Defines the process for getting the product to the market.
In no other industry do we see product (or brand) managers supporting individual sales efforts.
Yet… does this sound familiar? Sales people want you:
at initial customer meetings
Get the most from your marketting with a memorable 1300 phone number, improve your profit today.
to give the presentation and demo
to attend customer briefings at your corporate site
What is a Sales Engineer?
Sales engineers (SEs) are the technical glue of a technical sale. Sometimes called “systems engineers,” “pre-sales support,” or “field consultants,” SEs act as the sales team’s technical encyclopedia during the sale, representing the technical aspects of how the product solves specific customer problems. They perform technical presentations for the product. They own the demonstration script for the product. With adequate staffing of trained SEs, Product Management does NOT go on sales calls and customer demos.
Then why is it not working this way? We see three common problems with sales engineers in high-tech firms: SEs lack technical skills; there just aren’t enough SEs; and the SE is wasted early in the call so a sales person needs a “bigger gun” for later sales calls. Let’s examine each of these problems.
Problem: Sales people cannot get an SE.
Often, sales people ask for deal support from Product Management simply because there are not enough sales engineers to go around. Well-run sales channels typically have one SE for every two sales people; many have 1:1. Yet the companies that report product management providing excessive support of the sales channel usually have 5:1 or more. And guess what happens? In the absence of an adequate number of sales engineers, product management must step in (or gets dragged in!).
One expert in sales engineering observes that roughly 30% of SEs do all the work. These “best SEs” have won the respect of the sales people and are in constant demand. That leaves 70% that are on staff but are not being used. Imagine their frustration at seeing product managers on calls that rightfully should be theirs.
Solution: train the 70% to be effective. Companies normally train sales engineers in sales methodology by having them attend sales training classes with the sales reps. In other words, they are trained to be sales reps. But shouldn’t they be trained in how to be good sales engineers? New (or under-utilized) sales engineers should have a mentor, a senior SE, who can show them the ropes and teach them the skills to effective. How much more productive would the sales force be if there were three times as many engineers?
Problem: Sales people don’t like the SEs.
How often have you heard sales people requesting a specific SE or product manager because the others are “worthless”? In many cases, it’s because the SE role has changed over recent years from product specialists to technical generalists. Many sales people start using a particular SE and want to use them for all calls. They find that they work together well as a team, except the SE doesn’t know all the products. As a result, they encourage the SE to learn the rest of the products. What was once a product specialist quickly becomes a technical generalist, someone who can explain and demonstrate technical products but doesn’t have intimate knowledge of any specific products.
Solution: Sales Engineers need to return to their technical roots with specific product expertise. The best way is to divide your products into logical product families, and assign SEs to work in only one product family. The SE manager should define a training plan that maps product demands to existing skills sets to ensure that adequate skills exist across all product lines. Rather than acting in a generic technology role, these SE product experts can “go deep” on a product or line of products while having a general understand of all products.
Consider Microsoft. They have different families of products: Windows operating system, Office, Business Solutions, Servers, developer tools, Games and Xbox video game system, and MSN Internet Services. Can any one SE support all of these? Of course not! So they would logically create an SE role specific to, say, Microsoft Office who can really make it fly. They might even assign certain SEs to become expert specifically on Microsoft EXCEL.
Problem: Sales people want the best SE
Sometimes product managers are forced to support an individual sales rep even when qualified SEs are available. Why? The rep wants a better title on the call to impress the evaluator for one reason or another. “You’re so special I brought the product manager all the way out here.” (I have yet to find a customer who actually cares. They just want someone who can show how the product solves their problem.)The perception is that sales engineers are standard resources while product managers are special resources.
Solution: create a special SE role to accommodate this problem. Create a new title for “product expert” or (if HR freaks out) just appoint one of the SEs to the role without the title. The product expert is dedicated to the success of the product in a specific channel or territory. Bring them into the inner circle of product planning by participating in product teams as representatives of the channels. They will be in the planning loop and be exposed to the details that the channel often wants from the product managers.
* * *
Sales people are trying to sell what is on the price list today; Product Management should be defining what should be on the price list next year. Don’t get me wrong: sales calls are a necessary evil for many product managers. And you might accidentally get some good information from going on a sales call. Yet, the truly valuable information can only be obtained when Product Management is listening (and not talking).
Learn more about listening to the market from Barbara Nelson’s series of articles about market sensing featured in Volume 1, Issues 2 through 4 of productmarketing.com.
The company needs market information to make product decisions. Supporting the sales channel actually prevents many product managers from gathering relevant market information. We should create an environment that encourages sales engineering to support the sales tactics for today’s product while Product Management defines the business strategy of the future product.
Sales engineers are a critical role in technology companies. But good SEs can be made great by combining mentoring with specific product experience. Rather than general technologists, they should be expert in one product or line of products. Without this expertise, product management serves the role of “best SE” while the sales engineers sit on the sidelines.
Sidebar: SEs are integral part of the chain of information
Developers are often distracted from developing because they’re inundated with requests from the sales channel. Do your developers go on sales calls? (The correct answer is, “No.”) While customer calls without a sales person are often valuable for better understanding of the domain, potential customer calls with a sales person are just another waste of a strategic resource on a tactical event.
Create a chain of information flow, moving from least technical to most technical, and back. There are simply too many individuals who want some type of product support. This hierarchy creates a scalable flow of information through the organization into the channels. Sales engineers and the product experts are critical links in the hierarchy.
Steve Johnson is an expert in technology product management. He works for Pragmatic Marketing as an instructor for the top-rated courses Practical Product Management and Requirements That Work. Steve is also a frequent presenter for various technology marketing forums throughout the United States and Europe, author of many articles on technology product management.
Posted by ajitabh bhardwaj at 2011-06-13 04:09 PM
hi
is there is a difference in sales executive and sales engineer??/is they both have same task??plz tell and also there working function
Posted by Martins Nkanga at 2011-08-24 04:35 PM
Please kindly assist with the above topic, i appreciate.
Best Regards,
There’s a big difference
Posted by Steve Johnson at 2011-08-24 05:59 PM
A sales exec is a business person; a sales engineer who is a technical person. A sales exec focuses on negotiating while an SE focuses on the configuration. Both are in the sales organization and are typically paid a commission. Does that help?
Posted by Carlos Nzita at 2011-10-05 12:19 PM
How can I become a Sales Engineer?
Posted by mohammad at 2012-05-10 07:56 PM
We can differ vs between SE’s & SEng, Like: Distance between earth to SUN.
SE’s are field or root user’s to execute the channel, calculation’s and predictions or pre-projected action plan.
SEng are the Designer of channel, Presenter of business equations, finder or Helper to provide the solution to make SE’s Executable action time to minimize with effective output.
query
Posted by MOHAMMAD RIZVI KHAN at 2011-10-05 12:19 PM
sir,I’m persuing MCA but involve from my begning time t till now in markrting field so I’m going t complete mca please tell me I can make my carrier with the help of mca in marketing.
Masters degrees
Posted by Steve Johnson at 2011-10-06 11:15 AM
42% of product managers have a master’s degree, most in Business but some in Computer Science. Sales Engineers don’t need an advanced degree; they need experience with the product. Sales engineering is a great way of getting a first job with a vendor. Vendors frequently find strong candidates from their customer base. So consider working for a company that makes software that you use in your daily activities.
Advanced degrees tend to be less influential in the USA. Right or wrong, we usually favor experience over education.
See more in http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/survey/2005/does-a-masters-degree-make-a-difference
SE to Sales People Ratio
Posted by Erica at 2011-10-24 12:16 PM
Under “Problem: Sales people cannot get an SE.” where is says “Well-run sales channels typically have one SE for every two sales people; many have 1:1. Yet the companies that report product management providing excessive support of the sales channel usually have 5:1 or more. And guess what happens? In the absence of an adequate number of sales engineers, product management must step in (or gets dragged in!).” The ratio of 5:1 would imply 5 SE’s for every 1 sales person, but I believe the intention of the statement is the opposite because the next sentence states there is not an adequate number of sales engineers. Could you please clear up this discrepancy?
Thank you
Posted by Steve Johnson at 2011-10-24 12:37 PM
Yes, the average is 4 or 5 sales people share one sales engineer.
Sales engineer vs TC
Posted by Lauren Buchsbaum at 2011-12-23 12:44 PM
I’m curious…. is a sales engineer a similar role to a technical consultant? Fascinating article about the job and its challenges.
SE has many titles
Posted by Steve Johnson at 2012-01-12 06:59 PM
An SE is a technical resource in the field, a key member of a sales team. They focus on answering technical questions and configuring the right solution. They often do demos, perform proof of concept, present technical information, and lead technical discussions. In some cases, they participate in the hand-off of the client issues to an implementation team but rarely are involved in the detailed client implementation.
Is that what your “technical consultants” do?
Posted by Mike at 2012-02-14 02:41 PM
It’s a very subtle but important difference.
A Sales Engineer’s goal is to make a sale, not simply answer questions and consult. We are not impartial. If you’re an impartial SE, you’re not doing your job. Whatever you call it, System, Sales, Consultant, or whatever, we gain a high level of trust and are able to get much more information from a prospect then a sales person can. This allows us to share strategic information with the sales person, direct and demo the most valuable areas or uses of the product, provide workarounds for product problem areas, and build a higher level of confidence in what we’re selling to make the deal close easier and more valuable.
Sales people oversell but are often not trusted.
Engineers are trusted but often undersell because they lack persuasive ability.
A good SE can do both and finds the right balance for the situation.
A good Sales Engineer needs the mind of an engineer and the personality of a sales person. Tough to find and tough to train.
Posted by Supriya at 2012-01-20 06:00 PM
Hello…
I’m an Engineer. Now working as sales engineer. But i don’t have knowledge of key things of sales. How to become a successful sales engineer? Please guide me
Becoming a great SE
Posted by Steve Johnson at 2012-01-20 07:40 PM
Just be yourself. Your job as an SE is to supply your technical ability to answer the customers’ questions. Even if the sales guy knows the answer, the customer will prefer to hear from someone who knows the technology. It’s good to work on your presentation skills, learn to speak succinctly, and be the company’s technical advocate, both to clients and back to the product management team.
Check out more resources at http://www.salesengineerguy.com/
Engineer to Sales Engineer
Posted by Mike at 2012-02-14 02:41 PM
You’ll need to train yourself to be less blunt and factual. And this I mean as an exercise balance out that engineer side. Everything you do with a prospect needs to be strategic, so you’re not just accessing factual knowledge but always with an interpersonal persuasive intent.
Observe a good sales person and notice the driving forces and personality. You’ll need to be more like that person rather then the programmer in the basement.
Honestly it’s not a job any engineer can do, because so much of it depends on personality traits.
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