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Succession Bio works with life science/biotech companies to help drive sales, licensing, and partnership opportunities.

We do this through market research to identify the right companies and people, craft scientifically credible messages, and then perform the outbound sales and marketing tactics on your behalf to facilitate meetings with the right people at the right companies.

Succession

Alright, let's address the elephant in the Zoom room.

Your company just slashed the conference budget. No more ELRIG. No more SfN. No more "accidentally" bumping into your top prospect at the hotel bar while pretending you're both just there for the complimentary peanuts.

Plot twist, they still expect you to hit the target.

Those conferences weren't magic because of the overpriced coffee or the expo hall carpet that's seen better days.
They worked because you got face-time with people. You built rapport. You had actual human conversations that didn't involve "sorry, I was on mute."

Good news, you can still do all of that. You just need to get better at doing it through a screen.

Before we get into the "how," let's talk about the "why."

When you meet someone at a conference, you weren't just exchanging information, you were:

All of that accelerated trust. It turned cold prospects into warm conversations. It moved stalled deals forward because suddenly you weren't just "that vendor", you were "that person I grabbed a pint with in Manchester/Boston."

You can recreate almost all of that virtually. You just have to be intentional about it.

If you're still doing video calls with your webcam pointing up your nose while your partner shouts at the dog in the background, we need to talk.

The basics:

Why this matters: In person, you show up looking presentable. On video, your setup is your appearance. Nail it once, and it works forever.

Here's a fun fact: when you look at someone's face on your screen, they think you're looking down. When you look directly at your camera, they feel like you're making eye contact.

The move: Put your camera as close to their video window as possible. Look at the camera when you're speaking. Glance at the screen to check their reactions. Rinse and repeat.

Sounds awkward? It is, at first. But it's the difference between "this person is reading their emails" and "this person is fully present."

When you lose body language in person, your voice has to work harder.

The fix:

And please, please, avoid the hammock effect. You know what I'm talking about, starting strong, then trailing off into "yeah-so-anyway-I-guess-uh…" halfway through. Keep your energy consistent.

Here's where most people are leaving money on the table: video messages.

When you can't bump into someone at the conference coffee queue, send them a 60-second Loom instead of another text-based email that gets skimmed and forgotten.

Why it works:

When to use it:

When NOT to use it:

Pro tip: Send it via LinkedIn voice/video messages if they're active there. Way higher open rates than email.

One of the best parts of conferences? Those random hallway chats that weren't on the agenda.

You can recreate that virtually; you just have to engineer it.

The move: Schedule a "virtual coffee" with no agenda. 15 minutes. Camera on. No pitch. Just chat about their work, their projects, what they're thinking about lately.
Or maybe more conveniently, carve out 5 min at the beginning of a discovery call for this, don't dive straight into the details.

Sounds fluffy? It's not. It's rapport-building. And rapport is what moves deals when everyone's offering similar solutions.

Losing conference budgets is crap. But here's what it doesn't change: people still buy from people they know, like, and trust.

You just have to build that trust through pixels instead of pints.

The good news? Most of your competitors are still sending generic emails and wondering why their pipelines are drying up. If you get good at virtual rapport, the setup, eye contact, voice work, and video messages, you'll stand out more than you ever did in an expo hall.

So no, you're not getting shipped to Boston this year. But that doesn't mean you can't build and drive your pipeline, build relationships, and close deals.

You've just got to do it from your spare bedroom. With better lighting.

Want to go deeper?  Let me know, and I'll share a full breakdown on body language, tools, and how to structure async video messages that actually get responses.

Now go fix your camera angle.

P.S. If you're still using virtual backgrounds that make you look like you're floating in the void, we need to have a serious conversation.

NOW GO SEND A VIDEO OUTREACH AND LET ME KNOW HOW IT GOES!!!!!!!

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