Chasm of Mistrust

Science and Sales shall never be friends in the minds of many scientists - but fundamental to a successful company is the ability to sell your service or product. There has to be revenue generation or else you are company soley financed through investment and grants and effectively a research group with a commercial label rather than an academic one.
 
The gap is a "chasm of mistrust" and it takes a brave researcher to leap the gap and begin to understand the process of sales and marketing from the other side and even more to be able to advocate for the inclusion of these processes early in the development of a company or commercialisation process.
 
This chasm exists in many ways.
It exists in Universities where students and young researchers are channelled into a tight research focus and not often exposed to the benefits of business understanding - despite the best efforts of many Knowledge Exchange colleagues seeking participation in Business Academy/Dragons Den/Young Enterpreneur Scheme programs.
 
It exists in companies where there is little appreciation of the need for an appropriately worded website. One which allows your company to hold its head high in comparison with your competition. I have heard several senior managers in various companies say that they don't use the website to sell with, they rely on getting face-2-face meetings and developing the relationship from there. This is doing it the hard way -  and requires you to sell the credibilty of your company and technology in spite of the main marketing communication tool being a negative influence.
 
However the reaction of participants when they are put "in touch with their non-technical skills" and experience the freedom to express their science in a creative manner is often life changing.
 
I know - I've been there.
 
 
 
 

Commericalisation Pure or Applied?

How to inspire commercialisation in research scientists?

This is not a rhetorical question – it is a real problem that I don't have the answer to.

How to get people from the pure science elements of education to engage meaningfully with commercialisation either as academics or for a non-academic career choice.

Education across Europe defines people very early as scientists and encourages focus on the discipline, sometimes preventing access to other subjects which encourage entrepreneurship. Combinations such as Economics and Chemistry are rarely offered as Joint Honours – particularly in the UK.

So how do we enable our scientists to truly explore their ability and affinity for business? Not just in understanding the financial aspects of funding or running a business, but to explore their natural ability to communicate, their aptitude for sales, for marketing, for creative thinking and new product design?

Too many scientists think that sales are unimportant, and lack ethics; that marketing is all baloney and unnecessary but the reality is without sales there is no company or money making opportunity - even to fund their further research.

Business games such as Young Entrepreneur Scheme are great vehicles to allow academic engagement with commercialisation, but overall only a low percentage of students take this opportunity, often because they don't understand or appreciate the benefits of the interaction with others from different institutions or even just how a change of scene and time out of the lab can open your mind to new ideas.

Sometimes academic supervisors or teachers in high schools themselves don't appreciate the benefits of these types of event for widening self-knowledge and “putting people in touch with their non-technical skills” and can't support and encourage, or demand, participation from their pupils.

So how do we do it? How across Europe in particular, do we manage to bridge the gap between science and sales and get more people to realise that sales and marketing careers exist, are enjoyable and allow them to use their science to the benefit of themselves and their companies.

It is a fact that the companies need them – 80% of small companies fail because of lack of sales not because their technology didn't work.

 

 

Top 5 sales hints for scientific companies establishing a sales pipeline.

Scientific companies formed by scientists emerging into the commercial world can struggle to get the initial sales and key relationships established. Here are some handy hints and questions to pose internally before taking the plunge to create those important first impressions.

 

  1. Are you sales ready?   Have you got a product or service that can be shipped or rolled-out tomorrow? Does it come complete with instructions? Have you tested this? Often science companies have solved the scientific issues and problems but not completed the look, feel and marketing elements of the product and bounce into sales without having prepared fully.

  1. When you approach potential customers are you talking science or finance?   Have you moved on from talking to historical colleagues and contacts about the features of the product, how to make it the ideal product and started talking about when they want to purchase?

  1. Who is doing sales?  Is this a professional scientist or a professional sales person? Have they got the confidence, formal sales training and the contacts to get the sales pipeline formed for you. Are you doing it yourself because it is a complex product? Have you taken some basic sales training to provide you that knowledge of process and approach to sales issues?

  1. How many deals have you done ever?  How much revenue have you created over the years? Do you really have the negotiation skills and the mind-set for chasing purchase paperwork to be a successful sales rep or do you need to bring in a dedicated member of the team?

  1. Have you set concrete financial targets?   If you own the business, if you are the manager as well, then who is going to assess the reality of your targets and hold you to account if they aren't met? It can be very useful to have a separate mentor just for this to hold your interest on the financial progress as well as the scientific progress of the company.

 

If you are finding any of these aspects difficult please contact the Strategic Scientific team and we can talk you through the pain barrier.