Tech Demo Guy

I recently had the privilege of meeting some of the staff at Merced Systems in Redwood Shores, CA. They are looking for a couple A-quality Sales Engineers in the West to represent their products. They are currently producing software in to areas: Performance Management and Incentive Management. Their software is solid and they have a fantastic executive team. The hiring manager, Hamish Eisler, is a great guy. If you are a star player and want to join a company that not only survived 2009, but actually thrived, you should check them out. You can see the full job listing on LinkedIn.

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Credibility:

def. the quality or power of inspiring belief

Credibility is the key to a Sales Engineer’s success. Gaining credibility is hard, and losing it is easy. Sales Engineers know they have to build credibility with management, sales reps, developers and, especially, prospects and customers. The approach to building credibility differs with each group.

Credibility with Management

After many years as a Sales Engineer I came to the realization that most big deals fall apart not because of the prospect, but because of management at my company. Salespeople often hound executives to help them win deals (with price concessions or product changes) and executives are somewhat resistant to them because of it. A Sales Engineer can have a special status in the company because they are seen as experts and they help generate revenue (both are things that executives value). Building credibility with management can be done by showing competence and going out of your way to help executives when they need it. There were many times that I was called upon to help an executive with a demo, presentation or subject matter expertise. Rather than seeing this as a distraction from your work (closing deals) these should be seen as excellent opportunities to build credibility for when you need it later. Credibility with management can make all the difference in closing highly political deals.

Credibility with Sales Reps

I have always said Sales Reps are like quarter-horses: incredibly talented but easy to spook. As a Sales Engineer you are probably the one person that a Sales Rep can trust to put in front of a customer and not blow the deal. The best way to build credibility with Sales Reps is to help them win deals. But if you are new to a sales organization there is a shortcut: build credibility with other Sale Engineers. The best approach here is to help more experienced Sales Engineers with the busywork of their deals, RFP’s, answering followup questions, etc… The first place a Sales Rep is going to go for advice on the “New guy/gal” is other Sales Engineers. If they already have a positive view of your work, you are well on your way.

Credibility with Developers/Engineers

If you are in software sales then you have to deal with Developers. If you are in hardware, then it is Engineers. Either way, as a Sales Engineer you have to build credibility with this group to fully understand your product. Engineers speak a different language from Sales, and I have always seen the role of Sales Engineer as a bridge between these two very different departments. Engineers don’t understand what Sales does (and vice-versa) and there is often a lot of mistrust between the groups. Your credibility will determine whether you can bridge that divide.

The good news is that if you are technically competent or have an engineering background, then establishing credibility here is pretty easy. Demonstrating that you understand the pressures on an Engineer will go a long way toward building credibility. For example, if you have a feature you need for a prospect, instead of asking an Engineer to build xyz, tell them the problem that you are trying to solve. Engineers typically love puzzles and would prefer to be given the problem and work the solution out for themselves.

Credibility with Prospects

Credibility with prospects is about first impressions. Often a Sales Engineer will be introduced to a prospect late in the sales cycle and will have to impress the prospect with their competence in a demo or other high-pressure scenario. The best advice I can give for establishing credibility with prospects? Listen. A prospect will measure your competence by how well you understand their problems, not by how much you know. Active listening is a great way to build credibility in an initial meeting. Only once you understand the prospect’s issues can you impress them with your solutions.

More than any other factor, a Sales Engineer needs to quickly convey competence to the prospect. Doing great discovery helps in this regard (because you can address the prospect’s needs) but having excellent customer stories can also build credibility. First impressions are lasting when it comes to prospects and you may have only one chance to establish your credibility with a given client.

Credibility can be gained in many ways, and we each have our own style. I had a distinct advantage over many Sales Engineers because I am relatively tall and have a very deep voice. As ridiculous as it sounds, these are characteristics often associated with leadership (see Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink, for more on that) and credibility. Credibility is something that every Sales Engineer should consciously manage as much as they can.

Dave Sohigian - TechDemoGuy Selling credibility, sales, sales engineering

If you have worked for a while in pre-sales, supporting salespeople by showing a prospect your software applications, then you know there are times when salespeople will say the darnedest things. Here is my partial list of “never say this during a demo” for the salespeople I have worked with (and I am sure they have a list of “never do this!” for me as well):

1. “Can you show that thing you did yesterday?”

I will could do an entire post on why this one is a bad idea, but the short explanation is that your demo guy/gal may not want to show that thing because it is going to blow up today! If you want to see a demo of something, ask before the presentation.

2. “Let me introduce Dave who is an expert in…”

Most Sales Engineers I know don’t like the word expert and all that it implies. It is just setting us up for our credibility being knocked out later in the presentation. Better to talk about experience, years with the company, or just let us introduce ourselves.

3. “I just heard from Product Management yesterday that we are going to add that feature in the next release…”

For a Salesperson to be effective they have to build trust. For a Sales Engineer to be effective they need to build credibility. Undermining a Sales Engineer’s credibility during a demonstration by pointing out a mistake they made is counter-productive. It’s not an ego thing – Sales Engineers are wrong all the time and need to learn from their mistakes. A better approach is to wait until the break and discuss it directly with the Sales Engineer. Besides, you may have misunderstood what the Product Manager meant by “new feature”…

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As a Sales Engineer you depend on Sales Representatives for your success. Sometimes they are a great help during a demonstration, but sometimes they say some pretty dumb things. My first example is when a Sales Rep says to a Sales Engineer:

“Can you show that thing you did yesterday?”

Although your Sales Engineer may have done a spectacular demo yesterday and really wowed the customer, but that does not mean they can do the same thing again today. Your demo guy/gal may not want to show that thing because it is going to blow up today! Or, just as likely, they don’t think it will add to the demonstration (perhaps it is a feature that detracts from what the prospect is really looking for).
So what should you do if you saw a great demo yesterday that your SE seems to be forgetting? Your first choice should be talking to your SE before the demo and going over what they are going to show. Second choice would be to wait until a break to ask them or slip them a note during a lull in the presentation. And if you have to ask during the middle of the demo, then be prepared to be the cause of a disaster you will need to clean up later.

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I was thinking I would put together a list of good resources for Sales Engineer/Consultants, but Darrin Mourer at “The Sales Engineer” has already done a fine job! Check out his list of blogs, books and other resources at his SE Resources page. Nice work, Darrin!

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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.

Dave Sohigian - TechDemoGuy Selling sales engineering