Tag : life science

Escaping the Bench part 1

biobm 12:07 pm , June 13, 2011

BioBM Principal Consultant Carlton Hoyt has written an editorial for PostDocsForum on graduate students and post-docs moving outside science titled “A Flood of Life Scientists: The Practical Guide to Escaping the Crowd by Escaping the Bench”. The editorial, which is broken up into multiple parts, frames the issue of the relative lack of quality life science jobs compared to the number of trainees then goes on to explain ways to build and execute a strategy for moving away from bench science. The first part in the series has been posted today and you can read it in its entirely on PostDocsForum.

The first post frames the problem while subsequent posts will focus on figuring out what career path is right for you, gaining the requisite skills, and other issues pertinent to academic life scientists who want to change careers. We’ll let you know when the other parts are posted.

News 12:07 pm , June 13, 2011

Improving Distributor Performance

Carlton Hoyt 6:12 pm , June 7, 2011

Any bioscience company that sells through distributors is familiar with the problem: some distributors just don’t pull their weight. I spoke with a global laboratory equipment company recently that has about 100 distributors globally, excellent territory coverage, and no direct sales so all of their sales come through distributors. They told me that the 80/20 rule is in full effect with their distributors – 80% of their sales from 20% of their distributors. Even more extreme, over 50% of sales came from their top 4 distributors! They put in a great deal of effort trying to convert poorly performing distributors into well-performing distributors, but they were doing so in a very cost and time intensive manner and with moderate success at best. Admittedly, this is an extreme example, but Imagine how much a company like that would stand to gain from improving the performance of even some of their distributors.

If you sell through life science distributors, you are probably in a similar situation. You most likely have good distributors and not so good distributors (and probably some downright bad distributors), and wonder what you can do to improve distributor performance. We hear that same question over and over, and I thought I would share a few tips on how to get more from your distributors and grow global sales while improving your distributor relationships and building trusted long-term partnerships.

One of the most common factors in poor manufacturer-distributor relationships is poor communication. Note that poor communication can be both a cause and a symptom of poor distributor performance. Many companies set up distributor newsletters or make calls to them to ask open-ended or performance-based questions, and while these efforts are better than nothing, they rarely address core problems and often lead to one-directional communication. To improve your distributor relationship, and thereby improve your distributors performance, your communications should provide value to your distributors. One way to do so is to build a social-like platform for discussion and dissemination of materials and information. Customizable, easily built solutions from companies like Ning, SocialGo, or Groupsite provide inexpensive solutions that will not only get you communicating more with your distributors, but will also get your distributors talking amongst each other. Just remember when implementing any solution for communication – if your solution is not easy to use, distributors won’t use it. Chances are they’re not going to go out of their way to communicate with you.

Another common factor for poor life science distributor performance is motivation. In order for your distributors to sell your products, they have to want to sell your products. Are you properly rewarding distributors? Are you providing sufficient training and support? Are demo-intensive products eroding distributor ROI? Perhaps they have another product line which is their “bread and butter” and they are hesitant to place focus elsewhere? Lack of motivation to sell could be caused by many reasons, and each will have a different solution. Talk to your distributors one-to-one, build a relationship based on trust, then make use of that trust to get straightforward answers from them as to why they’re not selling. Sometimes the problem isn’t the distributor at all but other factors pertinent to a local or regional market that may appear to be problems with a distributor. Regardless, trusted distributors with whom you have build a good relationship will give you straight and honest answers.

There is also the chance that a distributor you have selected is not right for your company and / or product lines. If your product doesn’t fit their expertise, if the sales techniques required don’t fit their sales methods, if they offer too many competing products, etc., there may just be an irreconcilable difference. Sometimes there just isn’t anything you can do, and you need to be able to recognize that and move on.

Regardless of the reason, if a life science distributor has poor performance and isn’t improving (or you have reason to believe they won’t), you need to replace them. In future posts, we’ll discuss distributor selection, contractual terms that can be used to help motivate distributors up-front, and ways to replace distributors that will minimize disruption to your business.

