All-important product branding must now be determined at a very early stage of the development cycle and pharmaceutical companies must be even more aware of how volatile the market can be and how constraints can emerge as the company seeks to enter, penetrate and extend into niche markets, which are often more focused and narrow minded. It is possible that resistance could be significant and this can mean that more attention should be paid to branding as a critical early component of the marketing cycle.

Now more than ever, pharmaceutical markets are crowded. The consumer has a wide array of choices and is increasingly more influenced by a variety of external forces in addition to the direct advice that may be given to them by the professional or practitioner. Every one of us expects instantaneous information to be available whenever we need it and we’re now getting used to engaging with each other much more often within social networks and online. As a consequence, we are becoming much more educated about every aspect of our existence. While the consumer becomes more educated and the market becomes more crowded, the efficiency of a marketing program must be in sharp focus for a company’s senior executives.

Pharmaceutical companies are spending a great deal of their time moulding and shaping the market so that it is ready for the product when it is released. This underlines the need for early marketing efforts during brand creation and the need to ensure that educational channels are engaged.

While niche product areas are the subject of greater marketing emphasis, more emotions are involved in the end-user decision process as well and the professional is less likely to advise the consumer to go down the more beaten track. This requires a pharmaceutical company to be very clear and distinct in its marketing methods and messages, in order to differentiate itself from its competitors in the eyes of its target markets. This clearly puts pressure on the company’s sales force as these executives must now try and penetrate a sceptical barrier at the professional level and ensure that the message is stronger, yet more targeted than before.

The sales force is of primary importance to the success of the company and senior officials are turning in greater numbers to pharmaceutical consultants and pharmaceutical consulting firms to help them train and focus the force accordingly. In most cases, pharma consulting plays a great role in helping the organisation to identify shifting marketing forces, especially when associated with niche concentration. The distant professional must be the subject of more attention and sharper skills will be needed, with more training required to ensure that the sales executive breaks through all barriers and achieves the results. Effective implementation requires an equal amount of experience, ability and training.

Alan Gillies is the Director of L2L Consulting, an elite pharmaceutical consultancy firm which specialises in Strategy Development and Implementation Excellence for prestigious multi-national organisations.

While a majority of business owners are enthusiastic and diligent people, have put a great deal of effort into their creation and would love nothing more than for the business to be continued and nurtured by a careful owner, you can never assume that this is the case. Please don’t think that this means you have to assume the worst in all cases, but it does unfortunately mean that you cannot take any statement at face value and you must look for proof in all cases to back up claims made. Expert analysis will come in very handy here as you get ready to buy a business and you should seek out business experts, accountants and financiers right now.

Here, your primary purpose is to set a value. Undoubtedly, each of the parties – the buyer and seller, will have a different interpretation of the value of the business. The deal is only consummated when both parties are happy, but remember that it is up to you to determine the specifics under which you are willing to do the deal.

If you buy a business, a number of steps have to be taken as you go through your due diligence checklist and as you proceed, all the inner workings of the business will be revealed to you. You may hear references made to industry benchmarks, and they may be useful for information gathering but you should not rely on them. In the majority of cases you will always want to rely on the most recent data and while there are many documents to check, the financials are of paramount importance. Never be tempted to gloss over some of the less palatable financial figures, if a specific business asset appears to be of particular interest to you.

When you’re looking at the value of a business for sale, some of the more important factors include the scale and the level of services available, the potential for business expansion, the age of the organization and the reputational impact in the marketplace. Calculate the level of competition, both industry-specific and geographically and in many cases the most important of all, its location. You may be considering purchasing an Internet-based business or one that does not have a “bricks and mortar” location. Certainly, a physical location is not important in this situation, however you may have to undergo an even more thorough process of due diligence.

Reveal as much as you can as you work through this process and understand how important your due diligence checklist really is. If part of your due diligence process involves the analysis of daily operations, staff behaviour, client interaction and so on, this will invariably take many days if not weeks. As such, you should never be overly anxious to go ahead to close a deal and should be prepared, rather, for the lengthy process you are likely to endure.

