Here's how you can tell that times are tough

Companies that sell to big pharma are getting desperate. Not that this statement is controversial, but over the past couple of days I've had direct proof. My boutique consulting firm is not exactly a big company. And yet I'm starting to receive sales pitches (including some marked "urgent") from people with titles such as "Strategic Account Executive" and "National Accounts Director" that are definitely more appropriate for big pharma audiences.Just in the last couple of days I've received the following:

• A message from a webcasting service that touts BMS, Sanofi-Aventis, Goldman Sachs and McDonald's as customers
• Another from a company that writes medical articles, press releases, and other medical promotional materials for companies like GSK
• A plea to meet from a company that provides web infrastructure for big pharma corporate and product websites

I don't think this is a coincidence. After all what's a business development person to do after going up and down her list of customers, prospects, other people's customers and companies she's vaguely heard of --and getting nowhere? I guess at that point a company with a name like MedPharma Partners sounds kind of promising. Sorry to let you down, but we're unlikely to be worth the trouble.