"Are you looking to improve your distributors’ performance? Do you have any problems with under-performing distributors? Do you want more efficient and effective ways of communicating with your distributors? Whatever your distributor-related needs may be, BioBM can help. Our on-staff life science business consultants are experts in distributor management, distributor selection, business development, and all aspects of bioscience product distribution. Contact us by phone or fill the form below for a free consultation and we’ll show you how we can help drive revenues through improved distributor performance."

Use Google Alerts

Carlton Hoyt 2:33 pm , June 2, 2011

I’m guessing most companies do, but I’ve ran into a few that aren’t so I feel the need to say it here: use Google Alerts. For any small company, life science companies included, Google Alerts is an easy and free way of monitoring what is said about your company online. You can set up alerts for mentions of your company, your products, anything. Also, it’s an easy way to keep track of your competition – you can set up Google Alerts for mentions of their company, brands, and products as well.

If you’re involved in marketing or PR for your life science company you definitely be receiving Google Alerts. For small life science companies, executives probably should as well. For people in sales or business development it’s good to keep track of what is being said about your product and the product positioning of competitors. For support or applications scientists, it could be a good way to keep up with people posting methods or problems with your products on forums or anywhere on the internet.

Google Alerts takes almost no time to set up, alerts can be received “as-it-happens”, daily, or weekly and via e-mail or RSS. And did I mention that it’s free?

Blog / Digital Marketing 2:33 pm , June 2, 2011

Business Plans for Scientists

Carlton Hoyt 12:13 pm , June 1, 2011

With online leads, speed is a key factor in conversion. If you have a great biotechnology innovation and you want to start a company to commercialize it, you’re almost certainly going to have to write a business plan. Even if you’re not going to try to obtain investment capital, in which case you would undeniably have to write a business plan, you should still write a business plan to make the case to yourself and anyone else involved in your start-up company that the company is viable and you have an understanding of what you’ll need to do to be successful. Most life scientists, however, have never written a business plan and likely don’t know how to properly compose one. While business plans for established companies or internal use only are not totally uncommon, we will focus on the business plan most relevant to bioscience inventors – an externally-focused business plan for start-up companies.

Every business plan is different, and you shouldn’t feel obliged to stick to any particular format. If you can make a better case for your business by changing the format, then do so. After all, the point of the business plan is to state what your business will be doing and why it will be successful. Making the document look and feel like a standard business plan is secondary. Whatever you do, just make sure you include all the necessary information.

In general, I like my scientific business plans to include the following sections:

Company Overview – The company overview should be a one to three sentence description of your company. This should be very similar to your elevator pitch. It should be to the point, effectively get the readers attention, and explain the company as concisely as possible.
Mission Statement – Your company’s mission statement should effectively state the purpose of the company. Don’t brush this off. Write a mission statement that will be able to guide the strategy and high-level decision making down the road. A mission statement is not a marketing tool, but it should read well.
Management – Introduce your management team. Give some background on them and highlight their strengths as it pertains to the venture and their position within it. A poor management team can easily drive away investors, so be sure that your team looks good both on paper and in person. You should have enough talent on your team to realize your objectives. If there are any key skill gaps that will be addressed through outsourcing, be sure to address those in your operating plan.
Market Analysis – This is where you really start to get into the meat and potatoes of the document, so to speak. The market analysis should give information on competition, market size, trends, challenges and opportunities the market presents, etc. As appropriate, you’ll need to be both descriptive and quantitative, and you will definitely need to back up your numbers. Do your homework, include references as appropriate, and make sure you back up your statements.
Scientific Background – This is where you start talking about your product specifically. Since scientific products are highly technical in nature, you will need to show that your product will work as you claim and also that it will meet the needs of the market that you have just identified. If you can, reference published literature. If you’ve built a working prototype, show some results of testing.
Marketing Plan – How will you market your product? How will you position your product within the marketplace to achieve the projected market share and hit your targets? What marketing channels will you use? You’ve addressed the market in your market analysis, but this is where you address how your company will interact with that market.
Operating Plan – How your new biotech business will operate. You don’t have to go into minutiae, but if there are any important considerations, make sure to include them. Address operational difficulties and areas that would not be considered obvious. Again, if you plan on outsourcing anything be sure to address that here.
Projections – The projections, which can also be referred to as the “financial plan”, etc., is where you will make the case that your venture is worth investing in. Extend your projections out to a relevant but not-too-distant time point. What should that time point be? That will be different for every company and would be based on your projected product development time, how long you project until your product goes to market, and what the life cycle of the product will be, and any other relevant factors. Revenues always involve some guesswork, but make sure that your cost estimates are very close. Also, don’t overestimate your revenues or no one will believe that you’re capable of hitting your targets. It’s better to have a slightly worse financial outlook that’s defensible
Long Term Vision – Are there any important long-term goals or achievements for your life science start-up that would be important to partners or investors? Do you have plans for expansion into new markets to build on successes in your company’s early years? Those are some things to think about when writing a long-term vision.
Disclaimer – Ever read a corporate financial statement where they give a disclaimer about “forward-looking statements”? You need to include something similar to protect yourself from liability. It won’t be a full section, per se, but it should constitute some small print at the end of the body of the document. Basically, your disclaimer should state that projections are subject to risks, not guaranteed, and that you nor your company are liable if they turn out to be incorrect.

Keep in mind this is just how I frame many of the scientific business plans that I write. I don’t even always stick to this format, so you shouldn’t feel obliged to either. This is merely a guideline.

A few other tips… Graphs, charts, and supporting data that is too long to put in the body of the business plan should go into figures and appendices. You’ll probably want a copyright notice in the footer. Don’t forget to include trademark symbols next to any slogans or names that you plan on claiming.

Some may want to include a section about risks and projected difficulties to show that you understand your limitations, are addressing them, and have contingency plans in case any of them become problems. I sit on the fence about this. While I certainly think you need to have thought about these issues in the event that they are asked, I don’t always think that including them in a business plan is a good idea. The business plan is supposed to sell people on the idea of your business, and listing all the drawbacks doesn’t do that. If there are obvious risks or obstacles, however, then you should definitely address them.

At the end of the day, your life science start-up should be able to create a business plan that is every bit as “bulletproof” as your idea. If you’re not a veteran at starting companies then there are likely issues you haven’t thought of. The creation of a business plan is a good way to expose those issues so you can address them before attempting to attract investors or launching your company and having unrecognized issues impact your bottom line. Remember that the business plan should show the value and merits of your idea, your understanding of the marketplace, and your ability to execute and realize commercial value. For maximum effect, don’t hesitate to modify the format and structure of the business plan to the unique needs of your biotech start-up and keep in mind what the purpose is and who your audience will be.

"Writing a business plan can be an intimidating thing for life scientists. If you’re not comfortable writing a business plan, or performing any functions on the road from innovation to successful commercialization, working with an experienced team can be invaluable to the success of your early-phase venture. Feel free to contact BioBM or use the form below if you have any questions that you would like to discuss. Our experience is at your disposal to help ensure your biotechnology start-up is successful."

