Technical Sales

Hey All,

I know we talk about a ton of different jobs or roles, but I think one role that is often overlooked is that of the Sales Engineer. Yes there is a "sales" stigma associated with being an SE, but at the end of the day you need to be a strong technical resource...sometimes for a ton of different technologies and products. If anyone is interested, I'm writing a new book on being an SE. You can check out the launch page (SE Notebook) or ask any questions here. Always happy to help.

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Comments

Polynomial

Sales Engineers are awesome. I work with a ton of them.

Lot of these guys completely kill it. Egregiously large bonuses/commission.

NightShade03

Polynomial wrote: »

Lot of these guys completely kill it. Egregiously large bonuses/commission.

I do agree that there is room to make a ton of money on the bonus/commission, but it also comes down to working together as a team. When you have bad sales reps, people who don't have good "soft skills", etc. It makes communication really hard and sales tend to suffer because of it.

Now when you are firing on all cylinders...that is a different story

jamthat

Definitely interested in following this, it's an area I honestly don't know much about but could see myself getting into in the future

N2IT

If I had more technical experience I would go for one of these positions. However most of my skills are in management, process, development and analysis. I only have 2 years of sales back in 2005 and 2006, leasing apartments

hehe.

anoeljr

I'll sign up right now. Thanks for this!

colemic

Signed up, to learn more about and possibly expand into later on. Thanks!

pinkydapimp

Been in the sales engineer realm for about 8 years. I love it. I feel like people think technical sales and think of the guy at best buy selling computers. This career path has to be one of the better paying in IT and is growing at an outrageous rate. Think about it, as organizations try to do more with less people, they tend to be more dependent on hardware and software. There is hardware and software that needs to be sold(those swtiches you support, that firewall you bought, Virtualization software, Security software, etc.) to these organizations but you need people with the technical skills to talk to(and get past) the technical decision makers. Thats where we come in.

Also note the roles can be extremely technical. In many cases you are implementing the product and ensuring it runs well. You are making recommendations on how to implement. You are troubleshooting when problems arise. Also you get to see how many different organizations do things which is extremely valuable information that you can use in the future if you go back to a traditional IT role.

You will have to have soft skills. I have recruiters hit me up on a daily basis and they tell me that its extremely hard to find technical people that are able to speak (ie public speaking) or be able to explain highly technical things to non technical people. I think in part its because many IT folks just do not think about sales engineering as a valid IT career and they get pigeonholed into IT being traditional helpdesk, desktop support, sysadmin, network admin stuff.

I will also add that these roles typically fall in either the pre sales or post sales area. pre sales being before they have purchased which is more focused on installing a proof of concept and getting the technical win, and post sales being providing services to the customer whether that is installing into production or providing any other services. Post sales tends to be more technical but you may get paid less as you may not get commission. Pre sales may require more presenting and in some cases less technical. But both sides have their pros and cons.

I think thats all i have to add but if folks do have questions im happy to help as well.

UnixGuy

Are you referring to sales or Pre-sales? because as far as I know it's pre-sales engineer/architect is the one who needs technical knowledge.

pinkydapimp

UnixGuy wrote: »

Are you referring to sales or Pre-sales? because as far as I know it's pre-sales engineer/architect is the one who needs technical knowledge.

I think the role he is talking about comes in many different names: systems engineer, pre sales engineer, post sales engineer, field engineer, technical sales, consultant, sales engineer, solutions engineer, architect......... Im sure there are others.

UnixGuy

True, job titles in IT are a mess. My idea was that the Pre-sales engineer/architect designs the solution and does a Proof of concept, and possibly the implementation as well, where the sales engineer does the budgeting/price negotiation,..etc.

pinkydapimp

UnixGuy wrote: »

True, job titles in IT are a mess. My idea was that the Pre-sales engineer/architect designs the solution and does a Proof of concept, and possibly the implementation as well, where the sales engineer does the budgeting/price negotiation,..etc.

