Life Science Sales Blog
Strategies, tactics, and insights to help life science sales teams close more deals with biotech and pharma. Published weekly by the Succession team.
The 4 Skills You Shouldn't Fully Pass Off to AI
The human skills worth treasuring and how to pair each with AI to optimise your output — By Divya Puri — 8 min read — August 1, 2026
Three Biggest Mistakes with Conference Follow Up
What separates a full pipeline from a full stack of business cards. — By Keith Daly — 5 min read — July 26, 2026
Let's try intelligence before we try artificial intelligence
Building a smart commercial strategy, then letting AI scale it. — By Jess Evans — 10 min read — July 19, 2026
Your Webinar Shouldn't End When Everyone Logs Off
How one webinar can become a month of content, outreach and commercial conversations — By Nick Clare — 5 min read — July 12, 2026
The best GTM hire isn't a person
How to use Claude Code and Codex for GTM work — By Harrison Waid — 4 min read — July 5, 2026
The Hidden Cost of Prospecting
DIY or outsource? — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — June 28, 2026
Webinars, Content, and Cool Stuff
How to warm up leads who aren’t in the market right now — By Keith Daly — 5 min read — June 20, 2026
Is Biology a Scam and does Cold email work?
Spoiler, the answer is NO and YES, in that order! — By Nick Clare — 4 min read — June 14, 2026
How To Sell Into Large Pharma
The six teams standing between you and a signed deal. — By Divya Puri — 5 min read — June 6, 2026
Stop saying congrats on the raise
A practical way to act on a funding announcement without sounding like every other vendor in their inbox. — By Jess Evans — 5 min read — May 31, 2026
You’re One Level Lower Than You Think
An honest look at AI maturity — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — May 24, 2026
So You've Gone & F*cked It Up
How to repair the relationship and build trust back when something goes wrong — By Jess Evans — 5 min read — May 17, 2026
The Death and Rebirth of the SDR
A life science take on the most contested role in sales — By Keith Daly — 5 min read — May 9, 2026
Most sales reps have a pipeline problem they'll never fix
Marketing X Sales — By Nick Clare — 5 min read — May 3, 2026
We just added 2 new team members
Without actually hiring... — By Divya Puri — 5 min read — April 25, 2026
Three Levels of AI in Life Sciences GTM Teams
Not All AI Adoption Is Equal. Here's the Proof. — By Keith Daly — 5 min read — April 18, 2026
Your outreach isn't working
Here's how to actually diagnose why — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — April 11, 2026
We Hired a CMO on Friday
What she was able to do in just 24 hours — By Harrison Waid — April 5, 2026
Come in from the Cold Call
A practical guide to cold calling for life science professionals — By Keith Daly — 5 min read — April 4, 2026
No more panicking at the disco
How to nail your discovery calls and leverage AI to continuously improve — By Jess Evans — 10 min read — March 29, 2026
Your Pipeline Is a Liar
And How to Fix It — By Nick Clare — 5 min read — March 22, 2026
The most underused Approach in life science sales
Want more pipeline? Stop waiting for conferences — By Nick Clare — 5 min read — March 15, 2026
AI didn't ruin cold outreach. It's a case of brain rot.
How to stand out when everyone's sending the same AI generated email. — By Divya Puri — 5 min read — March 7, 2026
#123: How to Build a Complete GTM Motion
The system behind consistently filling your pipeline — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — March 1, 2026
2026 GTM Stack
A Practical Guide for Life Science Leaders — By Keith Daly — 5 min read — February 21, 2026
The LinkedIn Cheat Sheet
12 post ideas to build credibility in your buyer's feed — By Jess Evans — 5 min read — February 15, 2026
This is not a Sleep symposium!
Stop Boring Scientists to Death in Your Conference Presentations — By Nick Clare — 5 min read — February 8, 2026
When They Cut Your Conference Budget (But Not Your Quota)
We turn to Pixels not Pints — By Nick Clare — 5 min read — February 1, 2026
The 5 Challenges of Life Sciences Lead Generation and How to Fix Them
The challenges teams encounter and how to overcome them — By Divya Puri — 4 min read — January 24, 2026
27 Campaign Ideas for 2026
How to Build Pipeline That Runs While You Sleep — By Harrison Waid — 10 min read — January 17, 2026
Get out of your head and into your buyers
The psychology of why life science buyers make decisions (and how to work with it, not against it) — By Jess Evans — 5 min read — January 11, 2026
The 2026 Sales Playbook
How to Forecast 2026 and Actually Hit Your Targets — By Divya Puri — 5 min read — December 27, 2025
Your CRM is lying to you
Why your win/loss data is probably wrong (and how to fix it) — By Jess Evans — 5 min read — December 21, 2025
Pressure Is Lazy. Pain Is Effective.