Blog 12:13 pm , June 1, 2011

Misconceptions About SMM

Carlton Hoyt 12:02 pm , May 25, 2011

There are a lot of misconceptions about social media marketing out there. I was recently reminded of it by a tweet from a company which will remain nameless. This company provides market reports and market research services for life science companies, and I find most of their reports to be quite compelling so I don’t want this one misstep to reflect too negatively on them. When marketing for their most recent report, they tweeted:

anonymous tweet

Scientists report using LinkedIn to find vendor-sponsored info more than every other social media platform–combined

This exhibits something of a misconception about how social media marketing works and is the same misconception that many life science companies have about SMM. Put simply: scientists will very rarely use social media to “find” vendor information or product information. If a scientist is thinking about looking for a product, they know that twitter, facebook, linkedin, youtube, etc., are not the best places to look. Not to say that social media marketing isn’t valuable, but you need to understand it’s purpose and how your target market is going to use it. Social media is used for engagement, for brand positioning, and for active presentation of information to customers, not simply as a repository for information which you can expect users to seek out (as a catalogue or a website could be). Because of this consumer behavior, asking “what social media platforms do you use to look for vendor information” is inducing an answer to the wrong question.

Poorly executed social media marketing will at best be a waste of time and money, and at worst can hurt your life science company’s brand. In order for your SMM efforts to be sucessful, you need to understand your customers and their use of social media networks.

Blog / Social Media 12:02 pm , May 25, 2011

Online Leads: It’s All About Speed

Carlton Hoyt 5:09 pm , May 18, 2011

Almost all life science companies market via the internet these days. Of those, a vast majority have a method of capturing leads online – be it a contact form, an e-mail address, or even a post on the wall your company’s facebook page. Everyone always tried to have a fast response time to display their superior customer service to prospective customers, but it wasn’t until recently that we realized how important it is to have excellent response time to online leads.

A recent Harvard Business Review study found that online leads go cold incredibly quickly. Quoting the article: “Firms that tried to contact potential customers within an hour of receiving a query were nearly seven times as likely to qualify the lead (which we defined as having a meaningful conversation with a key decision maker) as those that tried to contact the customer even an hour later—and more than 60 times as likely as companies that waited 24 hours or longer.” Wow. This data implies that companies that responded in 24 hours or more are potentially losing 98% of their sales from online leads.

Not to say we shouldn’t take that information with at least a little independent thought of our own. This information was compiled by tracking leads across 42 different companies in no particular sector, and includes both B2B and B2C sales leads. I can personally speak from my own experience both as a former scientist and as one who sold to them that scientists act more deliberately than the average consumer and therefore leads likely don’t go cold quite as fast. Still, even if you apply such an assumption, the data is still overwhelmingly supportive of cutting your lead response time down to a few hours at most.

The researchers go on to offer some reasons as to why companies aren’t responding faster to online leads: “Reasons include the practice of retrieving leads from CRM systems’ databases daily rather than continuously; sales forces focused on generating their own leads rather than reacting quickly to customer-driven signs of interest; and rules for distributing sales leads among agents and partners based on geography and “fairness.” ”

What is your company’s average or median response time? Do you keep track of it? If not, this data certainly encourages you to do so. After all, you wouldn’t want to be the company losing 98% of its leads.

"Is your customer service up to speed? If you’re not sure, call BioBM Consulting. We’ll help you implement solutions to improve your lead retention and increase sales."

Blog / Demand Generation 5:09 pm , May 18, 2011

Leveraging a Weak Dollar

Carlton Hoyt 3:31 pm , April 26, 2011

In one of the first posts on our new site we discussed some ways in which life science tools companies can take advantage of a weak dollar, but with a decidedly U.S.-centric focus. With the dollar index hitting a three-year low last Thursday and not far from an all-time low, we decided to revisit the topic, this time with an international focus. While a weaker U.S. dollar is most often a positive for U.S.-based manufacturers, it can pose problems for international companies that want to export into the United States. While there is no way for a company to circumvent the exchange rates, a very weak dollar may present a good time to act on certain cross-border opportunities for some non-U.S. life science companies.

The U.S. Dollar Index (5-year chart)

For non-U.S. distribution companies, the exchange rate probably doesn’t seem so bad. A cheap dollar can be a good time to stock up on inventory from U.S. suppliers. Manufacturers need to look a little harder for a silver lining as their products become effectively more expensive in the U.S. Now, however may be a time to look to the U.S. to source parts, etc. in order to decrease manufacturing costs. If you are willing to bet that the dollar is near a local minimum, you may even want to prepay for items that are sourced within the United States.

