How to Take Your Life Science Sales to the Next Level

by Mark Herb

In my first installment, I mentioned some basic thoughts for those of you embarking upon a career in life science sales. When you read it, you probably thought they were “no brainers.”

I could almost hear you muttering, “C’mon Herb, give me something more than that!” I know you did, so just admit it life science sales reps.

All probably true but the obvious isn’t always…well…obvious and some things are worth repeating.

This second go-around, I’ll dive a bit deeper and offer some other “not-so-obvious, obvious” thoughts to help get that fine life science sales engine you call “you” rolling along. Executing on some of these tips will take effort but it will pay dividends (or commissions) later – trust me!

Again, the usual disclaimer applies to advice from me, use what you want, ignore what you don’t, but remember success doesn’t come cheap, so work at it. Consider some of these ideas to maximize YOUR APPROACH and STYLE as a life science sales professional.

What I’m about to share is a time-honored technique that can really save your bacon when things get rough.

Wait for it…

wait for it…

BOOM!!!…

You need to make internal friends at your company FAST! Your paycheck may depend on it.

Get to know customer service, the people in the quotes department, those in Marketing (yes…I said Marketing…they don’t bite…normally…), other sales reps in your region, maybe some folks in production or manufacturing, definitely R&D (yes…them too). Shoot, get to know the logistics/shipping crew, the janitor, and the receptionist at the front desk.

All of these people (notice I said “people” – treat them like that) work with you and for the company and can be a huge asset for any number of reasons. Get to know them, send in lunch, chat with them on the phone, stop to check on them and thank them when you’re on-site. Do what you need to do to develop a rapport and working relationship with them.

You never know how showing someone some attention can help YOU when you need a quote by 5pm, need something shipped out at the end of the quarter to hit your number or even need to be let back into the building late when you forgot something.

It takes work but I can assure you from personal experience that this is the way to go!

Have any tips as a field-tested life science sales rep? Share in the comments below, we’d love to hear ‘em!

Mark Herb

Mark brings a diverse background of research and commercial experience to the ZenBio team. He conducted research for Janssen Research Foundation, Johnson & Johnson PRD in Oncology focused on angiogenesis drug development and CNS projects for Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy as well as graduate work in DNA Repair and Mutagenesis. Mark has held commercial roles with Cambrex and Lonza managing the Clonetics® portfolio of primary cells and media systems in addition to the Custom Cell Isolation business and hepatocytes. With GE Healthcare, he was the Regional Marketing Manager for the High Content Analysis group working closely with Sales and Global Product Management teams to promote and support this segment of the screening business. At Invitrogen, Mark held positions in Global Marketing and Account Management focusing on the primary cells segment of the specialty cell culture business and field sales activities respectively. Mark earned his B.S. in Biology from Penn State University and M.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology in the Pathology Department at Thomas Jefferson University.

Website - More Posts