Typically, at least in the roles ive been in, the sales engineer(or whatever they are called) isn't involved in the price negotiation. we leave that to the sales rep/account executive. My job is to get the technical win and show value. Showing value may venture into that realm where we need to show ROI and such. But closing the deal is the sales reps job.

N2IT

Makes sense, the sales person should be closing the deal that is there "job". ABC Always Be Closing.

The reps as far as I understand should be more for Lead Generation.

UnixGuy

N2IT

Beautiful!

You know what, I am going to rewrite my resume and capture my sales experience. I am going to apply for a sales position in software or some hardware. I'll lie through my teeth and close deals all day long.

I'll be honest that sounds absolutely amazing!

Look at my certs does that smell technical to you? Fawk no that's straight up car sales man skills there!

Glengarry Glen Ross?

JoJoCal19

Is the traveling schedule for technical sales more flexible than consulting? I've been approached by several consulting firms as of late, most recently Accenture, however the positions were straight M-F travel. I wouldn't mind travel but a consisten M-F is a non-starter at this time.

dirtyharry

I'm actually looking at breaking into this kind of role. I'm missing sales experience, but I figure 'selling' solutions to executives in an enterprise might count. How can a technical guy without sales experience best position himself for this type of role?

NightShade03

Quick reply because I'm in Paris this week

Yes I am referring to pre-sales and post-sales. "Sales" usually refers to the Account Executive and/or the Account rep. These are the people you work with day in and day out, but they are the ones doing lead generation, money/budget, scheduling meetings, etc. The technical portion is very intense as already mentioned. You can work for a vendor where you may be required to know one to a handful of products very very well in order to best the competition. Anyone working for a reseller or consulting firm might be required to know anywhere from ten to hundreds of products (which is a very hard job). There are all sorts of fun tracks you can go down, but more on this at another date.

Being an SE can be more flexible with the travel and you usually have more control over your own schedule. Much of your travel is dictated by the territory you cover and the time of year (because of orgs buying cycles). For example, in my previous role I covered NY, NJ, and Eastern PA. During Q1 (Jan - March) and Q4 (Oct - Roughly Thanksgiving) are the most insane times for me and I was traveling around 4 days a week...no one does meetings on Fridays. However during the summer months when everyone is on vacation I worked from home 3 - 4 days a week so it was a great balance!

Love all the questions and the interest this topic is generating!

Keep them coming.

pinkydapimp

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

Is the traveling schedule for technical sales more flexible than consulting? I've been approached by several consulting firms as of late, most recently Accenture, however the positions were straight M-F travel. I wouldn't mind travel but a consisten M-F is a non-starter at this time.

So travel is going to depend on the job. My previous job was tons of travel and flying all over the world. I loved it. But during busy times i was out on monday back on friday. Now, my territory is mostly local so while im working with different companies on a daily basis the meetings dont require any overnight travel.

The thing i love the most in these roles are that i can control my schedule. If i dont have meetings i can work from home. If the meeting isnt a big one i can do it via webex. As the OP said, during busy times of year like Q1 and Q4 it can be crazy. But all this generally depends on the company. The benefit being if things are busy that is generally a good thing and you will benefit (via commissions and bonus) from the hard work.

pinkydapimp

dirtyharry wrote: »

I'm actually looking at breaking into this kind of role. I'm missing sales experience, but I figure 'selling' solutions to executives in an enterprise might count. How can a technical guy without sales experience best position himself for this type of role?

Do you have experience in a customer facing role? Doing presentations? selling an idea to internal stakeholders? If so you are likely developing sales skills.

leverage these the right way on your resume and you should have no problem finding a way in.

NightShade03

pinkydapimp wrote: »

Do you have experience in a customer facing role? Doing presentations? selling an idea to internal stakeholders? If so you are likely developing sales skills. leverage these the right way on your resume and you should have no problem finding a way in.

