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Sales Engineering

Projected Time

  • Lesson: 25 min
  • Guided Practice: 10 min
  • Independent Practice: 4 min
  • Check for Understanding: 10 min

Prerequisites

None

Motivation

  • Technology has advanced in leaps and bounds in recent years, and continues to. But not everyone has the time or know-how to keep up with these advancements.
  • The role of sales engineers involves translating and explaining highly complex technical information to customers and clients, focusing on revealing how a product or piece of equipment can solve specific problems.
  • They therefore play an important role in the modern sales process.

Top companies hiring Sales engineers:

Objectives

Participants will be able to:

  • Understand the role of a sales engineer in a company
  • Decide whether they are suitable for a future as a sales engineer

Specific Things to Learn

  • Who is a sales engineer
  • Duties of a sales engineer
  • Traits of a good sales engineer
  • Steps to take for a career as a sales engineer

Materials

Lesson

  • Go through these slides to get a genereal idea about a sales engineer and her job description. Follow with the lesson below.

Who is a sales engineer

  • Sales engineers provide clients with sales advice and support.
  • They work on behalf of a range of industries including manufacturing, utilities and biomedical, providing technical knowledge to identify new business, negotiate contracts and review sales performance.

Duties of a sales engineer

  • Advising customers on how best to use the products or services provided.
  • Collaborating with the design, production, engineering, or research and development departments of the company to determine how products and services could be made or modified to suit the needs of the customer.
  • Selling and consulting on technologically and scientifically advanced products.
  • Using technical skills to demonstrate to potential customers the usefulness of the product or service and how it may suit the customer better than competing products.

What makes a good sales engineer

  • General Sales Skills

    • As the name suggests, a sales engineer’s main duty is to sell, so much of the skills and qualities that make up their job is identical to the skills of a sales person.

  • Ability to work both in a team and independently

    • As a sales engineer, it’s crucial that you can work both collaboratively, and individually.
    • For example, you need to be able to effectively communicate with the other sales people within your company to develop marketing strategies, but also need to be able to work alone when conducting market research and other analysis.

  • Confidence

    • Often having to pitch or present to potential customers, a sales engineer must feel comfortable speaking in front of people, and must be able to accurately answer any questions or queries.

  • Technically Knowledgeable

    • It’s paramount that the sales engineer has an exhaustive knowledge of the product or service that they are attempting to sell so that they are able to fully and correctly explain the product, it’s features and why it is better than any of its competitors.
    • It is also essential that a sales engineer has a good understanding of their target market so that they can appropriately position and promote their product.

How to become a sales engineer

  • Step 1: Earn a Bachelor's Degree Many jobs for sales engineers require a bachelor's degree in engineering. Engineering programs contain required classes in math and science, as well as foundational engineering and general education courses.

  • Step 2: Gain Sales Experience After obtaining their engineering degree, it is important for new graduates to gain firsthand sales experience. This experience will allow them to advance to a sales engineer position as well as prepare them for licensure.

  • Step 3: Consider Licensure Some employers require their sales engineers to be professionally licensed.

  • Step 4: Continue Your Education Sales engineers typically must continue their education to stay current with changing trends and products in their field. Additionally, re-training may be required as old technology becomes obsolete.

  • Go through this article for further information on how to become a SE.

Common Mistakes / Misconceptions

  • Sales people are born with it You won’t succeed in sales based on your innate gifts or high demand of the product alone. Salespeople are successful because they are experts in the product or service they’re selling, work hard at relationship building and excel at understanding and meeting a client’s needs. So if you want to work in sales, but are afraid you weren’t “born” with the necessary skills, it’s time to stop holding back!

Guided Practice

What makes a brilliant SE? It isn’t just having technical expertise or amazing sales capabilities, but rather it’s mastering the art of giving an awesome presentation. Watch the video How to demo products. When finished take turns to demo a product of your interest.

Independent Practice

  • Go through this video to know more about a day in the life of a sales engineer.

Check for Understanding

Form small groups and discuss:

  • What are the main responsibilities of a sales engineer?
  • How compatible do you think you are for a future as a sales engineer?
  • Do you think you have the sales and technical talents needed for the job?
  • What are the Top 5 things you want to remember regarding a sales engineer from this lesson?

Supplemental Materials