Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Eva,

Would your prospects have to buy this device to replace something they already have? If so, then the pain of the device they already have might not be enough for them to want to buy a replacement for it, unless it's worn out or broken and they need to buy a new one. The points you brought out relate more to the buying decision upfront - when the purchaser doesn't have any and needs one. Then, you can bring up the features of "easier to use, 50% less, other advantages, etc."

If you are trying to sell this device AGAINST your competition for a first time buy (or for disposable products, a refill, if you will), then maybe it's your sales technique that needs help.

In any selling situation, focusing on the features is a low probability sell anyway. People buy for "emotions" first - not features. And then it's with functional benefits second. At the end, they are interested in features to convince themselves they already made a good decision to buy because of the emotions. So if you aren't leading with the emotional reasons why they person should buy - they are in pain now or could have pleasure now and if they bought, they would avoid pain or realize pleasure now - then this needs consideration.

Additionally, email campaigns and telemarketing are at best 10% effective - if you are REALLY good. There are other sales techniques that are much better - like referrals and introductions - face-to-face sales. You may want to change your sales strategies to include this.

The "new" factor could be a barrier and the face-to-face sales can help because you have a chance to build rapport and trust. You could augment the marketing you are doing with some "reasons to believe." Give the prospects the proof you have that the new device really works. If it's feasible to let them try it before they buy it, do that.

I hope this helps.

Wayde

Dear Eva

I would like to present a different slant, though I agree that face to face is the best way to close deals on research equipment. Medical researchers are famously conservative and subject to dithering when it comes to committing budget, so you might need to look at a whole financial year to build up a head of prospective sales with people owning budgets.

Firstly, what are the scientific and medical terms for the conditions or procedures you are going to use this device. Make an exhaustive list of the terms. I did some work for a client where the kit was for behavioural psychology both in clinical research and pre-clinical drug discovery research. I researched every possible key word associated with the research which had been carried out or which researchers might want to carry it out if they had the kit.

Next, using Medline, Ovid and so-on, I looked for research papers in the abstract which mentioned any the conditions you are aiming to do research into or which they mentioned that this procedures would fulfil. Do that with your instruments and do it exhaustively.

This should produce a few hundred or even thousands of peer reviewed papers where your equipment and most importantly the names of the researchers and collaborators who carried out the research and submitted the papers and the academic institution they work for are contained in the abstract.

Then use their University’s inevitably vast websites to locate these researchers and create a CRM database to hold them along with their research interests and anything else you glean which would help you to build a relationship with them. You will get address, phone number and email address from this of all the academics involved. Note their commercial collaborator by relating the academic’s record with the record you are about to create of the commercial researchers.

Also note the commercial collaborators and the companies for who they work and add their bare details to the CRM system. Typically, you will get the company name, possibly the location and their title. You are unlikely to get any email addresses or even phone numbers due to the tight security which pervades Bio-Tech and Pharma. (Animal rights nutters make this industry very secretive)

Contact the academic researchers by letter and phone and talk to them about their research. Send them literature and white papers which explain how your kit would benefit them.

Ask for the company address, phone number and email address and other details of the commercial partners or collaborators and put those details onto the CRM system. Send them the relevant information and armed with a phone number, contact them to talk about their research.

Once you’ve established your client base on the CRM system, look to carry out seminars and presentations where you can invite the academics and the commercial guys. If your proposition is good, the academic’s will want to buy your kit but it is unlikely that they will have the budget. Get them to commit to budgeting. The commercial prospects can easily buy the equipment but don’t have the time to get involved by themselves. Facilitate a meeting of minds between the academics and the commercial researchers. The latter will pay for the equipment for collaborative work with the former to everyone’s benefit.

I did this with 3 pieces of behavioural research equipment over a summer, using a life science undergraduate to spend half a day for six weeks gassing with Profs and Biotech researchers. This was followed by a road-show to all the interested parties, often putting various non-competing teams in the same audience in a University lecture theatre.

Answer questions and close on the principal of the usefulness of the kit.

Sales will follow.

I charged a firm quite a hefty fee for setting this up and at the end of the six week period of the exercise, we had added 550 new academic researchers complete with their specialisms in notes and more importantly 370 non-academic researchers from biotech and Pharma. They went on to clear about a million in sales before the end of the year against about 90K before trying this method.

Good luck and if you succeed, I’ll send you my bill! (Only joking, but if you want me to supervise the setting up of something like this for you, just ask)

Best of luck

Steve Alker
Xspirt