Hands-on business development for CROs, SMOs and clinical technology companies
Lab-2-Business is deliberately small. I work with a few companies at a time and do the sales work myself: identifying the right accounts, opening doors, developing relationships and staying with opportunities through proposal and negotiation.
For 15+ years, I have sold complex technical products and services to international markets. Today I bring that experience to clinical research, working alongside founders, management and operations teams.
I like helping organisations with excellent science and technology become as strong at winning business as they already are at delivering it.
Pavel Trofimov
Founder, Lab-2-Business
Does this sound familiar?
- No dedicated sales team: Founders, managers and scientists are still expected to win projects on top of everything else they already do.
- Referrals drive growth: Relationships, repeat business and word of mouth bring in work, but there is little structure around them.
- Follow-up is not systematic: Good opportunities are revisited when someone remembers, rather than through consistent activity tracking.
- You lose winnable business: Similar-sized competitors keep getting projects you should have a fair chance of winning – and it is not always clear why.
- Not enough bandwidth: A geography, customer segment or service has potential, but there is no time to develop it properly.
- Complex deals need senior presence: Important accounts and late-stage negotiations sometimes need a more experienced salesperson in the room.
- Commercial uncertainty: The pipeline provides little visibility into likely projects and expected revenue.
If some of it is true, we should talk.
What I take responsibility for
When I take on a mandate, I take responsibility for the sales work as a whole: from opening accounts to developing opportunities, winning business and putting the structure around it.
- Target accounts: I identify the companies worth pursuing, the right people inside them and the best way in.
- New customer relationships: I make contact, run the first conversations and build the relationship from there.
- Qualification and opportunity development: I establish whether there is real business, what the customer needs and what has to happen next.
- Account development: I deepen existing relationships, find additional opportunities and grow the business over time.
- Follow-up and closing: I keep opportunities moving, agree next steps and stay involved until there is a decision.
- Proposals, pricing and negotiation: I work with your experts to shape the offer and handle the commercial discussion through to agreement.
- Sales structure and coordination: I keep accounts, pipeline, forecasts and next actions in order, bring in the right colleagues and make sure the work proceeds cleanly into delivery.
Experience that transfers
My career in sales spans more than 15 years in international, technical and regulated B2B markets. I have worked in large corporate organisations and owner-led companies building new markets from the ground up.
- Clinical research: Sponsor-facing business development in a full-service CRO driving qualification, proposals, pricing and negotiation for substantial clinical programs. The portfolio combined clinical development, biometrics and data services.
- International sales: More than 15 years working with customers in Europe, CIS, the Americas, MENA and Asia, operating confidently in very different business cultures.
- Complex selling: I am used to long sales cycles, fragmented markets, multiple stakeholders and services that take time to understand and differentiate.
- Operating range: I have worked inside large multinational organisations, been part of a nine-figure management buy-out and held senior sales roles in founder-led and growth-stage companies. Several assignments were greenfield situations, where commercial operations had to be built from scratch.
- Business building: I have developed territories from small starting points into multi-million-dollar markets, grown major accounts and managed a portfolio of around €20 million annually.
The industries have changed over the years. What I carry from one market to the next is my ability to understand how customers buy, find where you can win and build from there.
How an engagement works
- Defined mandate: We agree the role, the market or accounts involved, the priorities and what I am responsible for.
- Reserved time: I commit a defined number of days or hours to the assignment each month, or we agree a fixed project period.
- Part of your team: Where appropriate, I represent the company externally, work with your existing systems and coordinate directly with management, BD and delivery.
- Aligned terms: My ongoing mandates combine a monthly retainer with a success fee on agreed business won through the assignment. The retainer covers the time I reserve; the success fee ties part of my compensation to the commercial result. Defined projects can be priced separately.
- Flexible duration: Priorities and progress are reviewed regularly, and the mandate can be extended, adjusted or ended seamlessly.
- No competing mandates: I work strictly confidentially and do not take competing mandates for the same account or opportunity. Where an overlap arises, the existing mandate takes precedence and I decline the conflicting work.
Let’s talk
Tell me your biggest commercial challenge and let me find a solution.