Good Sales Potential

After a few months operating experience, TLC came to believe there were several additional attractive markets — beyond designers and their customers with good sales potential ... 

Commercialization is a major issue for our industry. We re going to be developing a lot of new products, which is very good news. The bad news is that we estimate it costs about 200 million USD to bring a new product to market The time frame is ten to 12 years. So, there is a lot of investment to be made up front to bring in new products. At DuPont, we decided that unless a product had 150 million USD sales potential, we would not pursue it. 

Quantity of sales-qualified leads (SQLs) This number signifies the eimount of SQLs that your marketing tecim sends over to sales. These are leads that sales deems good and potentially sales-ready. In some places, this means when the sales depcirtment moves an opportunity to a next stage along the funnel. 

Once basic requirements and secondary objectives have been established, the prospective purchaser will find it easier to discuss details with sales representatives. From the latter s viewpoint, it is easier to talk to a potential customer who knows what he needs from a mass spectrometer system rather than to a customer who has only a vague idea of what is required. In fact, an uninformed customer can end up purchasing an expensive instrument that is far too good for the analyses required or, at the other extreme, a cheap instrument that is inadequate for immediate needs, let alone ones that might arise in the near future. 

Fifth, when total refusal is advised, political will is sometimes tested. The best example from the United Kingdom concerns beta interferon for multiple sclerosis NICE twice advised against its use on grounds of lack of cost effectiveness. Faced with a potential political backlash, the ministry devised a risk-sharing plan under which patients were to be monitored over time. If the long-term outcome for patients is not as good as the manufacturers suggest, they may have to refund some of their sales revenues (U.K. Department of Health 2002). 

The owners funds, or equity, include the issued capital (i.e. the face value of the company s shares), capital reserves (funds received in ways distinct from operating profits, such as premiums on the sale of shares) and revenue reserves, which are the accumulated annual profits earned. The long-term loans include not only the sums borrowed from hanks and finance houses as well as bonds issued by the company, but also the provisions for future potential (but as yet unknown) costs for example the sums a company involved in asbestos liability litigation would prudently set aside against possible penalties and costs. Current liabilities include all bills received but not yet paid (for goods and services), and any short-term loans, due within a year, such as bank overdrafts. 

The sale of both shares and bonds can be keyed to their intended use for a specific project, and if the project idea is a good one, whose purpose is easily conveyed to the potential investors, then the sale is correspondingly eased. 

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