Richard Parker is the President and founder of the prestigious Diomo Corporation – The Business Buyer Resource Center. His celebrated materials, seminars and consulting have encouraged thousands of aspiring business buyers from around the World to pursue their dream to buy a business.

Key account management is not something to be designated and reviewed at some later stage. Much attention must be paid to this management and while different staff members may approach their engagement from different points of view, the overall goal must always be kept in perspective – ensuring that the client and its senior management are happy with what they receive.

It is a shame, but clients are often disappointed by what they see as a failure to embrace the importance of key account management and by the organisation’s inability to cross the line. The key account expects a pharmaceutical company to be proactive and not simply to react when any events take place. It’s important for the client to see that the company is acting in its best interests and, most especially in this field, keeping abreast of developments within the industry.

In certain circumstances, the client will be looking to the pharmaceutical company to help it develop its strategies. While there can be many different levels of key account designation and there can and should be variations across client levels, the pharmaceutical company must ensure that its staff at all levels are trained to recognise particular needs. The company must intimately know the client and this does not necessarily mean socially. It might be smart for the company to send certain executives to work directly “in the field” with the client, as this will also help to provide a certain level of “intelligence” for the company’s future needs.

The pharmaceutical company should never be afraid to perform a certain amount of work at no charge for truly key clients and this once again points to the need for each client to be treated as its own entity. The moral is that there should be no such thing as a textbook approach to key account management and pharmaceutical consulting firms fully realise this and can help to educate all staff levels in the intricacies of such an approach.

Pharmaceutical companies can often be in a delicate position when it comes to the dissemination of any information seen as being proprietary. It is certainly true that information at these levels can be very powerful and while the client may expect to be given some additional “value” in this respect, the most senior levels of the pharmaceutical company management should discuss this issue with the company’s pharma consulting firm to be sure of the best approach.

The pharmaceutical consultants will help ensure that the company is going above and beyond, over-delivering its part of the equation. Remember that a key account must be key in all respects and this goes all the way to the bottom of the balance sheet, to enable a truly “win-win” situation to result.

Alan Gillies is the CEO of L2L Consulting, a cutting-edge pharma consultancy firm which specialises in optimising productivity and performance within international companies by applying tailored organisational strategies.

First and foremost, the sales executive must cultivate the trust of the client. He or she must earn the trust and must do everything in their power to create the right impression, both personally and professionally. It will likely be necessary to engage, with numerous visits and interactions and be consistent at all times. At the very least, the executive must be prompt and attend all meetings on time, must call back as promised and follow-up any questions asked. The executive must always be prepared with the right information and must generally appear to know what he or she is talking about, as a professional will be always expecting results. In the pharmaceutical industry, professionals and practitioners can be somewhat jaded and are used to dealing with executives from pharmaceutical companies that promise the earth, but don’t deliver. They are hesitant because they tend to believe that the representative is interested in sales and sales alone, and the barriers that may be established before the first meeting may be an additional hindrance to the establishment of this trust.

Once trust is established and the client believes that the executive can have some potential in future, the door is definitely open. This is not to say that sales will be a guarantee, but unless you reach this critical position you have very little chance of ever reaching the “Holy Grail.” Do not be afraid to present testimonials from happy customers in your role as a sales executive, especially if your target has a personal experience with one of the testimonial providers.

Invariably, pharma consulting firms talk about the importance of effective implementation and the various tactics required to get the prospect to agree and to say “yes.” The modern-day sales executives should realise that most of the “old” techniques are so hackneyed that they should be laid to rest. After spending so much time building up trust with your prospects, trying to use any pressure tactics to exert sales, be they subliminal or not, can be disastrous. The executive has to realise that time is of the essence, because his or her effective use of this time will ultimately dictate whether that particular day represents profit to the employer, or loss. As a rule, pharmaceutical consultants have much experience in the various sales techniques, specific and pertinent to the industry. A pharmaceutical consulting firm is of great potential benefit to the parent organisation and can often help to ensure that effective implementation is front and centre to the sales executive’s approach.

