Making the Technical Sale
I’m going to be spending the next few weeks reviewing books that explore the role of the SE. Where possible I’m also going to be speaking with the authors to add some additional detail in the reviews.
I decided to begin at the beginning—that is to say I’m choosing to review the eldest of the set first based solely on the merits of that period of time. I will then progress through until we get to the most recent.
Without further ado, let’s begin with Making the Technical Sale by Rick Greenwald and James Milbery. I had the chance to connect with both authors and will be adding some of their comments throughout.
Making the Technical Sale
Paperback: 385 pages
Publisher: Muska & Lipman Publishing; 1 edition (March 1, 2001)
ISBN-10: 0966288998
Background
Back when this book was released in 2001, it was the first to focus specifically on the role of the sales engineer (or sales consultant as they refer to it).In the industry of enterprise software sales, the SE had already formally been around for several years prior (in other industries much longer). Very few SEs that were being hired were existing SEs. The vast majority were domain experts on the IT side brought over to sell the products they used to support. This is to say that you were extremely lucky to be able to shadow an SE that had been around more than 2-3 years.
It was very clear that SEs provided value to the sales process (especially to reps), but most outside of sales would be very hard pressed to explain what it was that SEs did. Despite the obscurity of purpose, SE organizations were expanding en masse leading to a great opportunity for many. This rapid growth created an environment that could benefit significantly from some degree of formalization.
More from James (Jim):
At the time of the writing there was some rumblings in the market (this was during the go-go internet years) that traditional enterprise-software sales reps and sales engineers would no longer be needed. Customers would just “buy software over the Internet”. I believe that we can all agree that this largely turned out to be untrue.
DM: Having come in after spending time at a dot.com myself, I think a lot of folks got ahead of themselves. Sales in general has turned out to very reliable and has a strong, natural roadblock against outsourcing.
Purpose of the Book
Both Rick and Jim had worked their way up through different SE ranks. Through discussions they realized a need existed for some industry structure around the role. The purpose behind the book was to provide a comprehensive training manual for SEs. It focuses on best practice around the main job responsibilities of the SE and benefits from the varied experiences of the authors.
Contents
Your World
The first question the book addresses is what an SE does. They make an important statement that I came to on my own terms which emphasizes that “sales” comes before “consultant”. Though a tough lesson for me at first, I am a firm believer in a sales-first mentality. The other important maxim from the chapter is the role of the SE on the sales team. It is an important concept that your sales exec (rep) needs to have final say in opportunity decisions. They are the ones ultimately accountable to the quota. Finally, they cover the basic notions of control of the sales cycle and use of limited resources.
The Sales Process
Here, a good primer on the sales process is provided and is great for those entering or new to the field. I have found, more recently, that most companies of significant size have their own sales methodology and terminology in use, even down to the technical aspects of the sales cycle. I have found most companies to be good enough in the general sales process training arena which includes SE specifics. It’s very important you leverage what is in use at your company.
Technology Life Cycle
Applying a bit of psychology and marketing to the SE role, they hit on a very important concept of linking your company’s dynamics to your own style. Recognizing that each SE has a particular set of strengths, it is important for SEs to match that talent to organizations that can benefit the most. This is better for the company and far better for maximizing the happiness and satisfaction of the SE.
Understanding the Buyer
The concepts of the buying scenarios and roles are explored here. It is important to understand the fundamentals in a generic sense though even if your company uses other terminology. The understanding that different prospects and individuals make purchasing decisions differently needs to underpin all your interactions with your customer.
Working with People
As an SE you spend most of your time working with people. Though there are many books on the general subjects of building trust and creating rapport, Rick and Jim do a nice job of picking out specific attributes that are essential to an SEs nature. The most important takeaways are the benefits of being yourself, never misleading your customer to close a sale, and being up front when you’ve made a mistake.
These aren’t new ideas, but many times I guarantee you will feel enormous pressure to compromise your ethics. Recognizing that values are more important than any short-term reward you may gain is something you always need to remain grounded in.
Feature Benefit Selling
The authors stress the importance of translating your product into tangible benefits for the customer which is so important to your role. And it is also an area I see SEs often come up short. SEs are necessarily passionate about the capabilities of the product and it’s easy to get hung up on what it does versus how the customer can derive benefit from it. The process of Feature, Benefit, Acceptance (FBA) is really a cornerstone of the value an SE can provide and they do an excellent job of walking the reader through the process step by step. I recommend reading this chapter a few times to completely absorb the message.
