You're a Sales Engineer. How can you coach your team to success?

Just because u knew all contents in product catalog - it doesn’t mean that you providing solution to customers Let customer talk first. Give them solution which will be feasible to them ( both technical and commercial )

This is the firsts step - knowing your customer Why is the customer willing to spend time with you. - What is the business impact that is driving them to look for a solution. What is at stake? - Whom does it matter for (influencers and decision makers) - When do they need this by (timelines) and why these timelines - If this does not happen, what happens? (No decision scenario)

I agree, understanding the client's scenario provides inputs to offer a solution confidently. Besides having affinity between client and company, it sparks interest and makes one feel secure with the proposed solution.

100%! Both customer and the Sales Engineer are investing their most precious commodity, i.e. time in this. If we are not solving the real problems here, then why are we here at all? Solving problems is one part of the process. Understanding key decision makers and influencers are key too because while we may have the best solution to the problem, it doesn't mean anything unless it can be acquired and consumed.

Listen and ask open ended questions. -What would you like your environment to look like in 2 years? -What have you done that worked? Not worked? -What is most frustrating in your environment currently? -If I had a magic wand and could wave it to solve your biggest issue, what would it be?

Open communication and mutual respect between Sales and Sales Engineers by recognizing that each one of them plays a vital role in driving success is extremely important. Fostering a culture of sharing insights, strategies, and feedback to enhance customer engagement and satisfaction is paramount, and this can only be accomplished by understanding each other's roles and responsibilities so they can leverage strengths and support one another effectively.

Remember……”Sales” is in your job title. Don’t forget that. Never disparage or undermine the Sales people or the organization- even if you don’t agree with their tactics.

Alignment with your AE's is critical. Not just from a strategic perspective of what verticals or specific accounts we are targeting, but also the subtle nuances of running a demo or a meeting. Practicing your cadence and even rehearsing the meeting plan can help you adapt and adjust in real time if the conversation goes off the rails.

One of the most important and useful things to do as an SE is to align with your sales rep to make sure there is alignment between the goals of an SE vs the goals of a sales rep. Often disagreements with Sales Reps can happen which do subtly show up in customer meetings, demos etc, avoiding this in the initial stages will help the Sales process a lot.

Claro es necesario trabajar en conjunto prospección , ventas y mercadotecnia son los que consiguen prospectos calificados dónde el ingeniero de ventas concluye la venta

Speak the language that your customer a.k.a stakeholder understands. This can only be possible when you know what is important for that stakeholder and then your story needs to be aligned with those very things.

No problem = no value = no sale. First understand the gap between the current state and the desired future state. You can then move on to understand and demonstrate value at three levels. 1. Organizational (Senior VP to C-level): cares about company goals; money efficiency 2. Departmental (Manager to VP) - cares about team KPIs; resource efficiency 3. The practitioner level (Individual contributor / team lead) - cares about operational goals; time efficiency Example: By cutting the diagnostic time of each developer down from 5 hours to 5 minutes (practitioner), the team (departmental) will have sufficient resources to deliver three new features by EOQ, enabling your company (organisational) to maintain your competitive edge.

In a survey we conduct at Mastering Technical Sales, across many customers Executives, Individual Contributors and Management, the Engineering "Team" is the most Valued group of the Buying Process. Demonstrating value is knowing how to connect with the stakeholders. This comes through many skills and capabilities like: Good Storytelling, Highly skilled whiteboarding, navigating the discovery process to acquire mutually beneficial impact and benefit understandings. The demonstration of value is where great SE's separate themselves from good SE's.

Sempre é importante levar uma proposta de valor, que sua solu??o traga uma nova perspectiva ou rentabilidade para o cliente, dessa forma ele consegue entender o valor da sua proposta e até mesmo estar disposto a pagar mais por ela.

When I talk about value for a company, I teach my team three things that are Time, Money and rate of production. When a sales rep goes to the customer site then this rep has some plan to add value to organization through his/her solutions. A customer always buy solutions that either reduce their loss or increase the profits by using your solution. Value comes by solving the critical business issues of the company with the help of specific solutions.

Every SE leader who cares about their team and results should be investigating automation options in 2024. Automation is a necessity and not a luxury in today's economic and competitive landscape. Modern tooling makes it easy to maximize the amount of time SEs spend with their customers while minimizing time spent on admin chores and prep for unqualified leads.?? A few tool suggestions: - Vivun and Homerun for activity tracking - Consensus for demo videos at every stage of the sales funnel - Navattic for interactive demos - Loopio/Responsive for RFPs - Testbox for PoCs and more mid-funnel

El crm claro que nos ayuda bastante en la actividad más importante el seguimiento ya que representa el 90% de tu cierre de venta , debe de ser puntual. Puedes medir los kpis en general

Small changes every day will lead to large results cumulatively at the end. We need feedback mechanism to course-correct our actions. For that automation tools can be very helpful. Automation tools such as CRM, data analytics, and ERP software can be helpful to streamline processes, easy implementation of strategies, enhancing communication, and provide valuable insights for effective decision making. Giving automation tools to a sales rep is like giving him a car to complete a run-marathon. You know, eventually he/she will definitely win...!