Alan Gillies is the CEO of L2L Consulting, a cutting-edge pharma consultancy firm which specialises in optimising productivity and performance within international companies by applying tailored organisational strategies.

When you begin trying to buy restaurant business assets, you’ll quickly learn that one of the key skills you’ll require is the ability to decipher information and to communicate effectively. You will need numerous meetings with the seller and don’t be surprised if the early ones don’t reveal some fundamental facts and figures. It is natural for the seller to be a little protective and to want to gauge your enthusiasm and see whether you are really serious and qualified before divulging delicate data.

There are some basic facts and figures to absorb before you are able to project your own figures for the future. What style of food does the business favor and how many tables are there in the restaurant? How many covers, or meals are set per week and by day and if the menu is very specialized how strong are the supplier contracts and the subsequent supply chain?

In any business, labor costs are significant. Find out how the costs breakdown and whether the strength of the entire business is based on the skills and strong personalities of key figures, notably the master chef. You may not expect to get a lot of the finer details during the early process, as a seller often wants to keep any news of a potential sale away from the employees until the appropriate moment.

Write up a check-list of questions to ask the owner; you should have hundreds and not be afraid to be very specific, nor to insist on detailed answers. Before you even go there, however, understand that this kind of business involves very long hours and is typically a seven days per week concern. You will be required to deal with many “fires,” be great at managing people and your time and may not expect to see a specific net profit for quite a while.

Some of the challenges you may well face as a new owner include the ability to consummate new relationships with your suppliers. Sometimes certain suppliers may view a change of ownership as their chance to amend contracts to their benefit. You must be able to deal with distraught people, who may be upset because their table is not available, even though they booked it but arrived late. You must be able to motivate your employees and be able to handle all situations immediately, resulting in praise or termination accordingly.

If you are really sure that you want to get involved with the restaurant industry, have thought about the right questions and received full answers from the seller, have crunched the financials and studied the contracts, then you are now ready to look at the business value. Always work with knowledgeable experts in the field who have experience in the restaurant industry and use their findings to backup your own thoughts. Find out what the bottom line is, how much the owner makes in terms of salary, net profits and benefits and then adjust this figure downward based on any capital expenditure you feel you may have to make.

With any restaurant for sale, the three major costs involved – labor, rent and food, should be no more than two thirds of total expenditure and always remember that you will have to have a superb marketing plan so that you can tell everyone about your new creation.

Richard Parker is the author of the How to Buy a Good Business at a Great Price series. As President and founder of Diomo Corporation – The Business Buyer Resource Center, his materials, seminars and consulting have helped thousands of business buyers realize their dream to buy a business.

The healthcare industry touches almost every individual in the country at some stage and due to its sheer size, drug spending is always a subject of great attention. Within the healthcare industry, the total amount spent on pharmaceuticals accounts for 15% of the entire budget and it therefore follows that due to the high stakes associated, a lack of marketing proficiency can have significant repercussions.

For the pharmaceutical company, its sales force is at the sharp end and spends much of its time interacting directly with the professional, the practitioner and the advisor. It is so important for the sales executive to interact successfully with a professional if progress is to be maintained. The executive spends a lot of his or her time detailing and providing information to the professional, yet this is often a tough wall to breach, as the practitioner is somewhat detuned to marketing advances.

Often times, the healthcare professional, being highly educated and focused, wants to rely on scientific papers, advice from colleagues within the industry, or his or her own training and first-hand experience. There is a significant danger that the professional could view the advances of a pharmaceutical company sales executive as single-minded, so the executive therefore needs highly-tuned marketing and communication skills to be able to break through.

The pharmaceutical industry is maturing constantly and with advances in medicine comes the need for a much higher level of education at the sales executive team level. These complex dynamics worry the pharmaceutical company chiefs, especially as they have enough to fill a plate with regard to product development, lobbying activities, regulatory enforcement, adherence and economic constraints. It is at times like these that they should turn to pharmaceutical consulting firms not only to advise them, but to help educate and direct their sales forces.

