How Technical Should Your Prospecting Emails Really Be?

Read time: 4 minutes

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When selling into the life sciences, every rep faces the same challenge:

How do you sound credible to scientists without overwhelming them with technical detail?

You’re talking to some of the smartest, most analytical people in any industry (scientists, R&D directors, lab managers ) and you need to sound like you belong in their world.

The challenge is, if you go too light on the technical detail, your email sounds generic. Go too heavy and you’ve overwhelmed your reader before the first paragraph ends.

The top-performing reps know the secret. Use technical knowledge to spark curiosity while earning credibility. Here’s how you do it:

Create Curiosity

Your goal in the first message isn’t to explain or sell your technology, it’s to get your prospect thinking “I want to learn more”. A well-crafted question or insight does far more than paragraphs of features and data.

E.g. I noticed your team is expanding into cell-based assays. Are you finding that throughput is slowing as you scale?

This shows awareness of their technical context without overloading them. It creates an opening for conversation. Think of your email as the start of a hypothesis, not the conclusion.

Show That You Understand the Science, but Keep It Accessible

Technical credibility is non-negotiable in life sciences sales. Scientists can smell vague messaging a mile away. Use their terminology sparingly and correctly creates bigger impact. But remember, your reader might be a scientist or a decision-maker adjacent to science (operations, procurement, business development). 

Write in a way that both can follow. A good rule to follow is if your email reads like a methods section from a paper, simplify it. If it could apply to any lab on earth, specialize it.

Anchor Your Message in Industry Context

Strong sales messages connect your solution to what’s happening right now in the market.

Start your morning by scanning the latest industry updates (funding rounds, partnerships, research milestones etc) and weave those insights into your outreach.

You also have dozens of conversations with people like them every week. Scientists are heads down doing their work and don’t always know what everyone else is doing (until they’ve published). Share those insights and learnings!

E.g. I saw your company recently announced new preclinical collaborations. We’ve been helping similar biotech teams streamline early-stage data tracking so those partnerships scale smoothly.

This is specific, relevant and shows you understand their momentum.

Make It Conversational Even When the Topic Is Technical

Scientists appreciate clarity. They deal with complexity every day, so your message should feel like a relief, not another data set to decipher.

Keep sentences short. Break up paragraphs. Avoid commercial jargon that add no value (“synergies”, “innovative solutions”, “accelerate your research” etc).

E.g. “We’ve been working with R&D teams that were juggling multiple data sources during reporting. Once everything was centralized, their scientists could focus more on experimentation instead of chasing down information. Would that kind of workflow feel helpful for your group?”

You’re still making a technical point, but you’re doing it in clear, relatable language that invites a response.

Spark Curiosity With “What If?” Framing

This is one of my favourite messaging frameworks. The best outreach doesn’t tell a story, it opens one. Using “what if” frameworks shift the prospect’s mindset from evaluation to exploration.

E.g.1. “What if your QC reviews could happen in real time instead of at the end of each run?”

E.g.2. “What if your data analysis tools were flexible enough to support new assay types without a full rebuild?”

These are curiosity triggers. They nudge the scientist to explore, not defend.

Align Your Message to Their Stage of Thinking

Not every scientist is ready to evaluate your product. Some are just recognizing a problem. Early-stage prospects respond best to possibility-driven messages e.g. “Have you noticed how…”

Later-stage prospects want proof and comparison e.g. “Teams using this approach cut costs by…”

Knowing the difference helps you tailor your tone and send the right message at the right time to the right people.

Add a Human Layer to Every Technical Insight

Even in the most data-driven industries, people buy from people. Pair your technical point with an emotional or outcome-driven hook:

E.g. “We’ve seen teams reclaim full days of lab time by removing repetitive QC steps, and they’re spending more time actually running experiments.”

This has a technical tone while connecting something every scientist values, which is more time to do real work.

In summary, in life science sales, expertise gets you noticed but curiosity gets you conversations. Your prospects don’t want to be lectured, they want to feel understood. When you balance technical credibility with curiosity, you initiate conversations instead of silence.

The goal isn’t to deliver every answer in one message, it’s to open a loop that makes the reader want to know more. A well-crafted question or insight can do far more than a paragraph of product detail.

The reps who win in this space aren’t the ones who talk the most, they’re the ones who make scientists want to keep talking.

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Episode 73: [Sales] Support your prospects during market volatility with Jocelyn Foye

1. Lead Generation: We’ll build target lists, write scientifically relevant messaging, and send messages on your behalf to book qualified sales meetings with biotech and pharma companies.

2. Training 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.

3. Training for Teams: If you want to upskill your team around prospecting, driving to close, key account management, AI, or any other topic, we can put together a training plan specific to your organization’s needs.

4. 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.