As an SE leader you must identify areas where automation can streamline processes and increase efficiencies for your team, as well as access and training on tools and technologies to equip the team with the skills needed to implement automation effectively. Encouraging innovation and creativity in finding ways to automate different tasks, freeing up time for higher-value activities and thus promoting overall productivity and success can be a fun process when everyone is involved and contributes to the success of the process.

For example, using software to manage emails, schedule meetings, or generate reports, so you can focus on more important stuff like solving customer problems and closing deals. It’s all about making your work smoother and easier.

Your customers will respect you and trust you when you are knowledgeable, act with total integrity, and are genuinely trying to solve their problems. When you act in this way, you also give an example to your sales team. Don't hide important information from your customers. Instead, be completely transparent. Act as if the customer is a member of your immediate family and you want him or her to succeed.

Desde mi punto de vista en la actualidad estamos regresando a la visita en campo ahí es donde realmente te actualizas con casos reales que te exigen a superarte

For a sales rep, two aspects form a complete package. One is technical skills and other is people skills. In the ever-changing world, we need to invest in the continuous training of our team. Equip them with necessary skills, product knowledge, and industry relevant knowledge. Investing in improving skills of the team will give you exponential results in the future. What I have followed for my team is weekly knowledge sessions, monthly Quizzes, and occasional visits to exhibitions, tech-event, industry gatherings, etc.

To coach your team for success, you must lead by example. Demonstrate a commitment to learning and improvement yourself, showcasing a growth mindset. That will encourage your team to follow suit by embracing challenges and seeking opportunities for development. Your own dedication to self-improvement sets the tone for a culture of continuous learning within the team, motivating everyone to strive for excellence and achieve their full potential.

ALWAYS...BE...LEARNING...Let me say that again...Always be learning is the single most effective tool an SE can have in their arsenal. In general, customers like to ask questions about new technology or trends that we see across the landscape since we deal with multiple customers. Always be prepared for those types of questions whereby you share what you're seeing in the industry without revealing customer specifics of course. Lastly, remember that you're there to learn from the customer just as much if not more than they are from you! An "interactive classroom", brainstorming/whiteboarding and lots of dialogue is the end goal.

Break down silos by having 'cross-pollination sessions' with other departments. Let your team learn from marketing, product development, or even the finance team. This broadens their perspective and equips them with diverse insights that they can bring into their sales engineering role.

In my perspective sharing is caring, as SE we constantly need to learn and convey knowledge. One of thing I like is evangelizing new technologies.

It's all about openly exchanging your ideas, updates, and feedback to help each other succeed, teamwork and good communication.

Fostering an environment where team members freely exchange ideas, resources, and expertise to achieve common goals is not an easy task. You need to start by setting proper expectations and encourage accountability by assigning clear responsibilities and holding individuals responsible for their contributions. You also need to ensure alignment on objectives to maintain focus and cohesion within the team, while maintaining a fun environment in the workplace by recognizing that a positive atmosphere enhances creativity, engagement, and overall performance. Besides nobody knows everything, so you need the collective mind to accomplish the goals you have in mind. "If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together."

Foster a collaborative environment where team members can share knowledge, strategies, and support each other. Teamwork often leads to better results and a more cohesive group.

Excellent points have been brought up and presented. In my opinion, I have a couple of points to add - A. Know your competition. Learn about their products and services. Of course, even if you hear or know negative things about them, just highlight your corresponding points to win over your prospects or retain customers. B. Never be too pushy. Yes ask for that purchase order, sell your product and services, but more as a solution to their situations, applications and problems. In fact, be seen as a “go to” person whenever they need the product / service and even any other matters. I have always, in my entire career, been successful with this approach. Please let me know if anyone has any comments or questions. Thanks

Get trained and certified - Sales engineers need to be on top of the new product/service features being offered, understand the implications, build a story-line to demonstrate the new releases, get certified and display credentials. These add value to clients who are always trying to relate the features offered to their pain points.

By enabling the team with all the tools, training and guidance that helped me in my success, including that to service the customers. Build a system that can duplicate me, while using the individual's assets. Post that it's just about the choice between "Will" and the "Skill".

Conhe?a seus produtos: um dos principais pontos de falha que impedem uma venda é quando o cliente percebe que a equipe n?o conhece bem o seu próprio produto. Isso gera inseguran?a e acaba impactando na venda.

I once had a chat with a very experienced sales engineer who gave me an excellent piece of advice. You have two ears and one mouth. This should be the ratio with your customer communication. Dont ambush them with too much information. Let them talk and explain what they are looking for.