What is KOL? It's a pharma industry (or other industry for that matter) abbreviation for 'key opinion leader' - people whose opinion carries weight in related product or service issue.
I've listened to this speaker, let's call him Dr. R, speaks at a few occasion before but this is my first time entertain him for an event.
From the previous impression, I knew what to expect.
True enough, it happened just as I expected.
Lucky for us, my buddy in particular, for checking his email on his iPad while waiting for me loading some stuff into my car boot. He noticed that the landing time for our guest of honor was an hour earlier than what he told me.
(Are you kidding me? One hour?)
He almost went into cardiac shock when he learned about it.
But we arrived just in time since my place is about 10 minutes away from the airport (average, Sunday drive speed).
Our guest of honor would've never guessed what's going on.
Phew...
I've decided to take him for a quick local delicacy.
I could think of only one place where I could make that happen.
Take him there, I did.
I lost track of time, but I estimated we spent almost the entire day, well, at least I felt that way, talking on essential subjects, ranging from work experience, market, customers' behaviors and so forth. I felt like I could spend another day or two there, but we got a talk to run.
I'll spare all the details because I swear I can write a book on what we've discussed.
Maybe two...
So this is the prelude. I'm too tired to continue so I'll break this up into episodes.
How many?
No idea.
Maybe one or two.
Who knows...
1st Episode
At the airport, after the KOL (Dr. R) entered my car...
Me: Hi! Welcome, Sir. Nice to meet you.
Dr. R: Hi! Yeah...
Me: Have you had your breakfast, Sir?
Dr. R: Yes. Thank you...
Me: Hope you don't mind another cup of coffee since we thought of taking you to breakfast.
Dr. R: Yeah, it's OK. Let's go for it.
I drove my car to the intended place. Along the journey, we talked about product issues, about the audience who'll attend the talk, and of course, gossips.
Me: I was thinking of taking you to a place where you can taste our local delicacy here. Can't think of a place better than here because I can rest assured they're open, unlike a favorite site I knew somewhere else where they open or close as they please.
Dr. R: Oh, I see. So what's right here, la?
Me: My favorite is this rice but you can check out other dishes as well
And the waitress hands us the menu.
Dr. R: I think I'll have white coffee with curry noodles.
He ordered without a blink. "That was fast," I thought silently, and I take it as a good sign since Dr. R said he already had breakfast. My buddy, who I knew for sure will eat something light, just went for some tidbits.
And then our conversation continues...
...but I just highlight some critical points throughout the discussions, such as friendship.
Dr. R: You see, friendship is essential to me. I agree to do this talk because a friend in this company asked me and when a friend asked, my response is always "Consider it done!". I want to be there for my friend as they still are there for me.
My buddy and I nodded.
Dr. R: I give you an example. I had a friend in Comp R, and he was retired. Right now, he started his own business and went to Cambodia. He sent me an email a few days ago and asked me to come and see his budding operation. He said he needed my expertise.
Dr. R: How can I say 'NO' to that, so I went there last week. Now, he wants me to come every month.
And Dr. R laughed out loud...
Dr. R: You see, if I did it for the money, I feel like I do him no good because he's my friend. Besides, I have enough already. What more could I ask for? So, I didn't do it for the money.
He paused to sip his white coffee...
Dr. R: But he insisted on paying, so, what I did was, I asked him to value how much he would pay me and convert that into shares with the company. I don't want to burden him with extra expenses or things like that, but this is something win-win that I can think of.
I thought that Dr. R's idea was brilliant. Now he owns shares in that young company.
Dr. R: I did this for a friend. Otherwise, I would've content with my ongoing research, lecturing, and traveling. I have enough already.
Dr. R continues sipping his coffee before digging into his freshly served curry noodle. He devoured it like he did not have breakfast earlier.
And I stop here.
Dr. R made some more examples but using my competitors as an example.
That's not something I'd like to write right now because nature's calling.
Until then, get a life :-)
Here's a quick bonus for you for reading up to this point: the Dark Side of KOL relationship. Nothing fancy. It's not heavy. Just something to keep in mind.
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