The Sales Engineer

Part 3 of 3 on Creating Exceptional Relationships with Product Management (part 1) (part 2)

Poor Resource Utilization

You would be hard pressed to find someone that disagreed with the notion that PM should be spending a lot of time with customers. The disconnect I find is that Sales believes those visits should predominately be alongside reps and tied to opportunities. PM believes that most visits should not be tied to specific opportunities.

Because of this inconsistency, you have reps and SEs that get fired up that a PM is never available to visit their customers. Compounding the issue is that many times we do get PM in front of the customer it is either as a crutch (you reached a sales cycle impasse) or as an accelerant (wanting to artificially increase velocity). While there is an exception to every rule, what this creates is very poor resource utilization and it’s very common because PM is technically a “free” resource to Sales (though some companies do in fact use charge backs).

Here is what I recommend.

1. Only request sales assistance on opportunities where direct PM commitment is required to move or expand a high-value (on a company-wide basis) opportunity
2. Do a little leg work to get PM some face time with other, existing customers in the area without your presence and without a specific sales objective.

Not only will PM appreciate your respect for their time, over time they will also respond to you first if you can get them access to customers that can help them with their market research.

Finally, when you get that really esoteric product question, don’t assume it hasn’t been answered and not check the documentation before sending it on to PM. I shake my head when I see SEs email questions to PM that are answered numerous places online. Not only do you ruin your reputation, but that of your peers. What you are basically saying is that you do not value the PM’s time. I can’t think of anything more insulting personally.

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Part 2 of 3 on Creating Exceptional Relationships with Product Management (part 1)

A Disregard for Formal Process

Let’s assume our PMs have listened to the need to establish formal process in how they enable the SE force. In reality this will be hit or miss most of the time. What I have noticed is even in areas where PM has established a well-functioning, documented process, there will be a certain number of SEs that want to negate that process because they feel their deal warrants immediate attention.

For example, say PM has a web form for submitting feature requests. A big customer says to us in the middle of a sales call they would buy if only it had this certain feature. What do you and your rep do? I know many that would go straight to the PM via email, phone, and door knocking if possible. “To hell with process, this is million dollar opportunity” they say.

I’ll stop short of saying process always needs to be followed, but I do recommend you commit yourself to a short thought experiment before you do attempt to circumvent established channels.

The concept is based on moral universalism. Simply put: Take your intended course of action and imagine if everyone else did the exact same thing. Would it lead to a net benefit for your company or not?

In our example, what if every time a SE went to PM directly with a feature request of in this situation instead of using the submission form? If you can unbiasedly say that this deal really is worth breaking the rules for the benefit of the company then go for it. If you hesitate, it probably isn’t.

Of course this rule not only applies to PM but to other internal groups and customers as well. Give this a try next time you’re thinking about making a request of someones time and energy.

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I just recently published an article in the Pragmatic Marketer magazine for product managers entitled How to Turn Sales Engineers into Your Biggest Fans. I thought it fitting to write the corollary article for how we can best interact with PM.

Having been a student of both professions for quite some time I have observed many points of contention between the two roles—beautifully illustrated at The Cranky PM here and here. There are three areas in particular that I feel cause the most frustration:

1. Vague understanding of the PM role
2. Lack of and/or disregard for formal process
3. Poor resource utilization

Because these are lengthy topics I will address each area one post at a time.

Understanding

It wasn’t until I began reading PM blogs, books, and even attending a few training sessions, that I developed a keen appreciation of PMs as I had come to for SEs. In this case I am as guilty as the rest of us in what I describe…

Let me begin directly and work back from there: as an SE you are not responsible for setting or determining product direction, product quality, or product marketing. Yet that never seems to stop us from getting frustrated, stressing out, and trying our best to influence product direction based on feedback from OUR ultra-important customers. I wrote about this at length here for additional detail.

We do have a crucial responsibility, however. We have the responsibility of providing customer/market feedback to the company in an unbiased manner. That means we have an obligation to do those things we dislike even if it is not demanded of us. This includes trip reports, honest win (and loss!) reports, and forwarding on the 150 feature suggestions we hear every day.

The critical difference (and source of so much stress) is that we have the incestuous need to expect a direct response and action based on that feedback. Shouldn’t we get something back?—we think to ourselves. Yes, but that doesn’t mean we need to expect it. Our responsibility ends when we have provided our feedback to the appropriate location. We get paid enough to worry about our sales cycles, let someone else worry about the roadmap!

Finally, if you’re reading this blog you’re already a few steps ahead of your competition as my anecdotal research suggests less than 30% of SEs actively subscribe to blogs/feeds. Do yourself a favor and read a couple of books and subscribe to some PM blogs to round out your knowledge. I guarantee not only will it make you a better SE but it will begin to lead to some great relationships with your product managers. Here’s a few sources to get you started:

Books

• Tuned In
• The Product Manager’s Field Guide

Blogs

• On Product Management
• Product Marketing
• Agile PM

Courses

• Pragmatic Marketing
• Zigzag Marketing
• Enthiosys

After you’ve had a chance to do a little digging at the links above I’ll continue on with part II next week. If you have strong feelings or feedback on the subject I encourage you to weigh in over in the comments section on the site.

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