Top 10 SE Mistakes that Drive AEs Crazy
We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers
Release Date: 05/13/2024
The Truth about Leadership Growth, Grit, and Resilience
We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers
Behind every “professional journey” is a human being dealing with doubt, growth, and reinvention. Rick also offers candid insights into what people don’t see behind the scenes of SE management: politics, career development, and the emotional intelligence needed to truly lead.
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Why Now Is the Best Time to Start a Business, Even in a Down Market
We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers
In this episode, host Ramzi Marjaba sits down with Raphael Joseph, a former software engineer who became a sales engineering leader and is now the founder of his own specialist recruitment firm for SEs. Raphael shares how he stumbled into sales engineering from banking, scaled a global SE team from 1 to 40, and later built a recruitment business tailored to the unique challenges of hiring pre-sales professionals. Shownotes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show332
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Risking Your Strong Leadership Role To Plunge into the Startup World
We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers
Sometimes you just have to quit your job to start your own thing. And sometimes this job is a Leadership Role at a very well-respected organization such as Salesforce. And sometimes the job is the Global Enablement Leader. That’s what our guest Guillaume Huynh-Ba does. Guillaume shares how his sales engineering foundation shaped his career, why he transitioned into enablement, and what he learned while scaling training programs across different regions and teams at Salesforce. Show notes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show331
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Building Professional Success On A Foundation Of Devastating Failure
We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers
Whether you’re an SE considering management, a leader looking to motivate your team, or someone curious about the intersection of sales and technical expertise, this episode is packed with insights on resilience, leadership, and continuous improvement. shownotes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show330
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Build a Genuine Connection By Having Interesting Communication
We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers
You can be a good solution engineer but still suck at different aspects of the job. That’s because there are too many skills that Solution Engineers need to work on, it’s almost impossible to be great at all of them. Even if we break them down, technical skills versus soft skills, there are still many that SEs might not be good at. Examples of soft skills include listening, storytelling, demoing, de-escalating, handling objections, and many more. It isn’t easy to be great at all of them. And yet, even if you’re not great at something, it doesn’t mean you cannot work on it. It...
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Stop Being an Amateur Solution Engineer, Join the Professionals
We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers
For every sport, some people do it professionally, and others are amateurs. One of the bigger differences is that professionals get paid, amateurs don’t. When it comes to solution engineering, there are also some professionals and others who work like amateurs, even though they both get paid. We discuss this specific topic with Bill Balnave. We explore the key differences between professionals and amateurs within the industry. Bill shares insights from his extensive career in presales and customer success, while emphasizing the significance of having the right team and environment to stay...
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AI is the New Evolution Here. Use it, Don't Waste It
We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers
AI is all around us these days. We either use it to get more productive, or we fall behind. That is what we will discuss with Phillip Swan
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Unlock The Mystery That Is Procurement with Mike Lander
We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers
Procurement is a black box for the majority of Solution Engineers and even Salespeople. Many salespeople treat Procurement as the enemy thinking that their only job is to beat them up on price, so today I have Mike Lander on. Mike is a former head of Procurement but is now helping Sales understand procurement better so they can close deals faster. shownotes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show326
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7 Proven Behaviors to Drive Success in Technical Sales
We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers
Ron Whitson joins us to discuss how we as Solution Engineers can build better relationships with customers and how we can help them make better decisions. show notes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show325
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What Does a Great Solution Engineer Look Like?
We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers
I’m always asked, “What does a great SE look like?” The problem is there isn’t one way to SE. Great SEs look like. The role is complex, and people do it differently. So, let’s delve into the role's complexity and break it down through an evaluation form I created. I cover various aspects such as working with account managers, discovery, demos, proof of value, and technical know-how. I also emphasize the importance of customer relations and leadership skills. Finally, I have some news… show notes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show324
info_outlineSo I’ve been in sales for a while. A few years now, and I’ve worked with several SE either as a sales person, a mentor, or a coach. And we love to joke around and talk crap about salespeople. I mentioned this before but on my first week on the job, I traveled to a quarterly training for both SEs and Sales. We had a common training session (marketing slides) and when that session was over and we were about to split up, my manager (SE manager) stood up and said “SEs stay here, those who have a lobotomy go to the other room.”
That’s how I was introduced to sales. It was a joke, and everyone laughed, but since then I knew I could make fun of salespeople because they do things that drive us crazy.
On the other hand, since I’ve been in sales there are things that SEs do that also drive me personally nuts. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve seen things that have made me so angry, I can see why AEs don’t want to bring SEs into meetings. Here are 12 things SEs do that drive salespeople crazy.