Ever think about starting operations inside the U.S.? Now might just be the time. One-time expenses will now be relatively cheap and operating costs will currently be low, allowing your company to mitigate the large capital outflows necessary to begin operations. (shameless self-promotion warning: looking for a way to less expensively start U.S. operations?) Speaking more generally, for non-U.S. companies, now is the time to execute dollar-denominated contracts.

The dollar may not stay weak for long. With expected budget cuts by the U.S. Government and tightening of fiscal policy by the Federal Reserve (including the end of the second round of qualitative easing) imminent, it is likely that the dollar will stabilize at the very least, meaning we are likely near or at low levels. If your bioscience company have a future expense that will be in dollars, you may realize significant savings by pushing that expense forward and executing now.

"Want some insight as to how your life science company can benefit from a weak dollar? Regardless of where your company is based or operates, you can contact BioBM and a professional life science business consultant will help you design and execute customized strategies to make the best of global markets."

Blog / Distribution / Marketing Strategy 3:31 pm , April 26, 2011

The Lost Art of Go / Kill

Carlton Hoyt 6:08 pm , April 12, 2011

Great ideas are precious things. They are the fuel driving innovation, the sustenance of progress, the energy that powers success. Not all great ideas are so great in practice, however. In the life sciences, as in all industries, ideas that are put into action need to be periodically re-evaluated to make sure they are working out to be as good as we thought they were. If they are not, then we would be best off scrapping them and focusing our energy and resources on something else … but life science companies seem to have a very hard time doing so, and this inability is to their detriment.

For your information...

Want to learn more about go / kill decision making? You can read about the stage-gate project management technique, from which go / kill is based, on Wikipedia.

The area where this lack of go / kill is most prominent and has the largest effects is product development. Life science product development projects have well-defined milestones and easily tracked metrics, yet go / kill criteria are usually nonexistent and when they are they are most often poorly defined and almost never strictly obeyed. Put simply, not having such criteria is a poor business practice and not obeying them is a poor business decision. Go / kill criteria are defined based on the risk at any point in time in comparison to the revenue potential. This information, which may be subjective but is still based on the best knowledge and information at the time the criteria is created, tells us whether we are likely to achieve our desired returns at any stage-gate (the point at the project when the go / kill decision is made) if we move forward with the project. If you are unlikely to achieve the desired returns, and resources would be better allocated elsewhere then the kill decision should be made, yet it very rarely is.

It is, to some extent, easy to understand why companies so infrequently utilize stage-gates successfully. Kill decisions are hard to make. In our business culture, killing a project is often interpreted as the project failing and this can cloud the business judgment of those on the team who do not want to appear to have been on a failed project. In practice, recognizing the need for a project kill and implementing it should be commendable, a gesture that the project team are willing to put the greater good of the company as a whole. Unfortunately, this rarely happens. No one ever handed out a “best project kill decision of the year” award. Kills are not seen as an achievement but project completion is, so most often projects push on even in the kind of adversity that makes desired returns extremely unlikely.

Other types of endeavors can benefit from stage-gate type go / kill decision making. For example, marketing campaigns can be periodically re-evaluated for ROI determination. If the ROI is not up to par, the campaign can be killed in favor of another which has a greater likelihood of success. Distributor / supplier relationships can be subjected to go / kill, and because of easily quantifiable metrics these decisions can be very easily gauged. Go / kill gates can even be easily and beneficially applied to the continuation of existing products. There are a multitude of other areas where life science companies can benefit from such gates as well.

Ensuring that resources are allocated to areas providing the greatest benefits is a cornerstone of a successful company. Ongoing projects and processes have a need to be periodically reevaluated to determine if they should be continued or “killed” in favor of other more promising endeavors. Despite this, life science companies rarely use go / kill decisions. Implementation of stage-gates and proper adherence to go / kill criteria will help life science companies ensure that that their resources are more optimally allocated and utilized.