Generally, pharmaceutical consultants have a great deal of first-hand experience within the market and specifically with regard to dealing first-hand with professionals and end users. They can advise about correct motivation and the proper balance of training versus direct, “feet on the street” time. In most cases, pharma consulting can help to instil the correct amount of urgency within the sales staff member, while helping to ensure that the team works across different tangents. The executive must not only work with the best interest of the employing company at heart, but must seek to engage the acceptance and trust of the end-user professional at a critical stage in the product life. True balance is required to ensure that motivation works through training to reveal the correct way forward.

Alan Gillies is the Director of L2L Consulting, an elite pharmaceutical consultancy firm which specialises in Strategy Development and Implementation Excellence for prestigious multi-national organisations.

Outdated sales tactics have no place in the modern healthcare and pharmaceutical arena. So much is at stake here, as the professional healthcare provider needs to cut to the chase and be in possession of all the appropriate facts. Sales people who are at the top of the game realise that they need to build customer relationships first and foremost and always over deliver, rather than trying to focus on closing sales according to textbook concepts or the analysis of a prospect’s personality. It’s important to get to know the specific worries and needs of the customer and to use experience and ability to devise a way to assuage the client’s issues. If you think of how much time it takes to build a rapport and trust with a client, risking this should be avoided at all cost. Remember that we exist in a competitive world and other organisations are ready to pounce, so the interests of a particular client should be the subject of honest and open discussions and relationship building, rather than “spinning.”

The ultimate objective of a sales executive is of course to close a sale, but all the background work must be completed carefully involving an investigation of how a company could help a professional, rather than pitching a product. Consider your questions carefully and spend time to ask them and gather the information. Get the professional to open up and provide information upon which to base the next pertinent question, and through a process of problem solving such as this, the company will be many steps closer to that important sale and to improving the effective implementation ratio.

In our modern marketplace, pharmaceutical consultants know how important an effective implementation ratio is and understand how much the parent company invests in its efforts. These ratios can be elevated by the best pharmaceutical consulting firms, who will take time to ensure that the sales force is well trained, dedicated and in possession of the necessary techniques. Invariably, pharma consulting will eke out the potential and allow a company’s senior executives to focus on the areas where they should be paying particular attention.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of L2L Consulting, specialising in enabling pharmaceutical companies to achieve new heights of productivity and performance, throughout all levels of management and revenue generating activities.

The key client understands why it should be designated as “key,” whether that is purely to do with revenue levels or not or whether, as more likely, it is a product of strategic positioning as well. As such, it will be looking for a special level of attention from the company and an element of leadership in the industry.

Always maintain a two way association between the company and the client. Where competition is rife, options are always available and the company must ensure that it is always doing more than could be expected of it. This requires a philosophical integration through all staff levels and this can be sometimes difficult to achieve. This is why a pharmaceutical consulting firm remains a good investment for the company. Due to the amount of experience that they have built up, pharmaceutical consultants can be really knowledgeable and can even understand a client’s requirements better than the company itself. Consultants should be engaged to help train staff at all levels, to bring them up to speed with the necessary intricacies of dealing with clients.

For example, a client will often be looking for the company to be proactive, to be always looking for ways to improve the relationship and to help the client act on data and information that they already have. Interaction in this way will not necessarily result in a direct revenue increase and therefore if the sales executive is only motivated by revenue related bonuses, this level of incentivisation may not work in everyone’s best interests at all.

Remember that these situations are often far more subtle than this would suggest, and even the most sophisticated incentivisation schemes can fail to meet their targets. A lot of experience is called for in this situation and each key account must be handled carefully and with precision.

Hidden costs are often involved and the pharmaceutical company must understand that it should be very sparing in its designation of “key” account status. Always read between the lines and assess how strategically important the relationship could be, far above bottom-line figures and revenues. In our modern business world, pharma consulting firms are on point here and can help to reveal the reasons and circumstances that can affect a company’s decision and help to safeguard the company’s best interests in the beginning.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of L2L Consulting, specialising in enabling pharmaceutical companies to achieve new heights of productivity and performance, throughout all levels of management and revenue generating activities.

