Best sales engineering advice you have received
Best sales engineering advice you have received
(OP)
Hello,
Good day, a while back there was an interesting thread called "Best engineering advice you have received".
I would like to start a few posts on the "Best Sales Engineering" advice you have received.
Here are a few to get the ball rolling:
Listen to the customer
Never ask a question where no is the answer
Remember that all of us sometime or another need to be sales engineers (e.g. during a job interview)
Cheers,
Good day, a while back there was an interesting thread called "Best engineering advice you have received".
I would like to start a few posts on the "Best Sales Engineering" advice you have received.
Here are a few to get the ball rolling:
Listen to the customer
Never ask a question where no is the answer
Remember that all of us sometime or another need to be sales engineers (e.g. during a job interview)
Cheers,





RE: Best sales engineering advice you have received
RE: Best sales engineering advice you have received
Don't over sell. Always have something you can offer to "up" the negotiations.
Don't flirt with the secretary...but be nice.
Get to know your customer.. hobbies, kids, etc. not at first but over time.
Be PROFESSIONAL - seems obvious - but.....
RE: Best sales engineering advice you have received
Nothing is more frustrating than a salesman unfamiliar with their own product. There is nothing wrong with not knowing everything, but please don't give out bad information. When this happens I try to not deal with that salesman, and company if possible ever again.
Reidh
RE: Best sales engineering advice you have received
My last place actually got rid of the sales department. The non technical as well as 'big wig' stuff was handled by the MD/owner and we engineers handled the rest.
RE: Best sales engineering advice you have received
My most successful sales situations could be paraphrased into:
"Now, John, I'm NOT a salesman. I'm just a dumb engineer who'll tell you the truth, warts and all. Now let's hear about your problem and see if there's anything I can do to help."
I was always sincere about that, and the sales were easy.
TygerDawg
RE: Best sales engineering advice you have received
RE: Best sales engineering advice you have received
I'm not a sales engineer either but I have met a few.
RE: Best sales engineering advice you have received
RE: Best sales engineering advice you have received
Never respond to a RFQ without having given the technical department a call, even if purchasing hates it.
and as a reaction to some advice above:
"Make sure the requirement is defined." (KENAT) - couldn't agree more
"Don't flirt with the secretary...but be nice" (MikeEng) heh heh... Do flirt with the secreraty... but be nice! (sorry I gave it away I am really a sales eng)
RE: Best sales engineering advice you have received
- Consult with the engineers responsible for making your ideas work. Promising something that cannot be delivered causes friction within your organization as well as between you and the customer.
- Do not be afraid to no-quote. If for some reason your company is not really interested in a job, don't waste the customer's time by submiting a quote you know is not competitive.
RE: Best sales engineering advice you have received
That said, he was by far the best salesman, of any type, I've ever seen. I attended a meeting with him across the table from an owner, the owner's customer, and the contractor and handed out our proposal for new construction in his plant. The contractor commented that some of our unit pricing for some simple structures was twice that of a much larger and more complicated structure he had just completed at the same site. In about 7 minutes, my boss had that contractor and everyone on the other side of the table nodding and understanding why they had to pay twice as much. As we walked into the parking lot after the meeting, he told me, "I hope you had your boots on. It got pretty deep in there."
RE: Best sales engineering advice you have received
On another occasion, he countered my engineering suggestion for cost reducing the product for the customer. He would rather let somebody else provide a cost-reduced product. That's exectly what happened.
Engineers groomed for sales work would be a good way to handle the engineering sales dept.
RE: Best sales engineering advice you have received
Ok Catbert take off your mask now...