"Does your life science company use stage-gates? Would you like to better implement go / kill criteria to improve your company’s resource allocation? Do you use go / kill criteria or stage-gating but find that it is poorly adhered to? BioBM’s team of business consultants can help you properly design and utilize go / kill criteria and implement staging to improve business results across a multitude of areas. If you would like to start improving your decision making, call or e-mail BioBM today."

Blog / Marketing Strategy 6:08 pm , April 12, 2011

Managing a Product Portfolio

Carlton Hoyt 7:21 pm , March 31, 2011

All companies making and / or selling life science tools and services have a product portfolio, but often these portfolios are not viewed in a strategic manner. While aligning current company competencies with current marketplace needs is a simple way to have successful products, a broader view of the product or service portfolio is necessary to ensure greater corporate, and long-term, success. In this post, I’ll go over some of the broader considerations of managing a product portfolio.

Note that many companies discuss product portfolio management to effectively be the new product development project selection process. While new product development project selection is an important part of product portfolio management, I believe this viewpoint to be too narrowly focused, as existing products need to be factored into portfolio management as well, and there are issues related to portfolio management that are indeed independent of new product development. I will discuss new product development project selection in more depth in a later post, as it is a critical business process, but for this post I will simply try to address some common questions relating more globally to product portfolio management in the life sciences.

How many products are the right amount?

Deciding how many products should be in your product portfolio is a difficult question, but there is a correct answer that requires balancing a multitude of factors. First of all, and arguably most importantly, is the amount of products that you can profitably develop. If you have the skills and the market need exists for more products, then building more is usually a good idea. Also important, however, are risk and the scope and goals of the company. If your product portfolio is too small or too narrow, then you may be exposing yourself to a large amount of risk by putting too many eggs in one basket, so to speak. On the other hand, if you have too many products you may lose focus of your scope and your goals, or simply lose the ability to effectively maintain or all of your product lines.

Should product X be in our product portfolio?

Again, if you have the skills to build a given product and the market need exists for it, then it is usually a good idea to build it. Before diving in head first, however, be sure you know the opportunities and threats of doing so. Also, if a given product is sufficiently outside the rest of your product portfolio, then other problems may arise. Your customers not view you as having a competency in that area and this can hurt customer confidence in that particular product or product line, adversely affecting sales. Furthermore, a disparate product from others in your portfolio may incur large marketing cots, as the effective economies of scale achieved by co-marketing (effectively marketing for many products at once) may not exist. For older products, you periodically need to ask if the product is still worth supporting. This should not be a simple question of if the product is obsolete, however, but rather will the profits from making or selling the product meet the desired rate of return. Ultimately, strategy and rate of return are the most important deciding factors in deciding if a product should be developed, maintained, or scrapped.

How do I know my product portfolio has the right mix of products?

Your developed product portfolio should accurately reflect your core competencies and the current needs of the life science research market while your product development projects should be addressing anticipated future needs. Make good use of market research to figure out exactly what those needs are with respect to your business.

Notes for life science distribution companies

If you’re a life science distribution company your job of product portfolio management is in many ways much simpler since you have no product development costs. However, there are still costs associated with bringing on a new product or product line, so having as large an offering as possible is often not a good strategy. Also, consider your strategic positioning within the life science marketplace and align your product offerings to that positioning. If your strategy involves certain segments of the life science market, leverage your product portfolio to gain a reputation as an expert “go-to” seller within that market segment. Since you have less variables to deal with than manufacturers, fully-quantitative, even automated, processes for dealing with portfolio management processes are also sometimes possible.

Effectively managing your product portfolio will not only ensure that your business is profitable in the short- and mid-term, but by aligning with strategies and goals can help lead your bioscience company to long-term success.

