SE Resources
In preparation for another series of upcoming posts, I thought it a good start to collect and provide a list of other SE-oriented resources. I’ll keep this list updated over time so if you know of any other adds, please send them my way.
Books
SE-Specific
Making the Technical Sale – A great book that I got a lot out of. A must have for the SE library.
Mastering Technical Sales– A great book and the most comprehensive book on SEs and SE organizations I have come across. A must have for the SE library—especially for managers.
The Evolving Sales Engineer
Demonstration
Great Demo! – A great book that provides a process for delivering highly targeted demos to your customers
Sites/Blogs
SE-Specific
Mastering Technical Sales – Based off the book and a must-subscribe. Run by John Care, it has a great focus on being an SE and running an SE organization.
Engineers Can Sell– Another great SE blog. Eric Bono focuses on the daily trials and tribulations of being an SE. You’ll find a ton of great day-to-day tactical tips here.
SalesEngineering.com – A long time website and blog run by Phil Janus, a technical sales consultant.
Sales Engineer Guy – The SE Guy focuses on a variety of topics of interest to those selling enterprise software.
Tech Demo Guy – A new SE blog focusing on demos by Dave Sohigian.
Demonstration
Second Derivative – Website and blog of author Peter Cohan of Great Demo!. Provides a lot of information on delivering demos to customers.
Articles/Other
Sales Engineer Overview– Wikipedia – Basic but accurate. In my “spare” time I plan on making a significant contribution.
The Role of Sales Engineer in Technical Sales– Pragmatic Marketing – I’m a big fan of Pragmatic Marketing and would recommend Product Management training even for SEs. They generally do a great job of defining role contributions on PM teams and the article does shed some light on the SE role from a PM perspective.
Sales Engineers Occupational Outlook – Bureau of Labor Statistics Handbook, 2008-09 Edition – Informational but nothing earth shattering. I find the salary data to be way out of whack (on the downside) with the software industry; not sure about others. Comments?
Summary Report for Sales Engineers – Occupational Information Network – Very decent list-based synopsis of the SE role.
How to Become a Sales Engineer– eHow.com – Maybe I’ll contribute here too; way too simplistic.
Sales Engineer Formal Job Description – U.S. University Directory – Somewhat of a rehash of the BLS report.
Sales Engineer Careers, Jobs and Training Information – Career Overview – Somewhat of a rehash of the BLS report.
What “Sales Engineers” Do– hecker.org – A 1st person account of what an SE does.
I may add subcategories (like presentation, demos, etc.) based on future need or by request.
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Filed under: Announcements, Book Reviews, Career Path, Certification, Compensation, Demo, Gadgets, Growth, Lab, Management, Marketing, Presentation, Proof of Concept, Sales, Soft Skills, Strategy, Terminology, Time Management, Training
