Halliburton Presents Insightful Lunch Lectures on Selling, Intellectual Property, and Sales Techniques

Monday, 16th January - First Lunch Lecture

Halliburton, a renowned multinational corporation, kicked off its series of lunch lectures with a captivating session on the topic of "Balancing scientific progress for all Vs protecting your business intellectual property, Selling yourself, your ideas, your achievements, and results." The lecture was conducted by esteemed speakers Graeme Nicoll and Benjamin Gréselle, who shared their valuable insights with the audience.

The key takeaway from the lecture was the importance of understanding your audience and their interests when selling yourself and your ideas. Nicoll and Gréselle emphasized the significance of embracing failure as a learning opportunity, categorizing ideas based on their marketability, and recognizing the public and industrial interests associated with them. The duo stressed the need to network effectively and utilize social media platforms to stand out in today's competitive landscape.

The lecture also delved into three primary methods of managing knowledge: secrecy, publication, and patenting. While maintaining secrecy is one approach, publishing academic papers or industrial magazine articles serves as a powerful advertisement for oneself and their company. Academic papers should focus on concise storytelling related to current problems or themes of interest to the public, while industry articles prioritize highlighting results rather than methods. Additionally, patenting inventions, although more precise and legally binding, requires significant time and financial investment due to the detailed and formal nature of the patent writing process.

Monday, 23rd January - Second Lunch Lecture

Continuing their engaging lunch lecture series, Halliburton hosted a second session featuring Thomas Jewell as the main speaker. The lecture centered around the art of sales and the various strategies to identify target customers, establish trust, and successfully close deals. Benjamin Gréselle and Graeme Nicoll were also present, lending their expertise to the discussion.

Jewell highlighted the subconscious sales efforts made by early-stage researchers throughout their PhD journeys. Proposing scientific ideas, concepts, and presenting at conferences all involve elements of selling, making these skills crucial for post-graduation career success.

During the lecture, Jewell presented the top ten attributes of a successful salesperson, which included educating customers with new perspectives, collaboration, persuasion, active listening, understanding customer needs, helping them avoid pitfalls, crafting compelling solutions, depicting purchase possibilities, connecting with customers on a personal level, and offering overall superior value compared to other options.

Jewell introduced "The ABCs rule" as the fundamental principles of selling. The rule emphasizes storytelling and consists of three key elements: attunement, buoyancy, and collaboration. Attunement involves understanding customer needs, while buoyancy focuses on maintaining a positive and engaging attitude during conversations. Collaboration encourages involving customers actively in the sales process.

The lecture further explored the "three Cs" of selling: connect, convince, and collaborate. The connecting phase emphasized understanding different buyer personas to tailor a convincing story. Jewell highlighted six key buyer personas: Decisive Danielle, Consensus Claire, Relationship Renee, Skeptical Steve, Analytical Al, and Innovator Irene. Each persona requires a unique approach, such as catering to Renee's preference for networking or providing precise data to satisfy Al's analytical mindset.

These insightful lunch lectures by Halliburton provided attendees with valuable knowledge on intellectual property protection, selling strategies, and effective sales techniques. Participants gained new perspectives on striking a balance between scientific progress and protecting their business interests while honing their selling skills to excel in their careers.