BOOKS
“Life Happened Because I Turned The Pages”
I recommend a number of books for every Sales Engineer’s library. Some are Pre-Sales specific, some deal with demos and presentations, and others are regular business books. Having these books in your library can only make you a stronger, smarter, and more successful Sales Engineer. Although these are English versions, many have been translated into other languages. Start reading!
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The Sales (Engineer) Book Of The Month:
TRUST YOUR SE
Sachin Wadwahan
“Sell Bigger, Better, & Faster With Your Sales Engineer”
“Trust Your SE!”
How can anyone dislike a book with that title?
The book is eclectic in content, ranging from a basic description of the SE role to the nuances of the SEs’ interactions with every other part of the organization. It also features a massive collection of interviews from a gallery of SE rockstars like Peter Cohan, Brian Cotter, Nathan Booker, Chris Browne, Devina Yadav Baker, and multiple other industry “villains”. (Disclaimer – I wrote the forward and feature in the text.)
Here’s the book’s value. During every MTS workshop, we are always asked, “How can I work better with my salespeople?” It’s a tricky question, as the SE’s job is to make the rep successful, not necessarily happy. You’d think there would be a correlation, but that is NOT always the case. This book answers that question in that you can highlight certain key passages, give them to a sales rep to read, and say, “This will help you understand your SE. They’re not like you!”
As you read, one thing will become screamingly obvious – the entire book is about behaviour and relationships, and it really doesn’t mention technical prowess. When you ask customer executives what they value most about a SE, they mention talents like knowing my business, communicating effectively, acting in my best interest, and being innovative before they reach technical ability. That’s often surprising to young SEs, the salespeople we work with, and most people outside our noble profession.
So, as Sachin says, DISCOVER a Sales Engineer, APPRECIATE a Sales Engineer, and then CONNECT two (or more) Sales Engineers. Trust me on that. I’d recommend this book as a gift for salespeople and a quick read for anyone in, or thinking about getting into, Sales Engineering.
For extra credit, if you’d like to continue your SE reading journey, I’d recommend The Trusted Advisor Sales Engineer (for a practical tactical trust methodology), Making SEAMless Sales by Art Fromm (for how to work with your rep and vice versa), and Ron Whitsons’ A Friendly Human in Presales (about the humanity of our profession). They’re all great reads.