Why pushing scientists never works and staying with the problem always does — By Nick Clare — 5 min read — December 14, 2025
Does Outbound Work?
How to measure the ROI of outbound. — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — December 6, 2025
How to Break Through Life-Science Sales Barriers
By Divya Puri — 3 min read — November 29, 2025
The 12 days of upskilling: what to learn when your inbox goes quiet
Your skills development guide for December — By Jess Evans — 6 min read — November 23, 2025
3 Strategies To Prepare Yourself or Your Sales Team for a Revenue-Generating 2026
SKO's and how to smash them! — By Nick Clare — 4 min read — November 15, 2025
30-Sec Pipeline Review
Turn your pipeline review into a prompt — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — November 8, 2025
How Technical Should Your Prospecting Emails Really Be?
It's a fine balance of curiosity and technical details — By Divya Puri — 4 min read — November 1, 2025
#106: 6 AI Sales Workflows
Slides and video included — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — October 26, 2025
#105: The Unlearning Curve
The lessons that didn’t come from onboarding decks or pipeline reviews. — By Jess Evans — 5 min read — October 20, 2025
#104: Follow Up with Every Lead in Minutes
Plus an exciting podcast announcement — By Harrison Waid — 4 min read — October 12, 2025
#103: The Conference Playbook: Stop Collecting Lanyards, Start Collecting Clients.
By Divya Puri — 3 min read — October 5, 2025
#102: Smash or Pass: Pipeline Addition
How to win back your focus! — By Nick Clare — 4 min read — September 28, 2025
#101: You're not the main character
Let your customer decide what matters most — By Jess Evans — 4 min read — September 21, 2025
#100: A Century! Yes 100!!
So heres a little surprise for you — By Nick Clare — 3 min read — September 14, 2025
#099: Why Your Top of Funnel Is Broken
And How to Fix It — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — September 7, 2025
#098: Lead gen is a team sport. Stop playing solo.
Rugby world cup or lead gen, same same. — By Jess Evans — 5 min read — August 30, 2025
#097: Winning Over Finance, Procurement, and the C-Suite
How to Sell When the Scientist leaves the room. — By Nick Clare — 4 min read — August 23, 2025
#096: Stop Chasing, Start Attracting:
Creating Demand in Biotech Sales — By Nick Clare — 4 min read — August 17, 2025
#095: 2 Years and 11 lessons
What we learned from working with 70+ biotech companies — By Jess Evans, Harrison Waid — 5 min read — August 3, 2025
#094: Why Your First Campaign Should Be an Education, Not a Pitch
Selling Novel Technologies? Start by Teaching, Not Selling — By Jess Evans — 4 min read — July 26, 2025
#093: The Impossible Quota
Why your sales team isn’t underperforming, your targets are. — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — July 20, 2025
#092: Roll It Right: How to Craft Cold Emails Like Sushi
The art or email crafting — By Jess Evans — 4 min read — July 12, 2025
#091: Fix your emails
Here's a tool that grades your emails and provides feedback — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — June 28, 2025
#090: How a Food Festival Filled My H2 Pipeline and My Belly!
4 Referral tactics for H2 — By Nick Clare — 4 min read — June 22, 2025
#089: Underutilized Prospecting Strategy
Here’s how to take advantage of job descriptions to book meetings — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — June 15, 2025
#88: Insights
Here's a free tool for you to use — By Harrison Waid — 1 min read — June 8, 2025
#087: Using AI to Automate Processes
Simple way to get started using AI and automation tools — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — June 2, 2025
The Agentic Future of Sales and Marketing in Life Sciences
A practical guide to building AI systems that actually run your revenue operations — By Harrison Waid — May 30, 2025
#086: Cold Email Isn’t Dead
But It Needs Resuscitating — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — May 24, 2025
#085: Fix Your Client Review Meetings
The client meeting playbook that drives referrals and revenue. — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — May 17, 2025
#084: TOFU Is Not Just a Delicious Meat Alternative!
