Many products and services, especially those purchased by large companies and institutions, are highly complex. Sales engineers—also called technical sales support workers—determine how products and services could be designed or modified to suit customers’ needs. They also may advise customers on how best to use the products or services provided.

Sales engineers specialize in technologically and scientifically advanced products. They possess extensive knowledge of these products, including knowledge about their components, functions, and the scientific processes that make them work. They use their technical skills to explain the benefits of their products to potential customers and to demonstrate how their products are better than the products of their competitors. Often, they modify and adjust products to meet customers’ specific needs. Some sales engineers work for the companies that design and build technical products, while others work for independent sales firms.

Many of the duties of sales engineers are similar to those of other salespersons. They must interest the client in purchasing their products, negotiate a price, and complete the sale. Some sales engineers, however, are teamed with other salespersons who concentrate on marketing and selling the product, enabling the sales engineer to concentrate on the technical aspects of the job. By working on a sales team, each member is able to focus on his or her strengths and expertise. (Information on other sales occupations, including sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, appears elsewhere in the Handbook.)

Continue reading Sales Engineering – The Nature of the Work →

We’ve all heard the many stories about how bad a customer database can get, but my recent experience with this issue is just too good of a story to let pass by. My wife called me at work the other day to let me know about a nice gift that we received in the mail: an entire case of toothpaste from a consumer healthcare company. No hitch here, they just wanted to share some of their latest, greatest product with Dr. Gerard’s dental patients as part of a free sample give-away. A few problems with this strategy though: 1) I’m not a dentist; 2) no one in my household is a dentist; and 3) my father, who had been a dentist for 40+ years, had retired over 25 years ago and unfortunately is also no longer alive. Maybe it was a special message from my father to get my kids to brush their teeth more. Regardless, another example of customer intelligence gone wrong.

This only happens in the BtoC space you say? From our research, I continue to observe that business IT buyers also perceive a lack of customer intelligence from their vendors. How does this perception take hold? A CIO panelist from a $10B+ company at one of our events indicated that he has to continuously teach vendor sales reps what he has purchased from them in the past. During the same meeting with a rep, the IT buyer notices that the rep is either unwilling or unable to let go of the generic PowerPoint deck and to engage in a deep and customer-specific conversation. Poor customer intelligence was a significant factor in each of these cases, leading to poor credibility on your front lines. (Sales enablement, talent management, sales methodology and sales management are other potential factors of concern in these examples.)

So what’s happening across our marketing and sales organizations to result in this break-down of intelligence. There’s plenty of blame to go around, from a people, process and technology perspective. But let’s keep our efforts focused on fact-finding versus fault-finding. Here are a couple of places to start in improving these problems as well as some insight from our research of better performing sales organizations:

• Establish one team or organization to be accountable for ensuring that there’s one source of truth for customer data – from a process and governance perspective, not necessarily controlling all input and editing of data. The following quote represents the position of many multi-billion dollar companies today: “Our company has many customer databases. Also anyone can create customer records and update data. The result is that it is very difficult to get to ‘one source of truth’ for customer data; and we also have severe data quality issues.”
• Provide a process to update and edit your customer data, either centralized or decentralized. One example of this from a multi-billion dollar tech firm: “Our reps are responsible for creating and updating prospect and customer data. However, we also have a master data team to ensure high data quality.
• Leverage your customer data across the entire sales engagement process, from account planning up to and including the on-site customer/prospect visit. Another company example: “We have an up-sell wheel as a tool to help sales reps identify what existing customers own as well as what additional products and services from our portfolio may be appropriate for those customers.”
• Embed customer data (internal and external) within your sales force automation platform to improve the ease of access and leverage of this data by your sales reps.

This is only the tip of the iceberg of course. Focus in on some key short-term wins as you improve the quality and leverage of customer intelligence, while in parallel maintaining your course along a longer term strategic path.

Please do reach out to me if you would like to participate in our ongoing research, including a best practices study in account planning for BtoB sales teams that is currently in progress.

For years, all there were about the land were Sales Engineers. Unfortunately, almost everyone got the role wrong and figured they were Sales Reps that knew how to explain the product/services. Wrong. I’ve written about this often here, and it is just as wrong now as it was then.

Today, sales teams selling high end software are comprised of specialists. Things are too complex, and the roles too diverse from one another to try to mangle them all into one person. The Rep (or whatever your culture calls them) gets the appointment, either by calling/emailing themselves, or waiting for a campaign (either Acquisition or Retention) to provide them with the opportunity.

