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Scientific Selling

Name: Scientific Selling
Rating: 4.6 (44 reviews)

Use science to sell technical products and services to technology companies and science institutes.

Created byCarol Gebert

Last updated 8/2014

English

What you'll learn

This course will improve your prospecting success by teaching you how to marry scientific credibility with persuasive writing.
This course will show you how to set up a useful CRM so that your knowledge investments become assets for long term success.
The course gives practical, powerful tips for getting the most out of tradeshows and other marketing investments.
The course gives 21st century advice for sales meetings and how to really win the sale.
The course has two chapters for special audiences. One is devoted to tech entrepreneurs needing to cross over to a 'sales mind.' The other gives job hunting advice to young professionals.
The course shows you how to find lists of prequalified companies and potential buyers.

Course content

11 sections • 37 lectures • 6h 4m total length

Introduction to Scientific Selling9:52
This course is for three kinds of people:

A. Young graduates with a hard science degree, seeking a career in business development.

B. Technology entrepreneurs suddenly responsible for selling without any prior experience.

C. Practicing sales and marketing professionals looking for new ideas.

There are eleven chapters in total. Titles and topics described below:

1. Characteristics and Uses - A summary of the rest of the course, with part one contrasting scientific selling with other modes of transaction seeking.

2. New Problems with Old Methods - Changes during the past few decades, impacting the sales profession.

3. Get Organized: Intro to CRM - Get organized with a sales database.

4. Daily Life/ Actionable Routines - How to prospect and how to get into the routine of continuously seeking new business.

5. Persuasive Writing and Presenting - Concepts and examples to adapt science to known persuasive formulae.

6. Scientific Sales Meetings - Scripts and props for face to face (F2F) meetings.

7. 21st Century Marcom - Marketing communications that work.

8. Getting the Most Out of Tradeshows - Tactics and tips to maximize your investment.

9. Contrasting Products and Services - Considerations for approach and qualifying questions.

10. For Tech Entrepreneurs - How to grow past your first circle of believers.

11. For Young Grads: Landing a BD-bound Job - How to get and present the experience employers want.

The course consists of the following elements:

•Video with narrated audio.

•Slides without audio. (Unlike the videos, the slides will be available as a single file for each chapter, as supplemental material for the first video of each chapter.)

•Useful links. (Embedded in the pdf slides)

•Exercise sheets. (Embedded in the pdf slides)

•Screen grab how-to videos. (Extra videos, especially for chapter four.)

•CRM (database) design. (See excel spreadsheet in supplemental material for chapter three.)

•Suggested reading list. (See supplemental material for chapter one.)
Prospecting 1019:08
Chapter One is a summary and introduction to the rest of the course. All the points touched upon are listed here, with the bold text indicating the content of part two.

1.Who Should Practice Scientific Selling?

2.Non-Scientific Selling: Still Has a Place

3.New Mantras: Using Science in the Sales Process

4.Contrasting Old and New (Scientific) Prospecting Processes

5.An Actionable Formula for Iteration

6.Scientific Cold Calling: Wow Them With Your Research

7.Never-Old Mantras

8.Prequalify, Prequalify, Prequalify

9.Prequalified. What Next?

10.Scientific Sales Meetings

11.Scientific Winning

12.Recap of Key Concepts
21st Century Communications4:32
Chapter One is a summary and introduction to the rest of the course. All the points touched upon are listed here, with the bold text indicating the content of part three.

1.Who Should Practice Scientific Selling?

2.Non-Scientific Selling: Still Has a Place

3.New Mantras: Using Science in the Sales Process

4.Contrasting Old and New (Scientific) Prospecting Processes

5.An Actionable Formula for Iteration

6.Scientific Cold Calling: Wow Them With Your Research

7.Never-Old Mantras

8.Prequalify, Prequalify, Prequalify

9.Prequalified. What Next?

10.Scientific Sales Meetings

11.Scientific Winning

12.Recap of Key Concepts

What selling was like in the past5:53
Chapter Two touches upon the history of the sales profession. The topics covered are listed below, with the content of part one in bold.

1.Hidden assumptions of old methods.

2.Evolution of the sales role.

3.Erosion of the call center model.

4.Other changes.

5.Top Technical Sales Problems of the 21st Century.

6.Contrasting Old and New (Scientific) Prospecting Pocesses.

