Many scientists are uncomfortable with selling. What they don’t realize is that they’ve been doing it since infancy. Anyone who’s gotten into college, landed a job, or been on a date that’s led to a romantic relationship has conducted a successful sales campaign.
The “product” in this case is the person themselves. That person conveyed useful information about themselves in a manner that led to a mutually beneficial exchange. Of course, most scientists are not interested in selling themselves—not in a direct manner, anyway—but rather their products or services. What the example above serves to do is illustrate that not all scientists are as foreign to sales as they think. In fact, the sales skills they’ve been using passively are very similar to the ones used in active sales.
Basics: The Four Ps
At the base of any sales exchange, there is a product that meets another party’s needs. This fundamental tenet makes up one part of what professional marketers call the “Four Ps” (product, price, place, and promotion). To sum it up: the “Four Ps” refer to the mix of factors that must be balanced in order to make a persuasive sale in the market. You need a product that solves a need, it must be priced right (neither too high nor too low), it needs to be in a location where the potential customer will see it, and so on.
This article focuses on selling the “product” part.
Selling in the Field
Scientists are often asked to help professional sales teams sell their products. For the scientist, this is a great opportunity to meet and talk with the “real bosses,” the folks who buy the fruits of their labor. (To clarify: the administrative bosses handle the money in between.) For many scientists, this situation requires some mental adjustments. Scientists have been conditioned to glean praise and achievement from being smart, and that is their go-to mode. Being smarter than your customer, however, is not conducive to conveying useful information or to making a sale. Pointing out the weak points in your own product may be useful internally, but it’s not a useful tactic in making a sale. You can be honest without shooting yourself (and your organization) in the foot. After all, when applying for colleges, it was not necessary to highlight that C-minus in high school calculus.
When a scientist is in a customer’s lab or office, it is best to remember that one is a guest and behave accordingly. Listen to the host’s questions and concerns about the product and address them as honestly and completely as you can without dwelling on negatives. If it’s necessary to discuss product shortcomings, it may be useful to frame them in terms of overall utility. For example, suppose the reproducibility of the product is less than stellar at the extremes of the standard curve. A reasonable question to ask the host is: “How many patient samples are in the affected range?” Turn the focus of the discussion to product performance in the range where most of the samples actually occur.
Most customers will be polite to a visiting scientist. They’ll take the opportunity to learn and discuss ideas of mutual interest. Occasionally a customer may feel the need to demonstrate that they are as smart or as well-informed as the visitor. Let them have their moment; keep the focus on the product, not personalities. However, do not let obvious inaccuracies go unchallenged. One way to do this is to politely disagree and offer to find literature that speaks to the disagreement. This will keep the discussion professional and grounded in more than opinion. It is a learning opportunity for both parties. It will also build credibility, but only if there is follow through with the commitment to find literature that speaks to the issue.
One mistake that new salespeople and visiting scientists alike make is to keep talking once the customer has agreed to the sale. This risks the loss of the sale if a weakness of the product is highlighted. Bear in mind that a product does not have to be perfect to be useful—it has to solve the customer’s problems reliably. Can anyone of us honestly say that we scored perfectly in college or perform flawlessly on the job?
Selling in the Workplace
When a scientist works to develop a new product, they become more familiar with it than anyone else. They understand its inner workings and its potential. With this, they may become aware of improvements that were not anticipated in the original development plan or specifications.
Most organizations maintain plans to ensure that products are introduced in a timely fashion, but they may tolerate deviations if it leads to a better product. This is where a scientist’s selling skills come in: they must sell the rest of the team on the merits of the product improvements. That entails conveying the information in an understandable fashion. (At times, the rest of the team will not view the innovation with the same enthusiasm as the originator. Be prepared for the possibility and learn from the failure; there will be more opportunities).
Conversely, if a scientist knows there are serious flaws in the product, they should have the courage to raise those concerns within the organization so they can be addressed. If the organization refuses to acknowledge the flaws, it may be time to look for another position. Organizations and people succeed in direct proportion to how they deal with reality. An organization that refuses to accept reality is doomed to fail sooner or later, and there is no need to go down with a sinking ship.
Scientific Credibility and Sales
It is possible to combine effective selling while maintaining a high level of scientific credibility. The thoughts above are based on more than four decades of personal experience as a bench scientist, an R&D manager, and a business development manager that sold contract assay development services. These contracts were for multi-year projects that totaled tens of million dollars in revenues for my employer and allowed customers to put more assays on their platforms than they could have done on their own. Some of the project were follow-ons after the success of the first.
As I neared retirement, I informed my customers. Something almost magical happened: a number of them wanted to hire me as a consultant (and some did). What this experience demonstrated to me is that it is possible to combine sales and be scientifically credible at the same time.
Conclusion
Selling is hard work and it is often lonely. It is as intellectually challenging as product development and requires a diverse skill set that includes product knowledge, understanding the customer’s needs, and being able to convey that knowledge so that both parties benefit. It can also be a rewarding experience. If the opportunity for sales support in the field arises, take advantage of it: you may find you have a knack for it and scientific sales may be in your future.
DCN Dx is an international leader in the contract development and commercialization of rapid diagnostic tests at its ISO 9001:2015 and EN 13485:2016 certified facility in Carlsbad, Calif. The company’s team of in-house scientists and engineers develop and integrate all aspects of assay systems, including cassettes, sample handling devices, and reader systems. Since its founding more than 12 years ago, DCN Dx has been committed to furthering the rapid diagnostic test market through the continued evolution of technologies and applications related to lateral flow assays.
For more information, visit dcndx.com.
