In the field, time is limited—and trust is earned quickly or not at all. Every interaction is a chance to shape how someone engages with your science. Yet too often, meetings revolve around slide decks instead of real dialogue.

Thought leaders don’t want to be talked at—they want to be heard.

That begins by listening before you lead: probing and asking the right questions to uncover what the customer values, where they have uncertainty, and how they process new information. When done well, your message reflects their priorities—not just your own.

At Presentation Impact, we’ve partnered with over 10,000 field-based medical professionals. We understand how the MSL role is evolving. As access narrows for commercial teams, medical organizations are stepping into more proactive, cross-functional roles—while continuing to honor the boundary between education and promotion.

Whether your team is sharing data or uncovering insights, the most effective field medical professionals follow a clear pattern: they Connect Relationally, Understand Fully, Sympathize Strategically, and Position Incrementally.

Best practices covered in this module include:

• Why being interested precedes being interesting

• Seven principles for building trust through connection

• Listening techniques that elevate perceived value and credibility

• Questioning prompts and probes that uncover real motivations

• How account-level thinking can lead to deeper insights

• Educating to inform vs. educating to be compelling

• Using reflected reasoning to align with existing values

• Ways to challenge the status quo without being argumentative

• What Aristotle’s Triangle reveals about real-world decision-making