33 STATISTICS ABOUT SALES & MARKETING IN

SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT COMPANIES

The following statistics are based on the response of

86working for

different scientific companies

CEO`s, Sales & Marketing executives

61

. . . c o l l e c t e d d u r i n g t h e D F G s p r i n g m e e t i n g 2 0 1 2 i n B e r l i n

Science

No Science

The educational background of all respondents

Reading Note:

This and all following

statistics are based on 86

respondents. 86

Statistics answered by

sales force only are based

on 69 respondents.

(Those statistics are specially

market).

University degree

PhD

Professional education

The educational degree of all respondents

up to 10 employees

up to 20

up to 50

up to 100

up to 200

more than 200

The average size of scientific companiesN

um

ber

of

com

pan

ies

Yes No No difference It depends

Business with scientists tend to be more complex than business with industry customers

* The definition of ‘complex’ was left to the respondents

Nu

mb

er o

f re

spo

nd

ents

mainly scientific markets

mainly industrial markets

more or less equally

Industry versus science: The respondents serve ...

less than 3 months

3 months to half a year

half a year to 12 months

12 months to 18 months

more than 18 months

The average lead time of a sales cycle from first contact to sales

Nu

mb

er o

f re

spo

nd

ents

less than 15 min

up to 30 min

between 30 min and one hour

more than one hour

Average time spend to prepare a quote

No cold calls

one or two per month

more than two per month

Number of respondents that make cold calls

(Sales force only)

Initiative by customer Cold acquisition

Number of sales cases won by cold acquisition versus customer`s initiative

Price was too high Specification was not sufficient

Competition did a better job Customer didn`t trust

I don`t know why Other reason

The last sales case got lost because...N

um

ber

of

resp

on

den

ts(S

ales

fo

rce

on

ly)

almost all sales cases

half of all sales cases

few sales cases

no issue

The price of scientific equipment is an issue in...

almost all sales cases

half of all sales cases

few sales cases

no issue

The technical specification of scientific instruments is an issue in...

Yes No Sometimes

Emotional aspects play a role in selling scientific equipment

Sales Training No

Number of respondents that have received an internal or external sales training

Sales Training on Competition No

Number of respondents that got trained on competition

Send a quote immediately

Give a call to get more information

Send an email to get more information

Others

How sales force respond* to an email inquiry from a potential customer

Nu

mb

er o

f re

spo

nd

ents

(Sal

es f

orc

e o

nly

)

*Sales force that sell capital-intensive equipment (e.g. > 50.000 EUR) did not respond differently from sales force that provide low-cost equipment .

Different brochures Same broschures

Number of companies that provide different brochures for scientific and

industry customers

Technology leader Quality leader Price leader

Respondents about the strategic positioning of their companies. We are...

Nu

mb

er o

f re

spo

nd

ents

I know the company's strategy

I don't know the strategy but I have my own guess about

I don`t know

How sure respondents are about the strategic position of the

companies they work for

not more than 2 times

about 3-6 times

up to 10 times more than 10 times

How often respondents represent their company on conferences and exhibitions

(per year)N

um

ber

of

resp

on

den

ts

Monthly

Quarterly

Yearly

On request

Never

I`m the boss

How often respondents report their sales forecast to their boss

(Sales force only)

Yes

No

Number of respondents that use CRM software

I use Excel I use CRM

I use my emails I use paper and post-its

Its all in my brain Others

How respondents keep track on leads and open sales cases

Nu

mb

er o

f re

spo

nd

ents

A choice of CRM tools in use

Act! SAGE AG-VIP SQL

Axapta_ (MS Dynamics AX) Channel CTM Deleco Exact Genesis

Goldmine Lexware

MS_Dynamics Outlook BCM

SAP Selfmade SLX Sugar

Superoffice Wincard

Use CRM

Refuse CRM

How respondents with access to CRM software use it for

tracking leads and sales opportunities

less than 10 percent

of the working

time

up to 15 percent

up to 30 percent

up to half of the

working time

Business travel time

mostly technical aspects

both technical and emotional aspects

mostly emotional aspects

Number of respondents that say

the purchase decision of scientific customers depends on ...

mostly technical aspects

both technical and emotional aspects

mostly emotional aspects

Number of respondents that say

the purchase decision of industrial customers depends on ...

Marketing = Advertisment

Somewhat more

Marketing for scientific products means...

Our product is the main tool for their scientifc work

Our product is important but there are other important tools too

Our product makes scientific life easier but it would also work without it

Number of respondents about the importance of scientific tools for

their scientific customers

The respondents about the importance of various information sources for potential

customers

The Top 5

1. Recommendation2. Website3. Data sheets4. Personal contact5. Exhibition

The Flop 3

1. Test Measurements2. Application Reports3. Scientific Publications

Raman Spectrometer Lithography UHV Systems Electron

Spectrometers Surface Analysis Equipment Ellipsometer Anti-

Vibration-Systems Laser Nanopositioning SPM Controller

Vacuum components Effusion cells Optical Components Cryostats

Evaporation Sources Effusion

Cells Thin Film Deposition Photonics AFM Optomechanics

Vacuum mechanics Metrology Sensors Mass Spectrometer

Diffractometer Wafer Handling Tools Potentiostats Low

Temperatur Equipment Electronics Power supplies Beam line

Components Vacuum Pumps QCM Nanoindenter Femtosecond

Laser Piezo components SNOM Monochromator Components

XRay Technology UHV Valves STM Plasma Process Technology ALD

This is what the respondents sell

likely yes likely no

Number of respondents that intent to exhibit again at the DFG Spring meeting

if hosted at the TU Berlin

likely yes likely no

Exhibitors with booth in the main building

Exhibitors with booth in the adjacent building

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