TOFU = Top Of Funnel: How to drive More opportunities With Cold Prospects — By Nick Clare — 3 min read — May 10, 2025
#083: Hidden Gap In Prospecting
Why your speed to reply is critical — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — April 26, 2025
#082: Selling Through Biotech Uncertainty
Why Business Impact Beats Technical Capabilities — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — April 12, 2025
#081: Stop Obsessing Over Efficiency
Start focusing on effectiveness — By Harrison Waid — 4 min read — April 5, 2025
#080: "Dropping Landmines” A Subtle Way to Highlight Your Product’s Unique Edge
The tactic you wish you knew years ago! — By Nick Clare — 4 min read — March 29, 2025
#079: Make this messaging change
Turn your features and benefits into outcomes — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — March 23, 2025
#078: Why Sales Negotiations Need Tension
Create The Right Kind of Friction — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — March 15, 2025
#077: How to Follow-Up
Deals are won and lost in the follow-up process — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — March 9, 2025
#076: 3 Pitfalls to Avoid When Growing a Pipeline
Building a diverse Pipeline that delivers now and later! — By Nick Clare — 5 min read — March 1, 2025
#075: AI Agents
Sales Reps Who Use AI Will Outperform Those Who Don’t — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — February 22, 2025
#074: Driving Deals to Close
How to Actually Get Deals Across the Finish Line — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — February 15, 2025
#073: Use AI and Software to Augment Your Sales Team
How to use AI to make sales more human — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — February 8, 2025
072: How to Sell a Complex Product Without Losing Your Prospect
Here's what we forget: Scientists are people, and people buy emotionally — By Nick Clare — 4 min read — February 1, 2025
071: The 3 ways to secure your sales team performance in 2025
Want your sales Reps to dominate 2025? Discover the 3 game-changing strategies to unlock their full potential — By Nick Clare — 4 min read — January 25, 2025
#070: Pre-Mortem Analysis
See the future and win more deals — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — January 18, 2025
#069: Ultimate Guide to Multi-Threading
Win more deals faster and at a higher price point — By Harrison Waid — 8 min read — January 11, 2025
#068: The 2 Most Important Sales Activities
Maximize Selling, Minimize Distractions, Hit Quota — By Harrison Waid — 4 min read — January 4, 2025
#067: A look back at 2024
What can we learn and prepare for in the new year? — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — December 21, 2024
#066: Should you keep prospecting?
It's the end of the year, what should you do? — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — December 14, 2024
#065: Sales Improvement Plan
Should it be a new years resolution? — By Harrison Waid — 4 min read — December 7, 2024
#064: Are Events Worth It?
I'll give you a hint... yes they are — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — November 23, 2024
#063: What's happening in biotech?
9 trends affecting tools and service providers — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — November 16, 2024
#062: 5 Reasons Deals Are Stalling
and a few simple ways to fix it — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — November 9, 2024
#061: Step-by-Step Discovery Guide
Uncover problems, create value, and drive urgency — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — November 2, 2024
#060: Sending to Outlook
Are your emails stuck in spam? — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — October 27, 2024
#059: How stories can win deals
Transform Your Sales Pitch and Create Lasting Connections — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — October 20, 2024
#058: Turn technical problems into business problems
One question you must ask in discovery calls — By Harrison Waid — 1 min read — October 12, 2024
#057: ELRIG Workshop Summary
5 Skills Needed to Sell in Today's Market — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — October 5, 2024
#056: Behind your quota?
The step by step process to get back on track — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — September 28, 2024
#055: Deliver expert insights to create urgency
Crafting a unique perspective that educates prospects — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — September 21, 2024
#054: 3 prospecting mistakes and how to fix them
Bad messaging, limited channels, and wasted time — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — September 14, 2024
#053: 3 must-answer questions buyers ask
Answer these critical questions to break buyer hesitation and close deals faster. — By Harrison Waid — 4 min read — September 7, 2024
#052: Create urgency with this simple technique
Align to the urgency of your customer — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — August 31, 2024
#051: 10 critical sales skills to be a top rep
Master these skills to sell in tough markets — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — August 24, 2024
#050: Problem vs Opportunity Selling
How you sell to each is slightly different — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — August 17, 2024
#049: High converting prospecting sequence
Book meetings with your top prospects — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — August 10, 2024
#048: Olympics and sales
5 ways to prepare like an Olympian — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — August 3, 2024
#047: How to build decision concensus
Multi-thread and win more deals — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — July 27, 2024
#046: Why 80% of sales reps struggled in Q2
and 5 things you can do about it — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — July 20, 2024
#045: Build a winning sales culture
4 simple things you can do to thrive in a tough market — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — July 13, 2024
#044: Don't track open rates
Open rates are killing your reply rate — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — July 6, 2024
#043: How to sell in 2024
Align your solution to high priority initiatives — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — June 29, 2024
#042: 5 Day LinkedIn Challenge
Use the 4C framework to grow on LinkedIn — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — June 22, 2024
#041: Email templates and personalization
Here are a few email templates you can steal — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — June 15, 2024
#040: Give yourself a raise
Increase your income every single quarter — By Harrison Waid — 4 min read — June 8, 2024
#039: Hit Your Sales Target F.A.S.T.
