WeTheSEs

Our relationships with product management is one of the most important relationships we can have as Sales Engineers. Product Managers often told me that we are their customers. They want to sell us on a new feature or tech so we can go sell it to our customers. However PMs and SEs have a symbiotic relationships. PMs want us to go out there and sell the features that they are adding to a product, and SEs want PMs to add specific features so they can go sell it to their customers. I discuss with Dustin how he works with PMs to support his customers. Full show: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show205

Hard work pays. So does dedication. Who knew? A lot of people did, including Dustin Allen, my guest today. Dustin was in the military, got out and followed in his family’s footsteps, then decided to do something different. He did that something different and posted about it online. Being open to posting online provided visibility for him which is why a vendor servicing Dustin’s employer offered him an SE role and his career has taken off. Full show: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show205

It's always great to talk to pure Salespeople. In this case Brent Keltner, President of Winalytics, where he helps clients with their build their best go-to-market. We discuss the purpose of sales, the role of a Sales Engineer in the sales process as seen from Brent's point of view and so many tips and nuggets are shared. Check out the full podcast at https://wethesalesengineers.com/show204

It's always great to talk to pure Salespeople. In this case Brent Keltner, President of Winalytics, where he helps clients with their build their best go-to-market. We discuss the purpose of sales, the role of a Sales Engineer in the sales process as seen from Brent's point of view and so many tips and nuggets are shared. Check out the full podcast at https://wethesalesengineers.com/show204

Presales Sales Cycle is different from the Salespeople's sales cycle. We come into a deal at different times and exit a bit earlier. When presales are mentioned in the sales cycle, the misconception is that we are just there to answer technical questions. However, Sales Engineers and PreSales pros have a big influence over the sales cycle. We can speed it up or slow it down depending on how well we do and how good we are. In this video, I talk about how we can speed it up. Is Presales for me? The role of Presales is going through a boom right now. Many more people know about it, there are a lot more resources talking about it, and everybody I talk to wants to give it a try. But is it for you? Presales / Sales Engineering is difficult. There are a lot more cons that we don't talk about, or we simply make jokes about. As for me personally, I love the role, warts and all. However here are some of the cons of this role, so you can walk into it with your eyes open. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you listen to podcasts, you should check out mine which is all about improving as Sales Engineers or Presales: http://wethesalesengineers.com/podcasts/ If you're looking to get into Sales Engineering, check out the course https://wethesalesengineers.com/r2se (Road to Sales Engineering) Follow me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ramzimarjaba Follow We The Sales Engineers on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wethesalesengineers Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WeTheSEs Cheers and as always, great to have you as part of #SENation

Sales Engineering and PreSales is a vague role. Different organizations have different perceptions of what Sales Engineering is, what Sales Engineers should be doing. Because of that, there are many misconceptions about Sales Engineering, as well as myths and lies about this role. And depending on who the SEs report to, these myths can be perpetuated by the leadership team. Chapters: [0:00] Intro [0:32] The Customer is Always Right [2:00] You Have to Be an Extrovert [3:44] Know How to Code [5:44] You Work for Your AE [7:44] Have to Have an Engineering Degree [8:51] Just Answer the Technical Questions [10:04] Mentors Tell You Everything! [12:20] Dead-End Career [14:20] Losing your Technical Know-How [16:12] It's for Those Who Failed as Engineers Mark Green: http://mark.technology/ Aileen Mcnabb: https://mustangppd.com/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you listen to podcasts, you should check out mine which is all about improving as Sales Engineers or Presales: http://wethesalesengineers.com/podcasts/ If you're looking to get into Sales Engineering, check out the course https://wethesalesengineers.com/r2se (Road to Sales Engineering) Follow me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ramzimarjaba Follow We The Sales Engineers on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wethesalesengineers Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WeTheSEs Cheers and as always, great to have you as part of #SENation