Healthcare will be a growing industry for the foreseeable future, especially as the generation known as “baby boomers” comes of a certain age, representing a strain on the overall health care system. This will call for innovation and the provision of additional services and products by the pharmaceutical company. The marketplace is sure to get more and more competitive.

A spotlight will always be trained on costs and the role of the insurance company as intermediary between both ends of the spectrum. Healthcare professionals are sure to receive pressure, as they weigh up the advice that they should give their patients in the light of new rules and rafts of legislation. All in all, a great period of uncertainty can be expected in what is already a pressure filled industry.

In the future, pharmaceutical consultants, already in high demand, will be even more valuable as the role of pharma consulting extends to decipher these new rules and implications. A company’s workforce will benefit from the training provided by these consultants, as they deliver results and draw on years of experience, training and expertise. The parent company’s executives have much to do dealing with the daily concerns and requirements associated with regulatory pressures and production issues. Their valuable time should be devoted to the administration of staff, training and maintenance. The pharmaceutical consulting firm is ready and able to take on this element of the organisation and to ensure that sales executives implement correctly and bring as valuable a return as possible to the company’s bottom line.

The healthcare business is one of our most dynamic industries and pharmaceutical and healthcare consulting is a critical internal component. The pharmaceutical company faces significant pressures from a wide variety of interested parties, not all of whom can be considered to be “friendly.” While the company’s executives struggle with these issues, figuring out how to interpret positions and trying to devise how to approach and deal with each party from a strong position, the pharmaceutical consulting firm can provide valuable backing. Make no mistake, there are challenging and risky times ahead, yet these times could also be potentially lucrative and the consultant can be an additional pair of ears and eyes, together with a valued resource. The company is advised to consider a long-term engagement with the pharmaceutical and healthcare consulting firm accordingly.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of L2L Consulting, specialising in enabling pharmaceutical companies to achieve new heights of productivity and performance, throughout all levels of management and revenue generating activities.

Perhaps more so than any other business, location is very important when it comes to the selection of a gas station for sale. You might think that the value of the location is obvious, but if you talk to local authorities before you go too far, you will be able to see if events such as road construction would factor into your equation, or whether certain environmental issues need to be addressed including storage tank upgrades, or if there have been past issues with litigation. If you’re not careful, your income potential could be decimated!

It’s certainly true to say that gasoline sales by themselves may not represent a significant margin potential, so to value a gas station when you’re looking to buy a business, you may often rely on ancillary sales and other products or services. If the location you are looking at is not so advanced in these respects, consider the potential. Could you enlarge or install a convenience store, or license it out to another organization to handle it for you? Could you place a first-class car wash operation on property and benefit from revenues here?

If you want to buy gas station business assets correctly, you should note from the beginning that an operation which could be classified as full-service, in other words gas, car wash and c-store, could command up to three times the owner benefits. Owner benefits are referred to as salary, profits plus any perks, adjusted for depreciation, interest and any capital expenditure you may be forced to make. If a simpler establishment is of interest to you, for example maybe due to its potential, you might expect to pay just one or even two times the owner benefits.

Pore over your business financials, your supplier contracts and make sure that you have adequate discussions with any landlord involved. Many deals trip up at the landlord/tenant stage, as the landlord often takes it upon him or herself to try and ensure that the incoming new owner is up to the job of making the business a success!

Keenly observe what is going on at the gas station during the process of observation. You should be especially wary if the owner appears to be working “hands on” for long periods of time. If many of his family members are seen putting in a lot of effort, they may be working below market rates, being paid under the table or maybe not at all; what if you had to recruit paid staff to do their jobs? Make sure that you observe the busier time periods, counting traffic and people, so you can gauge the potential accurately and know how to create a good offer.

Richard Parker is the author of the How to Buy a Good Business at a Great Price series. As President and founder of Diomo Corporation – The Business Buyer Resource Center, his materials, seminars and consulting have helped thousands of business buyers realize their dream to buy a business.