Do you have a standard opening with your KOL visits? Is it purposeful? Does it get down to business efficiently?
In our attempt to be friendly, we may wind up with the openers that our commercial colleagues use: the weather, the office, the sports, etc. This works for them because the KOL expects it. Friendly banter till the message comes out. But MSLs operate (or should operate) at a different level.
So, how do you open things up? One of our MSL friends tells us that he wants to set the agenda early and often to set the expectation that he is going to deliver value. His pattern quite quickly goes like this:
“Dr. _______, good to see you. My name is ________, a Medical Science Liaison with _______, and I’d like to talk with you about your experience with (Rx) and some of our new research. So today, I first want to hear your questions, give you our latest data, and I have a question for you. Does that agenda work for you?”
You can vary this according to your relationship of course, but setting the agenda early and often, getting to the point, asking and offering may help you sound even more like the professional you are in the mind of the KOL. This is not a commercial visit! It is also a visit with promises of answers, data, and even asking for the expertise of the KOL.
However you decide to say hello, how does it help get things going and under your control?