on products in development, acquisitions, alliances, financing transactions, and more, and delivers up to 70+ fresh leads each week in pharma/biotech companies around the world. Use the PLS to stay on top of opportunities as soon as they’re announced, to keep attuned to market activity and trends, and as a key resource for targeted marketing.

For The Week Of
May, 29th 2011



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This section of the PERISCOPE summarizes a sampling of the many recent appointments of new people to high-level positions in pharma/biotech. For more information of this nature, see the “Key Appointments” section of the weekly PharmSource Lead Sheet.


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By Stephen Craine

This article discusses how to increase sales by adding one extra question to your sales pitch, and get one very important piece of information that will help you to close the sale. This will yield the strategy the prospect uses when they make their decisions on buying. When you ask this question and learn their buying strategy, you have a powerful tool to help you close the sale.

One of the stages of your sales pitch will be to ask the prospect questions, to discover what they want from your product or services. You then use the answers to form and present your proposal. Imagine how effective your sales presentations would be if you knew how your prospects make their [buying] decisions. How great would it be if you knew the process your sales prospect would follow? These are the decisions that you know they will make as part of their buying process. For example: You would know if the prospect was making a decision on whether to buy or not, or if the decision to buy is already made and they will now follow a process of choosing from a range of suppliers.

There are other parts of the decision-making process that are more difficult to discover. This part of the buying process is unique to each [company]; it is their buying strategy. Learn how to discover their buying strategy and you know how to increase sales. To discover a prospect’s buying strategy… you can ask them one simple question. Ask them how they made the decision to buy the same, or similar, product or service to the one you are selling. This gets you straight into their buying strategy.

Here’s an example: Imagine you were showing potential buyers around a house. As you talk to them you ask questions that will highlight what will be important to them when they make their decision on which house to buy. This approach can be hit and miss and you may not find the key to the sale. To learn their buying strategy, ask them what made them decide to buy the house they have now. If their priorities last time were: A house in a good neighborhood, a certain number of bedrooms, and private parking, then it is highly probable that they will follow [a similar list of attributes] to make their purchase now.

To check you have everything, you can also ask what has changed since that strategy was used. They could have more children, want to downsize, or have some other new need. When you add their old buying strategy to their new needs, you will have insight into the process they will follow now. Then you build your sales presentation based on the buyer’s strategy.

This selling technique works in all types of sales roles. It works in short sales pitches such as retail sales. Think about it, how did you decide to buy the last item of clothing you purchased? If you were shopping today would you subconsciously follow that same process?

What made you choose the car you have now? Was it price, safety, looks, or the sound system. Whatever it was I guarantee you would follow the same buying strategy if you were buying a car today [unless there had been] a change that influenced your decision process. So a good car sales person would ask you how you made your buying decision last time, and what has changed since.

To learn how to increase sales look at your sales pitch, and the questions you ask your prospects, and consider what you can add. What questions can you ask your sales prospects to enable you to see right into their buying strategy? You want two sets of questions. One to discover the buying strategy they used to make a previous purchase, and another to find the important changes that have happened since.

Asking sales questions is one stage of your sales pitch. There are more changes you can make to the questioning stage, and all the other parts of your sales pitch, to make them more effective. A stunning introduction, effective questions, a presentation that hits the prospect’s key needs, and a great closing technique, can all be yours.

About the Author
Stephen Craine is a successful working sales manager and trainer for a major international company. He has combined 20 years of sales and sales management experience, with a wide range of training and coaching disciplines. Imagine having a whole repertoire of proven techniques for each stage of your sale, and be shown how to use them with your current skills. You can see the sales training course that will give you exactly that, as well as step by step instructions on how to put the techniques into action today. Make a difference today by opening http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com/sales-training-course.html

Reprinted with permission from http://EzineArticles.com/5298268.

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By Stephen Craine

This sales tip shows how to use a simple questioning technique that yields essential information about your prospect’s needs, and a subsequent hidden benefit that will make you want to use it more.

Sales professionals have an understanding of how to ask sales questions. We all know how to structure this stage of the sale by asking open questions first. Then using alternative and closed questions to get more detail and gain agreement from the prospect. Many sales people will also have heard of dissatisfaction questions, where the seller asks the prospect what they are not happy with in relation to their current product or service. But how many sellers really understand how to use this questioning technique to its full potential?

When you ask your prospect what they are dissatisfied with, you get great information that you can use to form your sales presentation. Make no mistake, this information is valuable, and it can easily be turned into benefits that the prospect wants, is not getting, and that you can give them when they buy your product. The information that they give you will be related to the products or services that they currently use and that you are trying to replace. They may also tell you about their current situation and what the products and services don’t do to improve that position.

One of the best tips on asking dissatisfaction questions is: Keep the prospect talking; get as much information as you can on their dissatisfaction. Not only will this give you plenty of information on what features and benefits to put into your presentation, but there is also another reason which is part of the hidden benefits of this sales questioning technique, and we will come to that in a moment. To keep your prospect talking and [providing] this valuable information, use the same structure as you do for your other sales questions.

Start off with a wide-open question. No, not one that starts with: Where, What, Who, When, or How. These can get the prospect talking, but they can also be answered with short replies—and that’s not what you want. Leave these in the sales training classroom because they don’t work in the real world. Start your dissatisfaction questions with: Tell me about, Explain to me, or Give me a picture. It is very difficult for even the least responsive buyer to answer these open questions with just a short sentence. These are the real wide-open questions that get lots of information, and that successful sellers use every day. After the open questions, move on to alternative-answer questions to get more detail, and then to closed questions that require a yes or no answer to gain agreement. Use this structure for asking sales questions, and your prospect will give you so much information that they will almost write your sales presentation for you.

