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Three things about nailing the first contact with a KOL

By | Business Development | No Comments

That cliché saying first impressions matter holds true in most situations, especially so when you want something from someone. We have previously given our top tips on selecting the right key opinion leaders (KOLs) and securing their contact information. Now, there are a few points to consider for the best possible outcome in your first contact. Our team has some tricks up our sleeves after many conducted KOL interviews across a wide range of therapeutic areas. Read on to learn how you too could succeed in the first contact with a KOL.

Read our post on finding the right KOLs here >

1. Be objective, but avoid generic messages

We have found that a general template describing who you are and why you are contacting the KOL should be avoided. Instead, open with a few examples of the person’s background or experience that has piqued your interest and made you think that this specific person would be a good fit to discuss your subject. This could be a publication, a conference speech, or a clinical trial in which the person was the investigator. Showing that you’ve done your homework and that there are specific reasons why the person is being contacted, among all the others, helps to improve your chances of success (i.e., a response).

2. Offer flexible meeting scheduling

Offering a wide range of time slots for the interview will give you better chances to score an interview. It goes without saying that a courteous interaction is respectful and appreciative of the time and expertise the KOL is providing. If possible, be open to adjusting your normal office hours to accommodate different time zones. In terms of meeting format, currently, most of the interviews are organized online, via Zoom or Teams, but you can also suggest other potential arrangements, such as in-person meetings, or phone calls.

3. Guidance on remuneration

Be prepared to face three different groups of KOLs: The first group is open to give you an interview free of charge and never mention payment; the second group expects to be paid for their time and expertise and will ask how much you would offer; and the third group has a specific set hourly rate for engagements like this. You can expect the price to range from 300 to 500 USD for a 45-minute meeting. We would, in general, recommend not mentioning remuneration in the first contact but instead leaving it for the KOL to bring it up. To date, we have not seen a difference in engagement where remuneration was offered upfront compared with instances where it wasn’t offered.

Want to know more?

Our team has experience with KOL interviews across many different indications and has a few tricks up our sleeves. Our sweet spot is where life science and business meet.

Get in touch >

Three things about finding the right KOLs for your project

By | Business Development | No Comments

Key opinion leaders (KOLs) can be an extraordinary source of information to better understand key unmet needs in a specific disease, validate a potential new therapy or gauge willingness to pay for a potential product. Talking to the right person will substantially increase your chances of getting the answers you expect. This is an important step, likely to be time-consuming, but certainly worth it. Before starting outreach to KOLs, some preparation will help you find the most valuable experts.

1. Determine a distinct profile

First, based on your objectives consider if one KOL profile is enough or if different types of profiles are needed. If you want to validate the potential of a new drug, for instance, you might want to talk to prescribing physicians. A few useful questions to consider are: Do you need someone with relevant clinical practice? How important is clinical trial experience? Do you need a KOL with a research focus? What is the geographical scope of interest? Those answers will help form one, or several, KOL profiles suitable to get the ‘right’ information.

2. Utilize the right sources

Our go-to sources include specialized KOL platforms with global databases of all information one could think of being relevant. If only looking at public sources, we’d suggest trying clinicaltrials.gov for people with clinical trial experience (look for principal investigators in relevant studies!) and treatment guidelines when in need of people providing an opinion on a new therapy (check the authors!). Some KOL profiles are easier to find than others so the tools needed to find the right KOLs really depend on your key objectives and identified KOL profile(s).

3. Find the contact information

The most frequent form of contact is via email; however, it could be tricky to find email addresses from public sources. A good starting point is the organization they are affiliated with; occasionally there are expert profiles with direct contact information on the website. You could be in luck if the KOL is a contact person for a study or publication, so the email address is available right on clinicaltrials.gov or respective journal. An alternative could also be to just guess the email based on the email address format of the specific institution, it works surprisingly often. More recently, our team has also had good success using InMail through LinkedIn.

Want to know more?

Our team has experience with KOL interviews across many different indications and has a few tricks up our sleeves. Our sweet spot is where life science and business meet.

Get in touch >