Mastering the Demo / Effective Demos
The key to their demo message is moving up the pyramid from reciting script to being able to tie together associated customer information to craft a solution-oriented narrative using your product. Because demos are one of the most important duties of the SE, it is critical you master the information in these chapters.
Qualification
There is a lot that goes into qualification, especially since it is usually a complicated dance that happens alongside your rep. The key takeaway from the chapter is that you not eliminate yourself from the sale before your sales team has made the choice to do so. The qualification process is really about your information gathering and not the customers. Though the content is spot on, this is an area where I feel you really learn the nuances of the dance through practice and experience.
Making Effective Sales Presentations
The surprising real benefit from this chapter was on leveraging chalk talks (whiteboard sessions). My best meetings were always these sessions. The ability to be more informal, flexible, and involve the customer provide a setting fare more productive than formal presentation. The housekeeping components are good on both fronts, though presentation has come a long way in the past few years to the point where I would recommend other resources to update the concepts/examples.
Rick stressed the point that some SEs rely too heavily on PowerPoint. And that when you truly understand your product and customer needs you’ll usually be far more effective utilizing more informal presentation methods such as chalk talks. I concur.
Product Evaluations
The key finding is the importance of a formal process agreed upon at the onset of the evaluation. Getting all the requirements on paper from all stakeholders is key to later being able to get sign off on meeting requirements and move the sales cycle forward. Adding this to my SOP was one of the biggest time savers I’ve found.
Handling Objections
This chapter demonstrates another difficult but value-adding opportunity for the SE. Done correctly, minute for minute, this activity can add do more to move a sale forward than any other activity. A real insight by the authors was exploring the different types of objections and recognizing that each needs to handled uniquely. Rick added that he personally views objections as good things; he was more worried when a customer just listened and at the end thanked him for his time.
Responding to RFIs
The biggest take away from the chapter is that it is not always necessary to respond. Reps in my experience are overly eager to respond so it’s a delicate line to walk. To this day it is still one of the biggest time wasters for the sales team given the % return. I have seen industry estimates below a 20% deal close rate.
Working the Competition
Dealing with competitors is an increasing fact of life (rarely did I ever close a significant deal without encountering a competitive situation). The most important part of the chapter which they hit on is to stay focused on the customer. I would take that one step further and say to be leaps and bounds ahead of the competition in focus on the customer. In the end, s/he who can best articulate how the product solves the customer’s pain will usually win. To add to this arsenal there are some great tips and common pitfalls to avoid such as never stooping to speak ill of a competitor and to avoid at all costs positioning against a potential weakness that you later come to find is addressed.
Challenging Prospects / Seven Deadly Sins
In speaking with Rick, he put it very succinctly when asked about most common mistakes when he said: “Sales reps want to get the deal. SEs want to be right.” I personally have been guilty of this and it is a great reminder to check our egos at the door when working with a customer.
My Recommendation
For ~$35 dollars on Amazon
Additional commentary from the authors
On what’s changed in the industry since writing the book:
There are two fundamental differences that have become important in the past 7 years. First, most companies emphasize the “Webex” demo as opposed to on-site demos (and there are a lot more “group” demos via WebEx). It is certainly a cheaper alternative than traveling to a customer site – but you lose so many of the benefits that it is almost a different job altogether. Second, most prospects expect to be able to download a usable copy of the software very early in the sales cycle (with the exception of some large ERP products). It makes it much harder for SEs to control the sales cycle – in fact they are often left out of the sales cycle under this model. (Prospects download a copy of the product, try it, hate it, and “leave” the sales cycle without ever being engaged by an SE). SAAS is only going to exacerbate this problem.
They also mentioned that if the got a chance to do a follow up edition this would become a large focus of the book because of its high degree of importance to SEs today.
On what advice they would have for SEs wanting to enter the field today:
Jim - Pick the right product area (for you) and learn your product (and the competition) very well. Too many SEs ignore the “product lifecycle” roadmap. Demo dollies should not take early-stage technology jobs and vice versa.
Rick – Put a lot of thought into the company you work for and the work that you do. As I’ve been in the business a long time, for me it has become a lot more about learning, growth, and fulfillment than about money and position. Find out what makes you happy and find ways to do more of it.
On the career path of an SE:
The SE job is a GREAT career-enhancing job. Most of my SE friends from the old days have gone on to big jobs elsewhere – CEO, CTO, VP of Marketing, etc.
I agree. I’m continually amazed at how many successful people I meet that had a career take off after being an SE.
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I’d like to thank both Rick and Jim for taking the time to speak with me and for providing some additional insights for our readers.
If you’ve found this review helpful or have suggestions for additional aspects to cover in the future, please drop me a line.
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