How to Choose the Right Cardiac Diabetic Franchise Company
In case you have been tracking the healthcare industry in India recently, you must have seen a massive change. We are commonly known as the Diabetes Capital of the World and though that is a sobering title, it has generated a tremendous healthcare demand for specialized care. To an entrepreneur, the Cardiac and Diabetic (C&D) segment is not simply a business opportunity; it is a bridge into an opportunity for a high-growth, recession-proof career.
The cardiac-diabetic market is prescription-based as opposed to a cough-and-cold segment, in which a patient could change brands weekly. Once a physician discovers a blood pressure or diabetes medication that is effective, the patient continues to take it for many years, usually a lifetime. But it is all about the choice of partners. Choose the wrong company and you will end up with spoiled inventory and missed trust. Choose the correct one and you create heritage.
The following is how you go about this maze to get a lasting partnership.
This is a major error made by many new entrants who decide to select a company depending on the number of their products. Better quality and more therapeutically relevant in pharma than a 500-page catalog any time.
We categorize diseases as acute (temporal, e.g., a fever) and chronic. Being a franchisee, you prefer a portfolio that is skewed towards chronic medications. Why? It guarantees returning revenue. The same patient will revisit the pharmacy after every month to get a refill of metformin or telmisartan. Make sure your partner company has a combination of these stabilizer medications and the new "innovator products" like SGLT2 inhibitors (the newer generation of diabetes medications and also heart protectors).
Here you have to be a stickler for the rules. All your molecules should have the approval of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). In case of selling a combination of drugs that is not yet cleared as a new drug, it is putting your license at risk. Moreover, most of the cardiac-diabetic businesses have been incorporating the so-called nutraceuticals, such as Omega-3 pills or antioxidants. Omega-3s are the category of foods controlled by FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India). Both will be clearly and distinctly documented by a professional company.
WHO-GMP is the abbreviation of World Health Organization - Good Manufacturing Practices. It is a gold standard that the products are always produced and regulated to the trends of quality products.
In the heart section the doctor is the first one you make a sale to. A cardiologist meets dozens of medical representatives a day. When the medicine is in thin, poorly printed strips, the doctor will think that the medicine in them is of low quality also.
Let's talk numbers. When it comes to a franchise, it is a business and the numbers must work out at the end of the day.
The PCD (Propagatory Cum Distribution) model is applicable where you purchase products at a net rate from the company and sell them to the retailers or stockists at a premium price that is controlled by the Maximum Retail Price (MRP).
The Trap: There are companies that are very low with their net rates. This may appear profitable but take care. When a life-saving drug is much cheaper than it should be, then the doctors would be suspicious of its effectiveness. Seek "fair pricing" , a point that enables you to give a competitive markup to the chemist and retain a premium brand image.
This is the most important section of your contract. You shall have an exclusive monopoly over a particular district or zone. Suppose you take six months to persuade the best cardiologists in your town to use your brand and you realize that the parent company has hired an alternate distributor two streets later who is also now riding on your efforts. The monopoly agreement should always be written on legal stamp paper.
A superior company does not simply deliver the boxes and fade away. They are supposed to become your marketing partners.
The discipline of cardiology is complicated. Visual aids must be of high quality so that your salespeople can explain how a drug acts, such as how it controls the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System (RAAS). These are the flip charts and brochures that your reps would present to the doctors. In case the scientific data on these is out of date or of bad design, you will not buy a second moment of the doctor.
There is nothing that can murder a cardiac franchise, like stock-outs. In the event that a diabetic patient visits a chemist and discovers that your brand is not available, then the patient will immediately request the pharmacist to provide him/her with an alternative. When they have moved over to another brand of their competitors, it is extremely difficult to regain them. Select a firm that has a history of 24-48 hour order fulfillment.
Being a cardiac-diabetic franchisee means having a cold, analytical business mind and a warm heart towards the patient. You are not selling a commodity, you are also offering the means that allow a father to control his sugar levels and make his children grow, or a grandmother to maintain her blood pressure in order.
Do you want to take the next step? The first step is to shortlist three companies that have passed the WHO-GMP requirements and to ask them to provide their price-cum-stock list. Today you begin to enter the pharma industry.
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