Sales Engineer

August 13, 2019 Employment

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Sales Eng. Work Flow
What is a Sales Engineer?
- What is a Sales Rep
- What is an Engineer
- What is a Sales Engineer
  - Sales Skills
  - Engineering Skills
- Understanding the Value
- Compensation
- Additional Requirements and Perks
Past Clients
Acronymns

Sales Engineer Work Flow

Pre-sales call

Understand scope of project
- BANT
  - Budget
  - Authority
  - Need
  - Timeline
Gather preliminary information
- Determine if enough to move forward or to schedule ‘deep dive’ scoping call.

Needs Analysis Form

Precedes a Scoping Call
Shape and size of current infrastructure
- Number of Servers
- CPU / RAM / Disk
OS / Applications breakdown
Network Topology diagram if necessary
- Visio

Scoping Call

Discuss and verify details of Needs Analysis Form
Discuss requirements for POC (Proof of concept) if required.
- If so, understand KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to determine if POC was successful or not)

SOW – Statement of Work

In Scope
- Create new topology
  - Visio
- Configure POC (Proof of concept)
- Create JEP (Joint Execution Plan)
  - Project Management outline
  - Cost variations if timelines not met
  - KPIs for Project Closure
Out of Scope
- Software installation / configurations
- Anything not ‘in scope’ should be assumed ‘out of scope’
Billing Terms
- Init payment (POS / Setup)
- Final Payment
- Ongoing Monthly recurring payments

JEP – Joint Execution Plan

Project Management
- Outline of events, dates, responsible parties
- Requirements for project close
KPI monitoring (if available)

Project Sign-off

What is Sales Engineering

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqINkH3SiVM

What is a Sales Rep

Good in front of people, bad/poor with technology

Quota based ($)
- Pipeline
- Active Count
Grow Accounts (Retention)
Aquire new accounts
- Cold calls
- Prospecting
Do not work with others in the company
Hunter Attitude
- Loner, don’t hunt in packs
- Blame management
Rolodex of Contacts
1. Resource for CSM

What is an Engineer?

Good with technology, unexperienced with people

Programmers
- Eng / Dev/ R&D
  - Bug Fix
  - Create new featuers
  - Supply release
  - Customer support
Not performance compensated
Seldom used as a sales resource
Several Titles
- Developer, IT Manager, Programmer
Good Technical
- Possibly not good with interface because they seldom use it.

What is a Sales Engineer

Good with people and good with Tech

Sales

Exceptional Writer
Outstanding Public Speaker
Craft Proposals / FRX
- RFI Request for Information
- RFQ Request for Quote
- RFP Request for Proposal
- RFO Request for Offer
- RFC Request for Consideration
Bartender to the Reps
- Multiple reps with different skill sets will provide clients with similar experience.
Understanding Sales
- You’re helping someone sell, so you need to be as knowledgeable about what they are doing as they are.
Work well with Sales Management
- How well the reps are doing
Trainers (Break things down)
- Customers
- Vars (Value Added Resellers)
- Reps
Personality & Humility
- You are the King Maker. You do not take responsibility for success.

Engineering

Create Software Demos
- Often with the client’s data
  - Their stuff in your stuff
Comfortable in many programming languages
- Linux/Unix/Windows
- Scripting Languages
- C++/C#
- .net / Java
Hardware and Networking Expert
Exude Technical Confidence
- Ooze out, bleed, sweat, display abundantly
- Answer all questions right then and there
Create Whitepapers, proposals, web and graphix content
Create and Maintain Respect within our company
- When it comes to the ‘Deal’, the Sales Engineer is in the middle.
- Everyone, Reps, managers, Eng, Dev Ops, Customers, comes to the SE
Resource for:
- Product Development Managers
- Business Development Managers
  - If you had ____, I’d buy it.
- Tech Support

Understand the Value of what you do

Put a dollar sign ‘$’ somewhere on the board
You are there to help the client make money, but you do not do that for free.
- This is a value tool we provide and we provide that value
- If we didn’t charge you, you would not value it
  - “If your customers are not complaining, your price is not high enough.”
With Sales Engineering, 50% of what you do is sales.
- You are not a charity
  - Not to your customers
  - Not to your employer

Compensation

Commission / Optional Bonus
- This puts ‘skin in the game’
- Helps prevent you from saying things that might prevent these moneys from reaching your pocket.
Almost always Telecommute
- You need to go to the client to get the big sales
  - We need to ‘court/woo’ them, they should not need to come to us.
  - This shows respect for them
- You need to be with the Sales Rep.
  - If they are at the client, you should be with them.
Travel
- If the Rep is there, we need to be there, almost as much as the rep.
- Prevents the Sales Rep from selling the wrong thing.
- Requires a strong relationship with your wife.
  - Can sometimes bring your spouse with you.
    - Hotel costs are the same
    - Airfare purchased with Frequent Flyer Miles.

Past Clients

Barclays – Bank
- Small Legacy project
Control Case
- PCI Scanning and data security
Daniel Defense
- High Powered Weapons Sales
Direct Flights
- SaaS Airline ticket sales and routing
Mobile 33
- IP Call center with mobile app
Moduurn Mobility
- PaaS – Mobile Ordering Application
Opal Group
- Conference organizers for specific industries
  - Events, locations, speakers, etc.
Orion Fleet Intelligence
- Driver data collection and analysis
  - GPS coords, Gas Mileage, hours ran
ResultsPositive
- Kyle Heward
- IT Shop. We were his extended DC to reduce CapX to OpX
Velocity Outdoor
- Online store for Sporting Goods and low-power weapons
  - Air rifles, pellet guns, cross bows, etc.
Weather Guidance
- Local Weather monitoring and warning systems

Acronyms

People

AE Account Executive
SE Sales Engineer
SME Subject Matter Expert

Tools

CRM Customer Relationship Manager
- Salesforce

Processes

INVEST (Used with Agile User Stories)

Independent
Negotiable
Valuable
Estimatable
Sized Appropriately
Testable

SMART (Often used with goals)

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time Bound

Sales Processes

BANT

Budget
Authority
Need
Time Line

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