Fix your leaky pipeline with the FAST framework — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — June 1, 2024
#038: 5 Key Account Growth Strategies
Last chance to join the accelerator program — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — May 25, 2024
#037: How to differentiate
Customers care about outcomes not capabilities — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — May 18, 2024
Launch your sales career
4 week welcome to sales accelerator program — By Harrison Waid — May 15, 2024
#036: Nemawashi, the president, and sales
What do they all have in common? — By Nick Clare — 5 min read — May 11, 2024
#035: The peer, guide, mentor, and student
Plus free training to launch your sales career — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — May 4, 2024
#034: You could be "one skill away"
Take the next step in your sales improvement journey — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — April 27, 2024
#033: Overcome imposter syndrome
Don't let fear and self doubt control you — By Harrison Waid — 4 min read — April 20, 2024
#032: 4 tips to win competitive deals
Upcoming: Selling like a scientist workshop — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — April 13, 2024
#031: The 4P Email Framework
Prospecting messaging recording inside — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — April 6, 2024
#030: 3 Prospecting Trends You Need to Know
Experience from 125,000 emails sent — By Nick Clare, Harrison Waid — 4 min read — March 30, 2024
#029: High performance w/o micro-managing
Activity metrics are useless out of context — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — March 23, 2024
#028: Don't fall for this negotiation trap
I used it and saved 40% on my kitchen flooring — By Nick Clare — 2 min read — March 16, 2024
#027: End of Quarter Sales Negotiations
5 tips to get deals across the line — By Harrison Waid — 4 min read — March 9, 2024
#026: These 2 slides will help win more deals
Template included — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — March 2, 2024
#025: 6 tips for selling to scientists
From 20+ years of experience — By Nick Clare — 5 min read — February 24, 2024
#024: Make new skills stick
A simple technique to master skill stacking — By Harrison Waid — 4 min read — February 17, 2024
#023: Use AI to turn features into problems
Create better messaging with the help of AI — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — February 10, 2024
#022: 6 LinkedIn searches to get more meetings
They're so simple but often overlooked — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — February 3, 2024
#021: Micro-commitments
Increase your deal momentum — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — January 27, 2024
#020: 7 Sales Skills to Close New Deals
Fundamental sales skills needed to be successful in any economic environment — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — January 20, 2024
#019: Avoid this discovery mistake
The real reason deals are stalling — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — January 13, 2024
#18: Improving Sales Rep Productivity
The top metric to measure in 2024 — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — January 6, 2024
#017: Q1 2024 Roadmap
What to expect early next year — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — December 23, 2023
#016: Last 2 weeks closing tactics
and how to limit the pressure in the future — By Nick Clare, Harrison Waid — 3 min read — December 16, 2023
#015: 7 pitfalls of discovery and how to avoid them
Don't let bad discovery prevent you from winning deals — By Harrison Waid — 4 min read — December 9, 2023
#014: Cyborg sales is here
Is AI coming for our jobs? — By Nick Clare, Harrison Waid — 4 min read — December 2, 2023
#013: Use video in a non-creepy way
Stand out and close more deals — By Nick Clare — 4 min read — November 25, 2023
#012: Why your reply rates are low
and an approach to fix it — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — November 18, 2023
#011: 8 tips to win more deals
Shorten sales cycles and win more deals — By Harrison Waid — November 11, 2023
#010: The Science of Closing
Disrupt the status quo and overcome indecision — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — November 4, 2023
Succession is LIVE
Get a 30-day free trial — By Harrison Waid — November 1, 2023
#009: Selling to Scientists
Early access to Succession Community — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — October 28, 2023
#008: Win more competitive deals
How to influence your buyer's decision criteria — By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — October 21, 2023
#007: Stop losing to "No Budget"
60+ technical sales discovery questions you can use today — By Harrison Waid — 4 min read — October 14, 2023
#006: Inbound vs Outbound Discovery Process
Read time: 5 Minutes — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — October 7, 2023
#005: The Science of Outbound
The formula to hit your quota — By Harrison Waid — 2 min read — September 30, 2023
#004: How to personalize your outreach
4 Min Read — By Harrison Waid — 4 min read — September 23, 2023
#003: Get your message delivered
By Harrison Waid — 3 min read — September 16, 2023
#002: Increase reply rates with powerful messaging
9 messaging frameworks included — By Harrison Waid — 5 min read — September 9, 2023
#001: How to build your target lists
By Harrison Waid — 4 min read — September 2, 2023