What Every Engineer Needs to Know about SALES

It’s a battle as old as the dawn of civilization. Somewhere, a caveman who was responsible for building fire and making spears looked up and saw someone trading a mammoth steak to a neighboring tribe in exchange for warm winter furs. Then the tribe elder rewarded the cave-salesmen with tickets to a sales conference in the tropics while increasing the quota for stone tools from our builder. Thus the seeds were sown for generations of conflict between sales and engineering.

I’m no historian, but I can sure imagine that story being true. We can all agree that in our companies today, there is certainly a natural tension between those that build and those that sell – for lots of reasons. But the fact remains, both are core functions, and the companies that can figure out how to strengthen the relationship between these roles will certainly have a competitive advantage.

I was curious enough about the subject to spend some time in the trenches of sales – doing my part to cross the divide between our two worlds. All I can say is that it’s something everyone should try.

So what divides us? After experiencing both sides of this equation, here are some of my conclusions. It comes down to our individual focus: Are we concerned with function or value? Is form or function most important? These two questions really highlight the different perspectives.

Engineering teams are primarily concerned with features and functions of a product or system – the job is to make it work and work well. Success is measured by technical performance. And that’s great stuff! But – without any external context – that success lives in isolation. The whole point of the engineer’s output is to deliver value – which means that your product performs well enough and delivers results in a specified period of time. You’ve heard of the “80%” solution? It doesn’t mean that you are incomplete in your work – it means that something less than perfection can often deliver economic results to your customer fast enough to make it worthwhile. Accept it and be proud. And the person best equipped to understand what the value of a solution is to any given customer is your sales guy. He or she is out on the street and they are hearing directly from the individuals who are relying on your contribution. It’s NOT just a technology play – there is a human being on the other side whose life you are making easier (or harder) by virtue of your designs. The sales person is the one who manages that critical relationship for you.

Salespeople also understand that your customer’s willingness to buy from you almost always involves a human element. I know, I know – we wish all decisions were data driven based exclusively on performance and results – but that’s not the real world. In the end, there is a person making a buying decision one way or another, and it will be based (at least in part) about how he or she feels about your product. The user interface must be better be more appealing than everyone else, the packaging had best provide a positive impression, and your device or devices must, well, look good. Aesthetics are not typically part of the engineer’s arsenal but they need to enter the process at some point. Your salespeople understand the human element of buying decisions and can often give you valuable feedback on what it’s like to “experience” your product. They understand that impressions matter and that for your customer, perception is their reality. Listen to them and accept their feedback on “look and feel” not as superfluous fussing, but as a form of design requirement that should be satisfied in the best interest of your customer. Of course, a good salesperson will channel much more in addition to aesthetic feedback, so drink in all of it. Design and usability matter – a lot – and your ability and willingness to respond to input from sales in this regard is hugely important.

Your success as an engineer will skyrocket if you take the time to engage with and understand sales processes and its related customer feedback. Take the initiative to find someone on the sales team and invite them to lunch (don’t worry – they’ll pay – they have an expense account.) You’ll get hugely valuable information that will reduce design cycle time and result in increased customer satisfaction. Your salesman will get a secret weapon – a direct line to the people responsible for making stuff – that will in turn earn more sales. Everyone wins and your company will beat the competition as a result.

I know I’m painting with broad strokes in stereotypes and generalizations, limited to companies who design and build products and systems. We all know many individuals who defy those rules – engineers who are exceedingly business savvy and good sales guys who really care about the technology and understand the development process. But the fact remains – these two roles are often in conflict and I believe we can strengthen our organizations by figuring out how to better communicate and collaborate across these disciplines.

How have YOU brought your technical and sales team together?