7.Dimensions of Qualification.
New tools for sellers and buyers6:52
Chapter Two touches upon the history of the sales profession. The topics covered are listed below, with the content of part two in bold.

1.Hidden assumptions of old methods.

2.Evolution of the sales role.

3.Erosion of the call center model.

4.Other changes.

5.Top Technical Sales Problems of the 21st Century.

6.Contrasting Old and New (Scientific) Prospecting Pocesses.

7.Dimensions of Qualification.

How to organize your sales potential9:50
Chapter Three covers CRMs - sales databases known as 'customer relationship management.' This course emphasizes that sales is a knowledge profession where you store, organize and retrieve sales-related data. Part one gives the rationale for why a CRM is an essential tool. The topics covered in chapter three are listed below, with the topics covered in part one in bold.

1.Bad, common habits.

2.The architecture of a sale.

3.Why databases are better.

4.CRMs: Sales databases.

5.List-making made easy.

6.Comparison between commercial CRM.

7.Design one for yourself.
Using a CRM to make lists10:19
The topics covered in chapter three are listed below, with the topics covered in part two in bold. Part two shows you how to use a CRM and some basic differences between CRMs.

1.Bad, common habits.

2.The architecture of a sale.

3.Why databases are better.

4.CRMs: Sales databases.

5.List-making made easy.

6.Comparison between commercial CRM.

7.Design one for yourself.
Build one for yourself17:25
The topics covered in chapter three are listed below, with the topic covered in part three in bold. Part three shows you how to set up a CRM for yourself. See the design outline in the supplemental material attached to part one, chapter three.

1.Bad, common habits.

2.The architecture of a sale.

3.Why databases are better.

4.CRMs: Sales databases.

5.List-making made easy.

6.Comparison between commercial CRM.

7.Design one for yourself.
extra: Four CRMs compared12:51
This is a supplemental video comparing four different commercial CRMs: SugarCRM, ACT, Zoho and Podio.
extra: How to use a CRM setup for the first time4:46
This is a supplemental video that gives an introduction to customization of commercial CRMs. It shows how to go into the settings to customize fields and layout.

Finding and working from lists9:02
Chapter Four teaches you how to prospect and how to get into the routine of doing it continuously. The topics covered in the chapter are listed below, with the topics in part one indicated in bold.

1.Bad, old advice

2.The sales cycle and implications

3.List working

4.New-style cold calling

5.Weekly cycles

6.Reporting

7.Industry trends (Where is the money?)
Weekly routines: Getting into prospecting habits, including follow-up.20:03
Chapter Four teaches you how to prospect and how to get into the routine of doing it continuously. The topics covered in the chapter are listed below, with the topics in part two indicated in bold. Note that there are many supplemental videos in this chapter, showing how to use the internet to find lists of companies.

1.Bad, old advice

2.The sales cycle and implications

3.List working

4.New-style cold calling

5.Weekly cycles

6.Reporting

7.Industry trends (Where is the money?)
Long cycles: From months to years, where does the money flow?4:48
Chapter Four teaches you how to prospect and how to get into the routine of doing it continuously. The topics covered in the chapter are listed below, with the topics in part three indicated in bold. This part deals with longer-term business cycles and their implication for workload and industry focus.

1.Bad, old advice

2.The sales cycle and implications

3.List working

4.New-style cold calling

5.Weekly cycles

6.Reporting

7.Industry trends (Where is the money?)
extra-How to find lists of companies4:15
extra-How to find email addresses3:10
extra-Using Google maps to find companies2:57
extra-Using press release sites to find companies2:07
extra-Finding startups through SBIR awards4:37
extra-Finding prefunded companies1:50
extra-Using LinkedIn to find likely buyers3:28
extra-How to get full names from LinkedIn matches1:36
extra-Patent searching1:32

AIDA: Theory and examples10:06
Chapter five covers persuasive writing and its fusion with the scientific method. In part one, the famous AIDA formula is applied to scientific cold calls and emails. All topics of chapter five are listed here, with the bold indicating the content of part one.

1.How persuasion is different

2.The AIDA formula

3.AIDA examples

4.The SPIN Formula

5.Feature-Advantage-Benefit & Permissioning

6.The Value Proposition

7.Objection Handling

8.Closing Techniques

9.Value-Adds

10.Being Memorable
SPIN: Theory and examples9:55
Chapter five covers persuasive writing and its fusion with the scientific method. In part two, more famous concepts are applied to scientific communications. All topics of chapter five are listed here, with the bold indicating the content of part two.

