#025: 6 tips for selling to scientists

Read time: 5 minutes

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So you need to sell to a scientist……Good luck!

Just kidding. 

This is a challenging sector to sell in, and possibly the most difficult time to sell in the last 30 years, NO PRESSURE.

Selling to scientists has been such a hot topic that it has columns and columns of articles and blogs, not least, a great book dedicated to it.

I’m sharing these tips and my 20+ years of experience in the field to tell you what’s most important when selling to scientists.

We summarized a few important parts of this book in this newsletter: Selling to scientists

Having said all this and considering the tips I am about to give you, It is important to remember that Scientists are people and people buy emotionally and instinctively, it's a fact that 80% of purchases are made with the 1st company that the buyer thinks of for that product.

We all know that we buy emotionally, think about your car or your phone, is there a cheaper option that still makes calls and loads apps or a car that gets you safely from a to b. However did you go for the cheapest option, or did you buy emotionally….

How does that iPhone make you feel (emotionally)?

Scientists are people so remember, we need to address not only the data but also the emotions, fear, joy, excitement, and even FOMO.

A personal example of how powerful following the following tips can be.

In one role I supported a customer, they were quite senior and happened to work in the stem cell/Neuroscience field, an area I was very familiar with.

I had worked with this client for some time, many meetings over many months…..But not one order! I followed the rule of adding value, sometimes even discussion areas, and introducing people to support them, none of which was related to what I sold….So STILL NO ORDER!

As I said this continued and we had fun conversations over coffee, so it was not hard to continue to meet, discuss potential projects, and support them.

After about 9 months, this client placed an order and it was a nice one, however, this is not the interesting part, the order came due to patience and persistence.

The part that was far more interesting, is because I added value, challenged them, and acted as an advisor. This Client would and still does, send introductions to me and will introduce me similarly to the below,

“As promised [NAME] I would like to introduce Nick, he is a cell culture expert and has been a great resource for me, he is currently working at [COMPANY] and you should really chat with him about your projects”.

Intros do not get much better or more flattering than that, you can consider that intro a HOT-qualified lead.

In short, put the work in, add value, focus on science, and scientists will respect and value your input.

When they do that, selling is the easy bit!

So here are my tips for selling to scientists.

1: Scientific Mindset

Scientists are hardwired to question and look for the inherent risk. This can seem like a challenge and it is, you will be grilled, so do not make claims you cannot back up.

However the positive is, that scientist, expect to be challenged on their approach and whether there is a better way to you can use this to position their technology/services

John Walker on the SalesDNA podcast said, “He appreciates and values if you are well-studied as a sales rep, as this shortcuts the buying process”.

2. Knowledge and continual learning

Knowledge is currency for scientists and how we connect. Be sure to know your product well, understand its relationship to the customer's field, and have a broader understanding of the research area. 

No one likes to be sold to.

Educate and challenge knowledge. For someone to change what they’re doing today, you need to disrupt their status quo bias.

Share information that you have gathered and hoarded from your countless other customer conversations, like a scientific sales Gollum, SHINEY THINGS.

3. Tailor your communication

Tailor your language and vocabulary to the audience, many scientific fields use different nomenclature and language, so be sure to use the correct terminology.

An example of this that I encounter is in iPSCs, people often talk of tri-lineage potential, this is a QC step that is used for shorthand to know that the iPSCs are high quality and able to be used in differentiation protocol.

4. Use social proof

Scientists value the opinions and experiences of their peers. Utilizing testimonials, case studies, and peer reviews can be highly effective. 

E.g. using a story of how your tech helped a customer overcome a similar problem and that it could do the same in their workflow. Even excluding sensitive information can lead to a level of confidence that is hard to get by just sharing data.

In a previous role, I had we used customer stories a lot and one was around protein-to-protein interactome study that we helped facilitate with a product. This allowed a Covid drug to get to phase 3 trials in months not years!!! That kind of story is gold dust for driving customer decisions. USE THEM A OFTEN AS YOU CAN!

We’re running a Succession workshop in 2 weeks on how to tell better stories in sales!

5. Be patient and persistent

Sales cycles can be long and internal processes convoluted.

You need to understand the buying process and what the internal limitations are. Support your scientist in this process as it will likely, not be their favorite part of their job, and they will love you for making their life easy!

Most scientists don’t buy your product every day.

But you help people buy it all the time.

Guide them through the buying process by sharing how others have navigated their internal buying committees.

6. Long-term relationships

Sales in biotech are not just transactional; they are about building long-term relationships. Scientists value suppliers who can provide ongoing support, education, and resources.

Focus on building relationships through excellent after-sales support, regular check-ins, and providing valuable information related to their field of interest.

Not one person said their sales training is great as is… The biggest perceived gap is the practical application of the training. Because most training isn’t specific to the skills of each individual, reps find it challenging to apply what they are learning.

Check out the video below to see how we’re solving this.

Apple Podcast | Spotify | YouTube

Episode 10: [Sales] 4 skills to master in sales and key account management with Anthony Kayas

• Lead with empathy and put yourself in their shoes

• How to interrupt with a positive mindset

• 4 skills to master in sales

• Mentorship between AMs and SDRs

1. Succession for Reps: A skill development platform for life science sales reps who want to improve their sales skills, exceed their quota, and take the next step in their career.

2. Succession for Teams: If you’re a sales leader who’s frustrated with reps living in reactive mode and either not proactively generating new opportunities or letting prospects go dark, reach out to learn more about our team plans.

3. Strategy Call: Need more than training? Want help implementing and executing your sales strategy? In a 30-minute call, we will assess your company’s current situation and identify growth opportunities.