Depending, the Rep might even plug in numbers into a proposal generator, and present it for signing at closing. These days, though, the Sales Engineer is being relied on to qualify the opportunities with the Reps. Qualification, in Pat’s world, requires 4-1/2 things:

1. The Customer Knows What they Are Buying.

They understand the solution, agree that it is what they need, and like the solution within which our stuff plugs in. This may sound silly, but it is vital. Remember, DSOs (Discrete Sales Opportunities) come in two flavors:

1. They Have Something They Don’t Want (Solve a Problem)

2. They Want Something They Don’t Have (Create Opportunity)

2. We Have Access to the Buyer.

We are meeting with, taling to, and solving problems for, the buyer. If we are still talking to lackeys, gate keepers, and their layers/levels of qualification, we are not talking to the buyer.

3. The Have the Budget.

An old saying goes “Only sell to folks that have money”. There is an endless stream of useless people at any prospect that will let you buy them lunch.

4. There is Date Related Motivation.

Something will happen at a certain date. Something Bad(TM) will happen if the prospect does nothing.

4-1/2. An Identified Project Exists Where Our Stuff Plugs In.

So remember, there are only Sales Engineers, and Engineers. Post-Sales is considered fulfillment, while Pre-Sales is considered either Acquisition or Retention. Engineers work on all kinds of things, some of which is considered after the sale was made.

[Pre-] Sales Engineers impact = Top Line

Engineers impact = Bottom Line

I get this search string for a web browser’s referrer more so than any other. And I’m really glad someone is asking, but way too often the wrong answer prevails. Well, at Google, this is what a Sales Engineer does:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4YKyu84Fbo[/youtube]

But really, to answer what a Sales Engineer is, it might first be good to read an article I wrote a few years back about What a Sales Engineer is NOT. From there you will also see some “related Links” below the article to lead you to other defining articles.

The confusion as to what this vital role is, and even what it should be called remains …inexplicably. Companies way too often see the word “Sales” in a title, and assume that you are a sourcer, or cold caller that hunts for leads, then closes them. This couldn’t be further from the truth. True, a proper Sales Engineer is paid on base+commission, but as I’ve written before, this is due to the requirement for suggestions outside of the protective Account Rep’s to be geared toward closing the most business ($) in the shortest possible time. This is how your reps are comp’d, and if you are not, then you will not be invited to the party.

If you are like I was, and am an accomplished engineer in many diverse disciplines, then your best shot might be to ask to tag along with your sales reps on actual calls. This might be the first sales call you’ve ever been on! Say not a single word, unless asked to do so by your rep. Do not speak unless spoken to, in other words.

Do this a few times, and start to get a feel for what your company’s customers are asking for, what they actually need, and how your company’s sales reps perceive your products. The analytic in you will soon see that they do not overlap each other perfectly. In fact, there might not be any overlap at all. Your reps won’t see things like this, but your engineering mindset will, and you’ll be compelled to figure out ways to “fix” the situation. RESIST THE URGE!

Your opinion is not wanted. You have no street cred with these reps, and they don’t think there are any problems-or they affix blame to others (what I call Blame Management, but more on that another day). You need to continue on these ‘expeditions’ until you learn more about how things are in the streets, versus how they are at your HQ/office. They are far from the same.

So back to the 3 areas of understanding (which are really perception). Imagine 3 circles drawn on a piece of paper. Each circle is labeled as:

• What problems Corporate (Mktg/Adv) thinks we solve
• What problems Sales thinks we solve (see comp plan)
• What problems our prospects/customers think we solve

There are other tools in my methodologies that are related and similar, but lets just focus on these for now. For the most part, you will be able to tell where each one of these circles lie after a month of going to sales calls. Things may look like:

(click on image for full size)

So the job, or objective, of a Sales Engineer is actually quite simple. Create as much overlap as possible. There is much, much more to it, but for now this should act as a good intro. Be sure to cruise through the related posts below this article to fill in more of the blanks!

Sales engineers generally are required to possess a bachelor’s degree in engineering, and many have previous work experience in an engineering specialty. New sales engineers may need some on-the-job training in sales or may work closely with a sales mentor before they can work on their own.

Education and training. A bachelor’s degree in engineering usually is required for a person to become a sales engineer. However, workers without a degree, but with previous experience in sales and technical experience or training, sometimes hold the title of sales engineer. Also, workers who have a degree in a science, such as chemistry, or even a degree in business with little or no previous sales experience, may be called sales engineers. Continue reading The Sales Engineer – Training, Other Qualifications, and Advancement →