niche-CRO BD Advice

We are looking for any advice on how to compete against the large/mid size CRO's, and to grow our client list.

We're a small group based in NC focused on early stage (phase 1) monitoring, medical writing, and project management. We're established, been around 7 years now and fortunate enough to have one large pharma client and a couple of smaller start-ups. But, the past year on the business development side has been extremely difficult getting in the door at some of the smaller/mid size pharma companies. Cold-calling definitely hasn't produced for our BD group, and the large amount of money spent at conferences has gone to waste as we've just shared booth space and networked with our competition weekend after weekend.

Are there conferences / networking events that anyone would highly recommend, where the pharma companies actually looking for CRO services are attending?

 

Great question. I too have worked for niche CROs and found myself continually saying....."nobody ever got fired for buying from IBM".....

What worked for us is/was third-party webinars. Try to hook into companies like FXtrans and others. This will allow you to demonstrate your capabilities to an audience you otherwise might not have access to.

Hope this is helpful.....good luck!