Discovery vs Qualification. Sometimes these 2 terms are confused with each other. However, in most cases, qualification happens before discovery. In many cases, SEs are pulled in what is supposed to be a discovery, and SEs find out really quickly during the call that it is in fact a qualification call. Qualification is simple, briefly figure out if the customer has budget, they are not tire kickers, what they are asking to solve is in your preview. Discovery is a deep dive into understanding the business problem, and tying it to a technical solution that your organization may have. Here are my thoughts on the matter. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you listen to podcasts, you should check out mine which is all about improving as Sales Engineers or Presales: http://wethesalesengineers.com/podcasts/ If you're looking to get into Sales Engineering, check out the course https://wethesalesengineers.com/r2se (Road to Sales Engineering) Follow me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ramzimarjaba Follow We The Sales Engineers on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wethesalesengineers Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WeTheSEs Cheers and as always, great to have you as part of #SENation

Full show: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show174

In this short clip we discuss why Sonu did not want to be an SE Leader, and how he slowly changed his mind Full episode https://wethesalesengineers.com/show174

We often talk about solving technical issues or solving a business problem using technology. One aspect that is often overlooked is that we are working with humans, and sometimes we need to solve human problems. Here's a snippet of our discussion with Doug C. Brown. To listen to the full show, check out https://wethesalesengineers.com/show169

Out guest, Steffen, turned the tables on us and asked what I look for in a mentee. Full show: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show165

Many organizations split the customer journey into presales and post-sales. The Sales Team owns the presales, and Customer Success teams handle post-sales. Gary is seeing it differently. Full podcast: https://lnkd.in/g2sWCQc

How does it feel to be on the customer's side? Although both sales engineering and solution design or architecture are highly technical, they also require a comprehensive understanding of the product and strong business acumen. An SE will help seal the deal and an SA will help build the plan post-sale. Having worked in both roles in presales and customer success, our guest today shares with us what it’s like being on the other side and fielding technology vendors for his customers. Gary Sloper is the Co-Founder of Macronet Services, a leading Solution Architecture & Management Consulting firm based outside of Boston. The company’s focus is on delivering technical network, collaboration, security services across multi/hybrid cloud designs wrapped with our Customer Success methodology. He previously led Fortune 100 Solution Architect & Customer Success teams of upwards of $1Billion in revenue to small startup/mid-size companies. He is also a featured author & public thought leader across solution design & customer success where he often advises various stage companies.

Great demoers make it look easy, so people think that demos just happen. In fact demo preparation is one of the most important aspects of PreSales Engineering. Chris Colburn of Demostory.io spends hours preparing for a demo. We will discuss why and how he manages his time so the salespeople stay off his back while he's working. full show at: https://wethesalesengineers.com/163-a-tactical-presales-guide-to-prepare-for-a-powerful-demo/

Sales Engineers have a hard time saying no, but strong leadership can enable SEs to do just that. Check out my conversation with Peter Near Full show at https://wethesalesengineers.com/166-prioritizing-for-mental-sanity-comes-from-the-leadership/

Sales Engineering Interviews are unique in some ways. During the interview, many of the conversations are behavioral, and it's easier than other positions to move industries. However we do have to prepare for the interviews, and in this video, I will discuss what you should do, at a minimum, to prepare for the interview. check out the Road to Sales Engineering Course: https://wethesalesengineers.com/r2se Orielly Learning (affiliate) https://learning.oreilly.com/subscribe/?utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=cj&utm_campaign=paid&utm_content_cj_12989167_1 Plural Sight (affiliate) https://pluralsight.pxf.io/2eAZg

There is a difference between Product Marketing and Corporate Marketing. Where Corporate marketing focuses on branding and the website, product marketing, as the title suggests, focuses on the product and how it could help the customers. Full show at: https://wethesalesengineers.com/159-partnering-with-marketing-to-skyrocket-presales-reach/

There are some common skills that SEs should have. Demonstrations, asking questions, storytelling, whiteboarding, and so on. However, there are a few that will level up your game. In this episode, we're going to talk about 8 skills that are mostly ignored or rarely talked about that you could definitely take advantage of if you want to advance in your career. What’s great about them is that you can apply them to just about any area in your life, outside of work. But if you worked on 2 or 3 of these skills a year, imagine how exceptional you could be as a Sales Engineer. Shownotes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show158 Course: The Road to Sales Engineer (https://wethesalesengineers.com/r2se) If you listen to the podcast version, you'd head that this episode is sponsored by Consensus: go to GoConsensus.com/wetheses to see how you can automate your demos and speed up the sales cycle and Success: Go to Success.app/wetheses to see how you can stay on top of your proof of value, and make sure that you and your customers are working together to be success.

