We the Sales Engineers

Some deals are lost after they are won. Why is that? Well, sometimes, the people who buy are not the people who are involved in the implementation, and even worse, the people who sell DISAPEAR once the PO is in For example, a long, long time ago, I worked as a Network Design Engineer. I was given an assignment, and when I started talking to the engineers, I realized they were against buying the solution from my company and wanted another solution. That caused some friction, especially since the sales team was nowhere to be seen, and I was not prepped. Now, although I won them over, not everyone is so lucky. And even if the customer doesn't cancel the PO, they might ask for concessions, they might not renew, and the vendor will definitely not get a referral after that. That's why Sales teams should be involved throughout the sales cycle. You've already built the relationship; why pawn it off to someone else? Also, since the sales team sold it, they should be responsible for making sure the customer uses it the way it was sold. What do you think? Should a sales team wash their hands after the PO is in or maintain the relationships all the way through?

Your customers don't work for you! Here are some things I hear from Solution Engineers and Salespeople: - Why aren't they answering my emails? - Why doesn't the leadership trust their engineers, and why do I have to do another demo? - They keep asking the same questions. It may be your job to email them, but you have to remember that it's not their job to answer you. You are just someone they have to deal with so they can do their job. Would you blindly trust your team if they tell you, "We saw this amazing solution that would save us thousands of dollars, and it costs thousands of dollars. Please buy it"? Or would you ask for some additional proof? Or if the customer keeps asking the same questions, maybe you need to answer them differently or do some digging to see why that is happening. Bottom line: Put yourself in your customers' shoes. Once you do, you can better understand what they need. So, if you need a response to an email, you can draft a more compelling email, time it better, or share why you are emailing them and what's in it for them. If they are asking you to demo to their leadership, understand that they are asking for your help to convince their leadership to buy it for them. Remember, your world may revolve around them. Theirs does not revolve around you.

Is imposter syndrome something to overcome, or is it something to use to push you to perform better? https://lnkd.in/ee-MZNbF

I see a lot of posts joking about Salespeople and how they don't understand what Solution Engineers do, how to demo, or that we need to be part of the discovery call. But I have a favor to ask. Many SEs don't understand what SEs do. They think their job is to sit back and wait for customers to ask questions. Or to demo useless features. So instead of asking AEs to understand, maybe we should look into our own backyard and enable the SEs we know so they can do better. #salesengineering #solutionEngineering