"Are you concerned that your product portfolio is too large or too small? Want to leverage your product portfolio to mitigate risk while simultaneously increasing revenues? Would you like to know what your product portfolio should look like in the future so you can make more informed decisions regarding product development projects? BioBM’s seasoned business consultants can analyze your product portfolio and help guide your bio-tools or life science services business to a more successful future. Give us a call or send us an e-mail and we’ll discuss your goals and how you can develop and leverage a winning product portfolio to achieve them."

Blog / Marketing Strategy 7:21 pm , March 31, 2011

Lowering Barriers

Carlton Hoyt 6:28 pm , March 30, 2011

Life scientists are busy people. Between bench work, meetings, writing, presentations, seminars, and everything else they may have to do in their day, their time is limited. As such, they appreciate (knowingly or not) situations where the purchasing of products that they need is easy, fast, and simple. While the ease of the purchasing process is usually not so important as to change the mind of someone who has decided on purchasing a given piece of lab equipment, antibody, reagent, or other bioscience product, it can easily sway the undecided buyer one way or the other. By identifying and lowering or removing the barriers to purchasing your laboratory products or services, you can sway those undecided minds in your life science company’s favor.

This is a bit of an oversimplification, but for brevity’s sake we can break down the sales process, from the eyes of the customer, into three steps:

Finding your product / service
Obtaining the desired information
Acting on the desire to purchase

The first step is arguably the most important. It should go without saying that unless scientists can find your product, they are not going to buy it. Getting found is a multi-faceted issue that has no single solution, but rather many different potential solutions that can be used in combination based on your company’s situation. Having distributors list your products in catalogs, traditional marketing campaigns via print advertising in scientific journals, banner advertising on relevant websites, e-mail campaigns, search engine marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization, word of mouth marketing, and utilizing in-house sales teams are all options with different benefits and drawbacks and a unique mix of any of these may be appropriate for your company and product (note that this list is not meant to be exhaustive). Identify how you can maximize your exposure in a cost-effective manner and implement those solutions so your life science products are easily found.

No matter how a customer finds your product or service, you always need to make sure you provide them with the desired information to get them interested in buying. As a general rule, more information is better so long as it is well-organized, relevant, and positive. Use this information to keep them engaged the entire time they browse it. Any time a researcher wants more information about your product but doesn’t find it is an opportunity for them to walk away or look for different products, so even if in formats not well suited to containing large amounts of information, the location of additional information should be given and this information should be as easily accessed as possible. A key component to this, since it will almost inevitably contain the most information about your products or services, is having a website with all the necessary product information laid out in an easily navigable way. (you can learn more about streamlining your website for additional sales here)

Lastly, the ability to act on the desire to purchase should be a fast, simple, and easy process (or at least as much is plausible given the nature of the product or service). For example, if your product does not require a quote-driven sales process, e-commerce allows your customers to order quickly and easily. Online forms for quote requests or demonstration requests are similarly low barriers to action. Where possible, free samples are a great way to get your products in front of the customer. If the customer needs to contact your company, let them do it in the manner that they prefer to, be it e-mail, phone, a simple contact form, etc. to ensure that they are comfortable establishing the necessary communication to further the sales process.

Scientists, lab managers, purchasers, and procurement agents all prefer simple and streamlined sales processes, and reducing the barriers to purchasing your bioscience product can be an easy way to increase your conversion. While the ease of the purchasing process is most often not important enough to the customer to change a purchasing decision altogether, it can easily sway the undecided buyer one way or the other. By streamlining your sales process, you can tilt those undecided buyers in your favor and increase your life science sales.

"Would you like to make it easier for life scientists across pharma, biotech, and academia to buy your products and / or services? Want to use a streamlined sales process to tilt undecided buyers towards purchasing your products? BioBM Consulting’s marketing and internet consultants can help you streamline your marketing and sales process. Talk to us and we’ll help you boost your conversion by identifying and lowering barriers to purchase."

Blog / Demand Generation 6:28 pm , March 30, 2011

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