As an SE leader, how can you effectively lead and develop your team to be better Sales Engineers while developing your own social and technical sales skills? You must enjoy taking on new challenges, testing your mental and physical limits, love coaching and training people in your team, as well as figure out how to ensure the growth of the prospect business and share with them the best way to perform better. Michael Townsend shares his experiences as a Sales Engineering leader with us in this podcast, as well as the habits you need to build to excel as a sales engineering manager. show notes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show162 This show is sponsored by: Success.app Learn how you can stay on top of your proof of value, and make sure that you and your customers are working together to be successful. Book your demo: https://calendly.com/pudding-app/wetheses

Neeraj is the founder of Snackwyze. Snackwyze is a software product to help SaaS sellers create interactive walkthroughs, step-by-step guides, tours & demos from screen recordings in seconds. Before starting his own company, he was the Product Marketing Lead at Cisco for 8 years. In this episode, Neeraj tells us what his role is as a product marketer, how it’s different from corporate marketing and somewhat similar to sales engineering, how he founded his own company, and what Sales Engineers can learn from product marketing as a skill. Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It --- https://amzn.to/3xFMkzi (Affiliate) Course: The Road to Sales Engineer (https://wethesalesengineers.com/r2se) If you listen to the podcast version, you'd head that this episode is sponsored by Consensus: go to GoConsensus.com/demofest to register for the demofest. use code df21marjaba to register for free and Success: Go to Success.app/wetheses to see how you can stay on top of your proof of value, and make sure that you and your customers are working together to be successful.

One of the most difficult but also most rewarding parts of solutions selling is unearthing your customers’ exact needs and problems. I say it is quite difficult because sometimes even our customers don’t know what they want or what solution they’re looking for. We often have a hard time then articulating the value of our solution to them because we haven’t collected enough information from our customers to make it relevant for them. This is why in today’s episode; we have an expert presenter with us to take us through how he communicates with his customers and what better way we can use to ask questions. Doc Ballje is a Subject Matter Expert and Solutions Architect in the printing industry. He is highly experienced with PaperCut as well as other print management, copier solutions, and Data Collection Agents having worked for over 20 years. shownotes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show152

Is Sales Engineering right for you? And is it possible to become a Sales Engineer without prior technical experience? We’ve had many guests in the past who shared their experience of how they got into their Sales Engineering roles. A lot of them were accidental, others were a little more calculated, and others just found their way into the role eventually. If you’re still on the fence about becoming a Sales Engineer, then perhaps this episode might help you. In today’s podcast, I talk with Anthony Palmoze, aka Tony Moze about what to expect or prepare for when switching from different careers into Sales Engineering. Tony, coming from a healthcare and psychology background, just recently discovered his interest in the tech side of things and wants to explore Sales Engineering. We hope that by the end of our conversation, you get a glimpse of what it’s like being in a Sales Engineering role and consider it as a possible career even if you’re from a totally non-technical background. shownotes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show153

How can Sales Engineers and sales reps win together as a team? One of the greatest relationships you can have at work that will make an absolute impact on your performance and output is your relationship with your sales counterpart. In Chris White’s book, he constantly quips the saying “Sales is a team sport.” And today, he’s joining us once again to share with us what he’s learned over the past years training salespeople and SEs alike and how both roles can work best together to deliver outstanding results for the company. Chris White is an accomplished author, trainer, coach, teacher, and Sales Engineering leader. He penned “The Six Habits of Highly Effective Sales Engineers”, an amalgamation of over a decade of experience in the field where Chris is able to articulate the importance of a number of key habits that will lead any SE to success. shownotes :https://wethesalesengineers.com/show151