I said at the beginning of these sales tips that there is a hidden benefit that you gain when you use dissatisfaction questions. This extra benefit is another reason why you should use this sales technique. The hidden benefit to you is: The prospect will be criticizing their current product, service, supplier, and maybe even their own past purchasing decisions. This is something that you should never do. Sales professionals should never be negative about the prospect’s current products or their [buying] decisions. By using this questioning technique, you get the prospect to do this for you. It has a far greater impact, and will help you to give a great sales presentation and close the sale.

About the Author
Stephen Craine is a successful working sales manager and trainer for a major international company. He has combined 20 years of sales and sales management experience, with a wide range of training and coaching disciplines. Imagine having a whole repertoire of proven techniques for each stage of your sale, and be shown how to use them with your current skills. You can see the sales training course that will give you exactly that, as well as step by step instructions on how to put the techniques into action today. Make a difference today by opening http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com/sales-training-course.html

Reprinted with permission from http://EzineArticles.com/6318562.

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Prospect Profile highlights a newly funded bio/pharmaceutical company each month. This includes important insights into the featured company’s product pipeline, manufacturing and business relationships, and likely sourcing opportunities.

Cell Therapeutics, Inc.

Cell Therapeutics, Inc. is a public pharmaceutical company that develops therapies for the treatment of cancer. As reported in the May 5, 2011 issue of the PharmSource Lead Sheet, Cell Therapeutics raised $16 million through the sale of stocks and warrants.

Sourcing Opportunities

The proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, which may include funding R&D, preclinical and clinical trials, the preparation and filing of NDAs, paying interest on and/or retiring portions of outstanding debt and general working capital. The financing may also represent sourcing opportunities in manufacturing.

Corporate Highlights

  • 1991: Cell Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in Washington.
  • The company has two subsidiaries: Systems Medicine LLC in Scottsdale, Arizona, guides the development of products in Cell Therapeutics’ oncology program using its systems biology platform; Aequus BioPharma, Inc. in Bainbridge Island, Washington, is helping to develop and commercialize Cell Therapeutics’ Genetic Polymer technology.
  • Corporate Headquarters: Seattle, Washington – 43,000 square feet of executive and administrative offices and 4,700 square feet of warehouse space.
  • By the end of 2010, the company had 88 total employees.

Manufacturing Status

  • Cell Therapeutics currently relies on contract manufacturers to manufacture all of the clinical and commercial supplies for its products.
  • NerPharMa is responsible for the clinical and commercial supply of Pixuvri.
  • Cell Therapeutics has a purchase agreement with Phyton Biotech, LLC, under which Phyton must supply the company with either 3.5 kilograms of paclitaxel or the cash equivalent of $0.5 million.

Business Relationships

  • The company has an agreement with PG-TXL Company, L.P., which grants Cell Therapeutics an exclusive worldwide license for the rights to OPAXIO and to all potential uses of PG-TXL’s polymer technology.
  • 2005: Cell Therapeutics entered into an agreement with Cephalon under which Cell Therapeutics may receive up to $100 million in payments upon Cephalon’s achievement of sales and development milestones related to TRISENOX.
  • 2006: Cell Therapeutics entered into an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with Novartis for the development and commercialization of OPAXIO. Cell Therapeutics could receive up to $270 million depending on product and registration milestones reached.

Pipeline

Product
Candidate 		Indication Dosage Form Status Next
Anticipated Step
Bisplatinates Solid tumors TBA Preclinical TBA
Brostallicin Metastatic triple-negative breast cancer Parenteral Phase II TBA
Tosedostat Acute myeloid leukemia Oral Phase II TBA
OPAXIO
(paclitaxel poliglumex)		 Ovarian and non-small cell lung cancer Parenteral Phase III TBA
Pixuvri
(pixantrone dimaleate)		 Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma Parenteral Phase III Will file an MAA in Q4 2011
TRISENOX Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia Parenteral Approved -


Finances

(In $ thousands) 2009 2010
Revenues 80 319
R&D Expenditures 30,179 27,031
General & Administrative Expenditures 57,725 48,043
Total Operating Expenses 81,639 75,074
Capital Expenditures 1,478 2,011


Contact Information

Cell Therapeutics, Inc. Key Officers
501 Elliott Avenue W., Suite 400 James A. Bianco MD, CEO
Seattle, WA 98119 Craig W. Philips, President
Phone: (206) 282-7100 Jack W. Singer MD, CMO
Fax: (206) 284-6206 Archana Sah, Senior Global Clinical Project Manager
Web: www.celltherapeutics.com Tim Williamson, Chief Business Officer, Systems Medicine

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The PharmSource Lead Sheet is the weekly web-based information service that identifies fresh business opportunities for companies serving pharma and biotech. Respected, endorsed and depended on by the top companies, the PLS informs you of new business opportunities. It lowers your prospecting costs, raises the productivity of your sales staff, and helps keep your lead funnel full.

If you’re not yet a subscriber to the PharmSource Lead Sheet, we invite you to take a complimentary test-drive to see for yourself how this service can be a vital tool for growing your market share and building your brand recognition.

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