Just to throw a spanner in the works out of the gate, Sales Engineers are not always called Sales Engineers, they go by many other titles, including Solutions Engineers, Solutions Architects, Partner Success Engineers, and many more names that my sales colleagues have christened me and others with over the years. But for the purposes of this blog, I’m going to refer to the role as a Sales Engineer, as it was the title I used for almost seven years with N‑able.
I spoke recently with a now departed colleague about how he felt starting a new role as a Sales Engineer in another company, and he was fine about it. He’d worked as a Sales Engineer for many years and felt he knew exactly what to except and what would be expected of him in his new company. It made me think back to the time when I started at N‑able; I really didn’t know what to expect in the role. Yes, I had technical knowledge—I’d worked in the industry for 16 years at the time—but growing up as a kid, not once did the school career guidance counsellor ever suggest that Sales Engineering was a role for me.
In the almost seven years that I worked as a Sales Engineer, I never once answered the question “What do you do?” with “I’m a Sales Engineer” and left it at that, I always had to explain what the role entailed, I still think to this day many of my family and friends don’t know what I did for seven years. For those of you familiar with the sitcom Friends, I’d often refer to my role as a Chandler Bing role, in that no one knew what I really did.
So today we are going to answer the question “What is a Sales Engineer?” and maybe by the end of this, you might find it’s a career path you may wish to explore.
What is Sales Engineer?
The simple answer to the question “What is a Sales Engineer?” is a person that provides technical insight about deployment and implementation of the products or services their company provides. But there is far more to the role that just that.
Sales Engineers will have in-depth knowledge not only of their own products, but also of the products and services offered by competitors. Their knowledge of the market, will help prospects identify week points in their current solutions and demonstrate how their products better meet the prospect’s needs. It will also ensure that a prospect’s time is not wasted when the products or services offered do not line up with their requirements.
Sales Engineers will assist you through the trial evaluation process, help you get started with the product or service, guiding you through the setup and configuration of different elements and solving problems that are encountered throughout the evaluation. A good Sales Engineer strives for the immortal words “Technical Signoff”, meaning that they have demonstrated that their product meets all the technical needs and requirements of the prospect.
What Skills Do You Need As a Sales Engineer?
A good Sales Engineer will need excellent presentation skills, they need the ability to hold the prospect’s attention, through what often can be an hour-plus long demo. The ability to build a story around what they are demoing, highlight common issues and demonstrate how these issues are addressed by their products is far more engaging for the prospect than a simple click-and-show overview from people who might not have the technical insight on the products.
I always found my time as a Sales Engineer challenging but enjoyable, the experience gained as Sales Engineer can open up many doors. Often Sales Engineers go on to roles in Product Management, Product Marketing, or in my case a Head Nerd role.
Now that I’ve answered the question “What is a Sales Engineer?”, I guess I’ll need to write a follow up blog to explain my current role to my family and friends.
If you are reading this and thinking you need a new challenge, learn more about Sales Engineering by attending one of our product’s public demos, you can see a full list of products and schedules here: www.n-able.com/product-demos
Alternatively, if you are ready to step into the world of Sales Engineering, check out what positions might be available at N‑able here: careers.n-able.com/
Paul Kelly is the Head Nerd at N‑able. You can follow him on Twitter at @HeadNerdPaul, LinkedIn and Reddit at u/Paul _Kelly
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