Here's how you can showcase your sales-driving skills and contribute to your organization's success.

Apart from all the tactics mentioned in terms of active listening, understanding needs I think what's also really important is to be able to act as a business analyst to be able to gather the most permanent requirements from the customer and be able to sort them much like you would in project management in terms of must-haves should-haves and could-haves. You to really hone down on the actual pain point for the customer and then use that to provide the most effective value narrative that will help you close the deal.

Sales businesses are evolving rapidly in the digital age, emphasizing the need to enhance their offerings to retain top talent and attract new recruits. The shift towards full digitization underscores the importance of transforming data strategies to leverage insights from clients and staff. Trends and data analysis are increasingly prevalent in sales settings, highlighting the significance of being well-prepared and offering prospects factual information. This proactive approach not only wins over clients but also drives positive impacts on the bottom line.

As someone who has a habit of speaking very fast, and sometimes taking too long to tell a story ( I know it's funny I'm a sales engineer right ?) - being able to communicate the value that you bring not just from a feature's perspective but from an overall organization little perspective - so combine the value from let's say a great customer success experience, longstanding organizational knowledge of the industry and so on - and then being able to compress that in a brief but impactful statement is important. What I suggest is using a combination of practice runs with peers and mentors along with self practice such as today by letting AI Act within a simulation.

Collaboration is key in driving success in any workplace. As a sales engineer, highlighting the significance of teamwork is crucial. It's essential to demonstrate daily how and why teamwork plays a critical role within the specific workplace. Leaders must lead by example, acknowledge those who excel in collaboration, and promote tools and performance metrics that facilitate teamwork. Developing a culture of collaboration is paramount for every employee's career growth. Encouraging and enhancing collaboration among team members as a sales engineer is not just beneficial for the team's success but also for your own professional development. Embrace the power of teamwork to achieve collective goals and foster a thriving work environment.

If anyone remembers Glenn, Glengarry, Ross and the very famous dialogue of ABC or " always be closing" there is another very pertinent phrase for a salesperson; and that is always be learning. Today's buyer is very digital focused and by the time they are speaking to you they are probably well into the Journey of deciding who they want to go with as a product. So it is even more relevant for you to be abreast of Industry & competitor developers to be able to wrestle The Narrative away if required and be able to articulate your value no matter what stage in terms of Interest, Engagement or decision the customer is in the buying process. As a continuous learner you will not only contribute to yourself as a salesperson but your team as well.

Here's a good example of solutions or value selling versus feature selling: Android phones actually do outperform Apple phones in certain hardware specs along with software features that may enable productivity. But Apple is able to articulate it's ease of onboarding not just for its single piece of hardware but it's overall ecosystem in the value that negates or rather obfuscates any better features that Android phones may have. While that doesn't mean apple is out selling Android phones, but that it's customer churn is lower than the various cross-pollination between Android phone manufacturers. That is because customers find the value in ease of use & sticky ecosystem with Apple more pertinent than megapixels in their camera

Here's another thought, you should be part of your organizational sales enablement endeavors and also part of marketing efforts; which means whether it's recording training calls for your new hires or recording online feature demos or rather value demos for your customers try to be the one doing it cuz that will showcase your skill set not just within your organization but also across any customers that would recognize your face as the one they may have researched before the engage with the sales team