What Is A Sales Engineer

A Sales Engineer is a technical role within the broader sales team. A Sales Engineer brings product know-how, technical expertise, and domain knowledge to the sales process. Sales Engineers focus on creating and demonstrating a product’s capabilities. They also respond to technical questions and assist with RFPs.

Sales Engineering Is Part of Presales

Sales Engineering is part of the “presales” team in B2B and enterprise situations. Presales teams can also include:

• Solution Architects
• Product Specialists
• Industry Specialists

In larger companies, there can also be bid managers to assist with RFIs and RFPs.

Presales teams work with their counterparts in sales. While sales handle finding, managing, and closing deals, presales still play a substantial role in the sales process. It is often the Sales Engineer that gives the customer confidence in the ability of the product to meet their requirements. In this article, we break down what is presales in further detail.

Sales Engineer Vs. Presales Consultant

The terms Sales Engineer and Presales Consultant are often used interchangeably. Yet some organizations do differentiate between the roles. The most common point of difference comes down to the complexity of the solution. Organizations can use the title Sales Engineer, where the solution needs more customization to meet the client’s needs.

For SaaS-based applications or those sold to SMBs, rather than enterprises, a Presales Consultant may only be responsible for demonstrating the “off-the-shelf” solution the company provides. That is to say, the product may not require, nor support, extensive customization.

Alternatively, enterprise solutions often come with increased complexity. They require customization to deliver the end outcome and need to integrate with other solutions. Often they also need to be configured before they provide value to the end-user or client. In this instance, a Sales Engineer may need to create or customize product demonstrations. A Sales Engineer may come from a software development-focused background in these organizations.

If you are applying for a presales role at an organization and the job description doesn’t specify the complexity or customizations required to demo their solution, it is always worth asking during the interview process. With this information, you can ensure you are aligned with the expectations of the role.

What Does A Sales Engineer Do

Sales Engineers work actively to support Sales Representatives throughout the sales cycle. Often a Sales Engineer will help multiple sales representatives at any one time. In large, strategic accounts, there may be a dedicated Sales Engineer for that account.

A Sales Engineer is responsible for the following tasks:

• Conducting “technical discovery” during the sales process. Technical discovery is where the Sales Engineer looks to understand the customer’s business challenges and requirements.
• Create and customize product demonstrations to address the customer’s needs and highlight the capabilities of your product/service.
• Delivering the product/solution demonstration to the client. Sales Engineers may also give general presentations to explain product capabilities and technical concepts.
• Working with the Sales Representative / broader sales team to review opportunities and provide insight into potential competing solutions, any challenges your solution has in meeting the client’s needs and provide additional technical insight.
• Answering any technical or product-related questions from the client during the sales process.
• Responding to RFIs and RFPs. In particular, a Sales Engineer will be assigned the technical questions that need answering as part of the response.
• Liaising with your professional services or the implementation team to provide insight before any client engagement that may follow a successful sale.

Common Challenges For Sales Engineers

A career as a Sales Engineer can be rewarding. You benefit from being actively involved in the sales process and have the opportunity to meet and present to customers. Still, you don’t have the same pressure as Sales Representatives tasked with closing the deal.

Conversely, a role as a Sales Engineer can have some challenges. In many organizations, it is not uncommon for one Sales Engineer to support 3, 4, or even 5 Sales Representatives. Equally, a Sales Engineer often works across multiple deals at any time. Having the ability to manage your time and competing priorities is essential.

Secondly, Sales Representatives and Sales Engineers often struggle to be aligned throughout the sales process. Tracking a customer’s needs, what capabilities you need to demonstrate, and who your competitors are can be a challenge. Often teams save this information across multiple locations, including email, your CRM, and generic note-taking applications.

If the Sales Representative and Sales Engineer are not aligned, you are putting the opportunity at greater risk. As a team, you want to align on:

• What pain points do you solve for the customer
• What capabilities will you showcase in your demo
• What competitors do you need to position against
• How do you differentiate your solution from those competitors

Platforms such as Oqire exist to help with this process. For example, Oqire helps sales and presales teams run an effective discovery process. By collecting information on the customer’s requirements and challenges in a central location, Sales Engineers can craft a more compelling demo. Equally, documenting this insight ensures the client receives a consistent message, no matter who they are engaging with in the sales team.

Common Traits of Effective Sales Engineers

If you are looking to move into a Sales Engineer career, there are several common traits you should be aware of. Firstly, it is not always a requirement that you come from a software development background. Many successful Sales Engineers come from sales, product management, marketing, or industry-orientated backgrounds. Ultimately it is about ensuring you find the right company and solution to sell that matches your skill set and personal area of interest.

If you find Sales Engineering roles in your city require software development skills try searching for Presales Consultant roles instead. Presales Consultant roles can often be more general or are for SaaS-based solutions that don’t require heavy customization.

With that out of the way, here are some common traits you will likely want to have:

• Strong communication and presentation skills. At the end of the day, you will spend a lot of time in front of customers. You must sell them on your product’s capabilities, understand their challenges, and regularly answer challenging questions.
• Excellent time management and prioritization skills. As previously mentioned, it is not uncommon for one Sales Engineer to support multiple Sales Representatives or projects at any time. You must set expectations with internal and external stakeholders and manage numerous client engagements simultaneously.
• A natural problem solver. Sales Engineers need to be able to take a customer’s challenges and identify how your product or solution can help solve those issues and deliver value to the client.
• The ability to work effectively as a team player. Sales is a team sport, and as much as the Sales Representative relies on you to deliver a deal-winning demo, you will equally depend on them to organize client meetings, get access to the stakeholders you need, and articulate the business value of the capabilities you demonstrate.
• Ability to not always get the recognition your work or effort deserves. Unfortunately, sales take a lot of the glory when closing a new deal. But they carry the risk of hitting (or missing) their target. So as a Sales Engineer, you need to be okay with taking a back seat at times, even if your demonstration helps seal the deal.

Finally, if you have previous experience in sales or the industry your company’s product solution caters to, that can be beneficial.

Summary

The role of a Sales Engineer is both diverse and rewarding. It lets you get close to the action and be intimately involved in new business deals. Your Sales Representative will rely on you to deliver a robust product demo and to give the client confidence in your solution for any technical questions they ask.

While you have exposure to this rewarding part of the role, a lot of behind-the-scenes work goes into being a top Sales Engineer. You need to keep on top of your product’s capabilities, understand the competitive landscape and build credibility and knowledge in your customers’ industries. Do each of these things well, and you can help your sales team close more deals and accelerate the growth and success of your organization.