SalesTraining
A doctor was asked what builds her trust with pharmaceutical representatives. She paused, smiled and said, “The ones I trust the most are the ones who say, ‘I’m not sure—but I’ll find out.’ That’s how I know they’re here to help, not just to pitch.”
That doctor’s perspective reflects a broader shift in how healthcare providers (HCPs) evaluate their partners. In life sciences — where clinical precision meets human complexity and scientific innovation advances at unprecedented speed — saying “I don’t know” to a customer or colleague may seem risky, even foolish.
Yet across pharmaceutical and biotech organizations, learning and development (L&D) teams are tasked with preparing employees to engage some of the most scientifically minded professionals: providers, nurses and pharmacists. These individuals often think like scientists — balancing curiosity, data, uncertainty and outcomes. Embedded within their mindset is a quiet but critical acceptance of “I don’t know.”
By incorporating this kind of intellectual humility into training, L&D can help employees adopt a more scientific mindset — equipping field teams with the skills to think more critically, collaborate more effectively and navigate complex conversations with curiosity.
For sales leadership, there’s often a fear that saying “I don’t know” could signal weakness or lack of preparation. But in reality, it demonstrates what HCPs recognize as strategic curiosity. Field teams who acknowledge knowledge gaps with professionalism build more trust, invite follow-up and differentiate themselves from competitors who overpromise or bluff. In fact, HCPs consistently report being significantly more likely to reengage with reps who show transparency over perfection.
In life, we’re often taught to confidently know the right answer. According to neuroscientists, repeated reinforcement of the right answer can create strong neural associations and constructs in our brains.
Our educational system has trained our brains to equate having the right answer with credibility. Corporate training often continues this pattern, teaching employees what to think, what to say and what to do in certain situations. Being right is rewarded; being wrong is penalized.
In contrast, science values uncertainty and curiosity. Science, at its substratum, prizes the admission that we don’t yet know the answer. In science, this admission is the first step toward discovery of the unknown.
How does this impact L&D? Traditional L&D efforts can sometimes overemphasize memorization, accuracy and competency frameworks. But effective behavior — especially in the evolving world of healthcare — requires something more flexible, like a scientist. Namely, the intellectual humility to say “I don’t know, let me get back to you,” the curiosity to learn by looking at the situation anew and the courage — born from curiosity — to keep asking questions.
When customer-facing teams speak with HCPs and clinicians, they are engaging with professionals who live in a very different world: A world of ongoing trials, ever-evolving evidence and face-to-face communication with patients exploring their health concerns. These healthcare professionals often rely on inquiry, experimentation and systematic thinking. That means credibility is not earned by having all the answers — it is often earned by being thoughtful, evidence-based and transparent about what is still unknown.
From a business standpoint, this mindset shift offers more than just philosophical value. Teams who adopt scientific thinking report stronger customer rapport, with some organizations seeing up to 25% improvement in follow-up meeting rates when reps commit to researching specific questions rather than providing immediate, potentially outdated answers. When credibility is earned through curiosity and authenticity, reps create stronger, more sustainable relationships that ultimately drive access and differentiation.
Teaching field and matrix teams to adopt a scientific mindset — especially the willingness to admit “I don’t know” — often builds credibility, fosters trust, encourages intellectual humility and models professional integrity. In a time when AI tools and information overload create pressure to appear infallible, the most trusted voices can be those that remain open to learning and listening while staying grounded in intellectual humility.
You don’t need a lab coat to think like a scientist. Scientific thinking is a straightforward, trainable mindset. And thanks to our brain’s inherent neuroplasticity — the ability of the brain to rewire itself through experience and learning — these five traits of a scientific thinker can be intentionally developed through training and practice.
Trait 1: Challenge Assumptions Encourage learners to identify and question their default thinking patterns. Use small-group evaluation of scenarios that reward listening to all perspectives and prompt learners to reflect on their own habitual thinking patterns. This kind of reflective practice strengthens new neural pathways that support open-mindedness, curiosity and critical thinking.
Trait 2: Be Curious, Ask Questions and Gather Data Curiosity activates the brain’s learning networks. Reinforce questioning skills — especially in customer conversations — to deepen understanding, build rapport and create brain patterns that favor exploration over assumption. Questions that aim to understand the core beliefs and behaviors of another, asked in an authentic tone of curiosity, can uncover helpful information.
Trait 3: Tolerate Uncertainty Few people like uncertainty — it’s inherently uncomfortable — but your training programs can normalize it. Leaders can model the behavior and training with case studies with small group discussion questions and can create environments where ambiguity is not only accepted but expected. This builds neural resilience and flexibility over time.
Trait 4: Think Critically and Systematically Teach structured thinking tools like root cause analysis, critical thinking or clinical reasoning models. These frameworks help employees form new connections in the brain that organize thought processes.
Trait 5: Continuously Learn (and Unlearn) Reinforce the idea that learning is ongoing — and that unlearning outdated beliefs is just as important as gaining new ones. Encourage learners to be adaptable and embrace change by highlighting personal examples of how new evidence overturned old thinking and long held beliefs. Again, the brain’s ability to adapt and change its thinking patterns is powered by neuroplasticity.
By designing training around these traits — and understanding the science behind how the brain learns — we can help employees become more curious, agile, analytical and innovative thinkers.
To embed this mindset in your learning culture and training programs, there must be a shift away from “what to think” toward “how to think.” Here are four actionable ways to embed this mindset in your teams:
Model it: Encourage trainers and sales managers to openly share experiences when they didn’t know something and how it helped them gain a new perspective. They can also model the behavior in their interactions with employees. This normalizes the approach for others in the organization.
Design roleplays that reward curiosity: During roleplays, instead of only rewarding accuracy, recognize learners who ask strong follow-up questions or acknowledge gaps in knowledge with professionalism.
Facilitate regional meeting discussions: During regional meetings, managers can encourage team members to share examples of when not having an answer increased the customer’s trust and strengthened the relationship.
Teach and practice scientific response frameworks: Provide employees with language they can use when they don’t know an answer, like: “That’s a great question—I want to make sure I give you the most accurate information. Can I follow up after checking the latest data?” or “Here’s what we know so far, and here’s what we’re still learning.”
These practices train confidence — not just competence — and show that curiosity can coexist with credibility.
In the broader context of life sciences training, this mindset shift doesn’t just support better conversations — it supports better science. When teams can own uncertainty and pursue clarity, they collaborate more effectively, adapt more quickly and model the very mindset that drives innovation in medicine.
As Carl Sagan once said, “There are many hypotheses in science that are wrong. That’s perfectly all right — it’s the aperture to finding out what’s right.” In that spirit, L&D professionals have an opportunity to help our organizations, and our customers, evolve by training others to think like a scientist.
The next time you hear a team member say, “I don’t know,” interpret these words as the beginning of new, uncharted potential. After all, that’s what a scientist would do.
Melissa Snell is a senior learning strategist and instructional designer for Proficient Learning. Email Melissa at melissa.snell@proficientlearning.com or connect through www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-snell-ma-a31a433/.
