Do you consider yourself a salesperson? The final installment of our series, ‘The jobs you don’t know you have,’ considers this role.  To most, salesperson has a different connotation than detective or marketer. This is because salesperson brings to mind ideas that many consider antithetical to the pursuit of knowledge or societal benefit, like personal gain or profit motive.

However, to win research funding, you must learn to sell your ideas. When funders buy, their cost is an opportunity cost. That is, what research would have been supported instead of yours.

So what is salesperson, really? At the most basic level, salespeople help others solve problems. I invite you to set aside any negative associations you may have with selling to think about the role that problem solving plays in research funding.

Whether you are selling a product or an idea, the same principles hold: One of the most famous quotes about sales is from salesman and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, who said “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”

This means that you have to know what program officers and reviewers want, and this knowledge should be pretty specific. So what do they want? That is, how can you get what you want (funding) by helping a program officer get what she wants? How can you help solve her problems?

Usually, the best way to find out what someone wants is to ask them, as directly as possible. This means having conversations. Sure, the funder wants proposals that review well and that describe research that could be transformative. But there are many, many other things that they could be aiming towards.

For example, a funder could aim to support community collaborations, international collaborations, high-risk research, low-risk research, collaborations with scientists at governments labs, or specific types of technology transitions.

One of the most important shifts you must make is to stop thinking about funders or programs and start thinking about the individuals with whom you will be interacting, like program officers.

You also must abandon the idea that your work will speak for itself and prepare to take a persuasive approach in both conversations and written documents.

So what can you do? For now, consider the below sales-informed communication approaches. Perhaps each will be the focus on its own newsletter in the months ahead:

• Asking more questions and listening rather than telling funders about your work

• Getting to the funder’s ‘why’

• Understanding the funder’s pain points 

• Storytelling

I chose to feature the quote from tech founder Dharmesh Shah below because it gets to the core of the mistake I see PIs making with funders: forgetting that people are involved in the process. Not only are people involved in the process, people are the process.

FAQs about working with Wise Investigator

I’ve put together a list of FAQs from both PIs and research development professionals, many of which I received during conversations at the recent National Organization of Research Development Professionals annual meeting. If you have questions about what it’s like to work with our team, check out the video.

When you are ready, here’s how we can help

Need to get your research funded, this year? Check out our 10-week program to get you there.

Want a done-for-you website that highlights your research impact? Let us do that for you. (We even write all the content for you!)

Ready to book a call to discuss our training, websites, or to have Dr. Barzyk provide training at your institution? Let’s chat!