1.How persuasion is different

2.The AIDA formula

3.AIDA examples

4.The SPIN Formula

5.Feature-Advantage-Benefit & Permissioning

6.The Value Proposition

7.Objection Handling

8.Closing Techniques

9.Value-Adds

10.Being Memorable
Other persuasive concepts12:08
Chapter five covers persuasive writing and its fusion with the scientific method. In part three more famous concepts are applied to scientific communications. All topics of chapter five are listed here, with the bold indicating the content of part three.

1.How persuasion is different

2.The AIDA formula

3.AIDA examples

4.The SPIN Formula

5.Feature-Advantage-Benefit & Permissioning

6.The Value Proposition

7.Objection Handling

8.Closing Techniques

9.Value-Adds

10.Being Memorable

Pre-meeting activities13:49
Chapter six deals with face to face meetings, covering where they fit in the knowledge exchange process, how to prepare and what to do in them. The topics in part one are indicated in bold, below, and deal with the lead up to a meeting.

1.Old and new knowledge exchange process

2.Slide decks to send in advance

3.Good meeting preparation

4.Flipbooks

5.Special note on services

6.Being memorable

7.Winning
Meeting props: What to take, what to say19:53
Chapter six deals with face to face meetings, covering where they fit in the knowledge exchange process, how to prepare and what to do in them. The topics in part two are indicated in bold, below, and cover what to do and what to take to a meeting.

1.Old and new knowledge exchange process

2.Slide decks to send in advance

3.Good meeting preparation

4.Flipbooks

5.Special note on services

6.Being memorable

7.Winning

Traditional marketing communications that still work10:25
Chapter seven touches upon marketing communications. Part one recaps traditional channels and actual consumption behavior of marcom. The topics in chapter seven are listed below, with the topics of part one indicated in bold.

1.Traditional Marcom and Modern Interactions

2.Business Card 2.0

3.Reasons to Communicate

4.Postcards

5.Design Tips

6.Tradeshows

7.Modern Information-Seeking Behavior

8.Email Blasting

9.Websites

10.Other Remote Communications

11.Web Ads

12.Mobile Ads
Postcards and other effective hardcopy for guerrilla marketing9:49
Chapter seven touches upon marketing communications. Part two touches upon old marcom channels that are still effective. The topics in chapter seven are listed below, with the topics of part two indicated in bold.

1.Traditional Marcom and Modern Interactions

2.Business Card 2.0

3.Reasons to Communicate

4.Postcards

5.Design Tips

6.Tradeshows

7.Modern Information-Seeking Behavior

8.Email Blasting

9.Websites

10.Other Remote Communications

11.Web Ads

12.Mobile Ads
Electronic marketing: The Basics for non-IT entrepreneurs23:24
Chapter seven touches upon marketing communications. Part three covers electronic marketing channels. The topics in chapter seven are listed below, with the topics of part two indicated in bold.

1.Traditional Marcom and Modern Interactions

2.Business Card 2.0

3.Reasons to Communicate

4.Postcards

5.Design Tips

6.Tradeshows

7.Modern Information-Seeking Behavior

8.Email Blasting

9.Websites

10.Other Remote Communications

11.Web Ads

12.Mobile Ads

Finding tradeshows and reasons to go11:08
Chapter eight recaps the role of tradeshows, with part one examining reasons to go and which shows to go to. The topics of chapter seven are listed here, with the topics of part one indicated in bold.

1.High hopes and high costs.

2.Who goes?

3.How to find obscure tradeshows.

4.How to help your prospects.

5.Booth/table location.

6.Branding.

7.Sponsorships.

8.Print marcom.

9.Speaking slots.

10.Posters.

11.Other vendors.
Tradeshow tactics that work13:20
Chapter eight recaps the role of tradeshows, with part two covering the tactics to employ at a show. The topics of chapter seven are listed here, with the topics of part two indicated in bold.

1.High hopes and high costs.

2.Who goes?

3.How to find obscure tradeshows.

4.How to help your prospects.

5.Booth/table location.

6.Branding.

7.Sponsorships.

8.Print marcom.

9.Speaking slots.

10.Posters.

