Most Sales reps and sales leaders I talk to, swear by the impact their SE team has on their success. #SalesEngineering is not a secret anymore and the awareness of the influence and impact this profession has on growing the business revenue is the highest I have seen in a decade. Yet, I'd challenge that many don't really know a whole lot about the rockstars who hustle both on the front lines and behind the scenes to help win deals and beat the competition. So I am providing a quick cheat sheet of my TOP 5 questions (and more) to ask your Sales Engineer:
- How did you become an SE? (there is always a fun story here as none of us knew what Sales Engineering was before we became an SE)
- Why did you become an SE or want to stay an SE? (You know there is a reason why so many SEs want to be SE4Life and would never consider another profession, but there is a higher purpose your SE may have that you never found out)
- How do you define success in your role? (If you are guessing this answer, you are probably wrong. It's not as simple as exceeding assigned quotas. Let's just say it's a bit complicated for our profession, so get a bit deeper on this one)
- What are the 3 best things AEs can do to help you be the most effective in your role? (Get ready to be surprised on this one and observe if any of these 3 describe how you leverage your SEs ;-) I suggest asking this question often as there are many (often simple) ways, to your surprise, you can optimize the performance from your SE. Help me, help you?)
- What is your favorite thing to do outside of work? (We are humans too. Actually, we both should know some of these things about each other - what fills our cup, what inspires us to go above and beyond, and what motivates us to keep going and growing, both professionally and personally)
Go ahead and use these top 5 questions the next time you are traveling together to win a prospect, attend an event, or hang out and celebrate at your next sales kick-off. If nothing else, your SE will know you truly care :-)
Now, if you want to go even deeper in establishing your relationship, here are a few others that might uncover some fruitful insights for you both:
- What is the best/worst part of being an SE?
- How are you comped? What are your targets or KPIs?
- What does your career path look like? Where do you want to grow in the future?
- How do you compete and collaborate with other SEs on the team?
- What are you most/least passionate about our company, industry, or product?
- Is your SE working towards any professional development? Presentation skills? Leadership training? Technical certifications?
Please share if any of these questions resonate with you or helped you build a strong relationship with your SE. Also, any others that are missing from this list?