Keep in mind too that you can be taught almost all technical and sales skills...soft skills however are really difficult to teach. If you aren't comfortable talking in front of an audience at different levels or the org, or aren't able to articulate a message verbally or orally, etc you might run into some problems

That being said I don't think anyone should be discouraged because anyone can learn something if they try hard enough.

--chris--

I think I speak for other newcomers to IT (almost 12 months experience, yay) but I have almost completely disregarded the *sales positions seen posted on Dice, Indeed, craigslist, etc...simply because most sales positions that are non-technical are entry level garbage or part of a pyrmid scheme.

Coming from a B2B sales background (6 years), this thread makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

pinkydapimp

--chris-- wrote: »

I think I speak for other newcomers to IT (almost 12 months experience, yay) but I have almost completely disregarded the *sales positions seen posted on Dice, Indeed, craigslist, etc...simply because most sales positions that are non-technical are entry level garbage or part of a pyrmid scheme.

Coming from a B2B sales background (6 years), this thread makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Yea sounds like you will be a great fit. I think the challenge is, i dont see a ton of entry level sales engineering roles. I feel like many times they are looking for people with a good amount of experience. But i know they are out there. My friend got a job as a sales engineer with no prior experience right out of grad school with a Masters in CS.

jamthat

OP - how's the progress?? Looks like the page got a nice refresh (since I last checked around this time last year). As I'm working more and more with external SE's, I'm getting more and more interested in the field.

pinkydapimp

jamthat wrote: »

OP - how's the progress?? Looks like the page got a nice refresh (since I last checked around this time last year). As I'm working more and more with external SE's, I'm getting more and more interested in the field.

Not the OP but i have been trying to get as many of my friends as i can into sales engineering. I love it and will never go back!

NightShade03

jamthat wrote: »

OP - how's the progress?? Looks like the page got a nice refresh (since I last checked around this time last year). As I'm working more and more with external SE's, I'm getting more and more interested in the field.

I did do a refresh of the site to make things a little easier to read. I also have a free course on strategic selling coming out this month. Unfortunately the course progress is going slower than I had hoped due to my org going through a merger. Things are back on track now and I'm really hoping to have everything available by the end of this year. If you sign up on the site I will be sending out a blast for those that want beta access as well

jamthat

pinkydapimp wrote: »

Not the OP but i have been trying to get as many of my friends as i can into sales engineering. I love it and will never go back!

Did we just become best friends!?

NightShade03 wrote: »

I did do a refresh of the site to make things a little easier to read. I also have a free course on strategic selling coming out this month. Unfortunately the course progress is going slower than I had hoped due to my org going through a merger. Things are back on track now and I'm really hoping to have everything available by the end of this year. If you sign up on the site I will be sending out a blast for those that want beta access as well

Good stuff! Looking forward to seeing the end result. As I continue to gain more and more experience I definitely think I'll try to transition over to this area..

scaredoftests

Polynomial wrote: »

Sales Engineers are awesome. I work with a ton of them.

Lot of these guys completely kill it. Egregiously large bonuses/commission.

My husband is a Sales Engineer, he kills it, but sometimes those commission checks he has to fight for (bug HR/boss for them). Unexusable. Those guys work their hearts out..

NightShade03

scaredoftests wrote: »

My husband is a Sales Engineer, he kills it, but sometimes those commission checks he has to fight for (bug HR/boss for them). Unexusable. Those guys work their hearts out..

I will never understand that. You can't screw with people's lives by with holding or denying them pay. It's terrible for business, keeping people around, and things like that spread fast on the interwebs...

pinkydapimp

NightShade03 wrote: »

I will never understand that. You can't screw with people's lives by with holding or denying them pay. It's terrible for business, keeping people around, and things like that spread fast on the interwebs...

i would have to agree. i would never work for a place that did things like this.

Cyberscum

Interesting thread.

What would someone looking to break into the pre/post sales roles resume look like?

I have sales experience, but only ~5 years total and most of it was B2B or Customer facing selling various technical products. (Non-IT)