11.Other vendors.

Contrasting products & services: Random observations deserving consolidation19:25
Chapter nine is a late addition to the course. The material was initially embedded inside the other chapters, but on final reflection, was better consolidated into a dedicated chapter. There is only one video in this chapter, and it covers the following topics:

1.Definitions

2.Position statements and value propositions

3.Sales cycle differences

4.Qualifying questions

5.Big versus small Cos

6.The close

External issues for entrepreneurs: More BD activity, more credibility11:09
Chapter ten is a special chapter for technology entrepreneurs who are now responsible for sales but who have no prior experience. Part one deals with elevating your credibility. The topics of chapter ten are listed here with the topics of part one indicated in bold.

1.Challenges to selling tech: Externalities

2.Credibility & validation

3.Active prospecting

4.Essential prospecting tools

5.Challenges to selling tech: Internalities

6.The Value Proposition

7.Positioning

8.Recommended BD exercises
Internal issues for entrepreneurs: Thinking differently21:26
Chapter ten is a special chapter for technology entrepreneurs who are now responsible for sales but who have no prior experience. Part two deals with prospecting and expressing yourself with a sales rather than technical lens. The topics of chapter ten are listed here with the topics of part two indicated in bold.

1.Challenges to selling tech: Externalities

2.Credibility & validation

3.Active prospecting

4.Essential prospecting tools

5.Challenges to selling tech: Internalities

6.The Value Proposition

7.Positioning

8.Recommended BD exercises

Requirements

Learn some basic sales concepts first.
Have at least a Bachelor's degree in a hard science or technology.
Read some books, blogs or videos about focusing on customer NEEDS.
Pop Quiz: Which is more important, closing the sale or solving a customer problem?
Pop Quiz: When you sell, are you asking for money or supplying a valued solution to a party in need?

Description

Scientific Selling is a sales style best practiced when the item being sold is highly technical, with a high ticket value and where the customer is a technology corporation.

The style itself incorporates many principles of science: Data gathering, data analysis, experimentation, skepticism. Scientific Selling builds-upon more generic sales training with this course referring to several famous sales formulae and concepts, with pointers on where to find the original source material. The subscriber is encouraged to have some of this general knowledge before starting this course.

Although the style is important, this course is more focused on the practical. It supplies examples and templates as well as generalized advice. Many topics are covered, but the emphasis is on prospecting as a routine, so that you are always growing your pipeline.

This course is for three kinds of people:

A. Young graduates with a hard science degree, seeking a career in business development.

B. Technology entrepreneurs suddenly responsible for selling without any prior experience.

C. Practicing sales and marketing professionals looking for new ideas.

The course is eleven chapters in slide show format of about a dozen topics each chapter, narrated and also available as pdfs. Narrated videos in chapters one and two are about six minutes each, but from chapter three forward, they have median times of 12-16 minutes. Pdfs in the supplemental material will contain live links to material referenced in the videos. Keep a look out for special supplemental material in some chapters.

Two early chapters are presented free of charge. Please leave me some feedback on the course, telling me something you found valuable. I aim to bring unique insights and tips in addition to a scientific synthesis of existing sales concepts. Also please contact me if you are convinced of the potential success of scientific selling in your industry segment, but just do not have the time and want to offload it to a specialist. I also want to hear from you long-term if you do implement scientific selling yourself and what kind of difference it made to your new customer acquisition figures.

Good Hunting!

Carol Gebert

Who this course is for:

A young science or technology graduate seeking a career in technology business development.
A mid-career practicing professional in technology business development looking for a new edge over your competition
An entrepreneur with terrific scientific credentials but no prior experience in pure sales.
Any other business development, marketing or sales professional in a scientific or technical field struggling in the marketplace.

Scientific Selling

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Characteristics & Uses: Scientific Selling for Entrepreneurs3 lectures • 24min

New Problems with Old Sales Methods2 lectures • 13min

Getting Organized with CRM: a sales database5 lectures • 55min

Prospecting Routines/ A Day in the Life12 lectures • 59min

Writing Persuasively with Science3 lectures • 32min

Scientific Sales Meetings2 lectures • 34min

21st Century Marcom3 lectures • 44min

Getting the Most From Tradeshows2 lectures • 24min

Contrasting Products & Services1 lecture • 19min

For Tech Entrepreneurs2 lectures • 33min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: