What is a Sales Engineer?
I use the term “Sales Engineer” on this blog and thought that a clearer definition of the job would be in order. There are many names for Sales Engineers (more on that in a minute) but the basic job definition is (from wikipedia):
The role serves to bridge the gap between sales acumen and engineering expertise.
Software and hardware are often complex products that often require a great deal of technical knowledge to understand. Sales Engineers have the technical knowledge to explain technology while still helping to sell the product.
An analogy might help. Imagine you are going into a purchase a new set of speakers for your stereo. You walk into a retail store and tell one of the sales representatives that you are looking for some bookshelf speakers to put up in your living room. He shows you several options but it quickly becomes clear as you ask more technical questions (how big are the drivers? What is the average max watts these can take?) that the sales rep is fairly new and does not know how to answer your questions. Instead, he turns to one of the more experienced reps and she is able to answer all your technical questions in detail. At the same time she subtly sells the benefits of one system based on the needs you have stated. When it comes time to make the purchase she hands it back over to the first sales rep who takes care of getting your equipment, trying to sign you up for a warranty and getting your checked out.
The role of the Sales Engineer is similar to the second, more knowledgeable sales rep (although they don’t actually have a division of roles in retail sales). She did not “make the sale” but she assisted by providing technical knowledge applied to describe the benefits of the speakers. I don’t mean to imply that all sales reps are inexperienced (they are not) but they often don’t have the technical knowledge to deal with many of the questions that come up in high-tech sales.
There are many varieties of Sales Engineers and the role is often defined by the types of products being sold. Most of my work has been in what is known as “Enterprise Software Sales” (bullspeak for selling software used by big companies) which has several roles in Sales. My titles have included:
- Sales Consultant
- Solution Consultant
- Pre-Sales Consultant
- Technical Evangelist
- Technical Sales Consultant
- Functional Sales Consultant
These titles (also a form of bullspeak, IMO) are just a small sample of the job titles that fall loosely under Sales Engineering. I would say that “Pre-Sales” is the term that is the best umbrella for the work of Sales Engineers. The term “consultant” is often used when selling business software (such as ERP, CRM, and other “Back Office” software) while “Engineer” is more common when selling IT-based hardware or software.
There is another division of labor amongst Sales Consultants in particular: Functional vs. Technical. I have worked as both in my career (which is a little unusual), but the jobs are very different in the background required. A “Functional” or “Business” Sales Consultant is responsible for describing what the product does, while a “Technical” Sales Consultant describes how it does it.
An example: when selling Human Resources (ugh, more bullspeak) software, there might be people from HR wondering how they can screen job applicants using the software. The Functional Sales Consultant would show the HR staff how applicants would enter their information and what the results would be for HR (i.e. online application results in screened applicant based on keywords). But if the IT staff at the prospect wanted to know how that screening was accomplished, they would probably turn to the Technical Sales Consultant for the answer (i.e. “we use google’s search algorithm to find your specified search terms”).
On a really complex sale you can get a lot of different sales consultants. Companies selling ERP software (like Oracle and SAP) are often described as “pulling up in a bus” when they show up for a sales call because of the number of people required to explain their products. Often there are many sales consultants on these deals, each with a different specialization.
Sales Engineering requires a unique blend of technical (or product) knowledge along with the “soft skills” to help in making a sale. Like many other Sales Engineers I love how the job requires both technical aptitude and sales ability.
