Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Why are engineers so bad at sales?
(OP)
I just had a project pop up in my email. It was a client I had done some work for in the past. They needed to reframe some portions of their roof structure to accommodate a large piece of equipment and install a large pit for said piece of equipment. The project wasn't large and they did all of the construction themselves (hiring foundation guys, steel fabricators, roofers etc).
Anyway, they are looking to add on to their existing building (30,000 square feet). A nice addition. Before I could reply to the email the client called to ask me some questions about the delivery process for a building addition. By the time I was done talking to him he went from hiring me to do the job to finding a GC to deliver the project design-build and "putting a good word in for me". While the project is still possible I somehow went from a slam dunk to a 1/3 chance of getting a new project. Ugh.
Anyway, they are looking to add on to their existing building (30,000 square feet). A nice addition. Before I could reply to the email the client called to ask me some questions about the delivery process for a building addition. By the time I was done talking to him he went from hiring me to do the job to finding a GC to deliver the project design-build and "putting a good word in for me". While the project is still possible I somehow went from a slam dunk to a 1/3 chance of getting a new project. Ugh.





RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
And, as with zdas04, I frequently tell clients that they do not need my services for a particular thing that they want to do.
They'll be back next month with something else.
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
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RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Could work; it did for the A/C, who instantly gained credibility and got proceeds from me
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RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
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RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Garth Dreger PE - AZ Phoenix area
As EOR's we should take the responsibility to design our structures to support the components we allow in our design per that industry standards.
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
The biggest difference is when we retire, we aren't the ones with the job 'Welcome to Walmart'.
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
That may be true in your world.... but I think your world would be the exception not the rule. Just take a look at the Dilbert Salary Theorem if you don't believe me.
http://physics.okstate.edu/babu/2014/dilbert.pdf
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Good salesmanship is a skill set. There are things one must do and things one must not do.
At the very least, non-sales people in the customer's path need to be trained in what not to do.
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
As a chem eng/metallurgist the first part of any answer I give starts with "It Depends"
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
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RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Why does a plumbing company owner make more than most (piping) engineers. They don't lose sight of the practical aspect of doing their job within the technical delights of solving the problem.
You can start with not explaining how to do the job, or some obscure mechanics of it that make it interesting, which usually only confuses the client and might even leave him wondering how this guy survives.
Explain the benefits of hiring YOU to do the job.
Explain how well your previous jobs went. Bring along a reference letter or two.
Explain how many headaches and how much time and money you saved your previous clients.
Explain how they can trust you to take on all responsibility for delivery and how that frees them up to concentrate on what they like to do ... their core business.
That's not dishonest. It's practical.
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
As for marketing, we do none. As Mike said...your reputation and performance will speak for itself.
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
My point was more that engineers have low EQ (than the average) rather than sales personnel having high EQ.
It's a stereotype- but based on my personal behaivour- and the behaivour I observe in others around me- the shoe fits.
As a chem eng/metallurgist the first part of any answer I give starts with "It Depends"
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Are you sure you're looking at others' shoes, or only your own?
I know someone who can't look at ANYTHING when they're talking to you; they literally have to close their eyes when they're speaking.
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RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
In this instance I just answered the questions from the client honestly. The client didn't even know he needed an architect for the project. The client also wanted to give the work to another one of my clients who is a fabricator. A fabricator who doesn't install foundations, masonry, roofing, sprinkler systems, site work, electrical, HVAC or do anything outside of steel fabrication.
I answered all of his questions honestly and in the end it was "thanks for the help, I will put a good word for you with the db contractor".
I thought it was kind of funny..... but not.
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
I'll be blunt. If you're in business for yourself, you're only doing half your job. Would you go to a doctor that only did half his job? Do you think he would be in business long. Would you buy half a car, half a bridge.
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Translation: You don't bid a project at what it will take you to do it, you bid a project at what he will pay you to do it. Which is sometimes a little less, but it's also often times a lot more.
Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East - http://www.campbellcivil.com
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
The question is really whether it's done with "malice and forethought." One of the best business development guys I've known is actually very technical, and basically skirted the bounds of doability, given that "I'm alive for another two years, and anything might happen; the king might die, and there's always a chance the horse will talk after two years.
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RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Engineers know more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Doing this may keep away the quantity of projects/clients but will keep the quality ones, which imho is really what matters
at the end of the day.
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East - http://www.campbellcivil.com
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Actually, with my proposals, I had an 80 to 90% success rate over the years.
I was a good sailor too.
Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
If the owner balked at hiring all the professionals I think you dodged a bullet here. It is so odd how owners never figure out professionals charge design/build contractors very similar fees. They never get that the contractors include the same fees in their bids and then mark it up by 10 - 15%. Oh well, I prefer working with design/build clients anyway. We get to the answer much quicker that way, and it alleviates some of the headache for us. Sitting in meeting where all the owners wants to talk about is colors and furniture is annoying.
Design/build contractors have the same problem. One of our better clients does a lot of drawings and basic design for their bids, and many times their customers take that to the next bidder and ask for a competitive price. I think that is terrible on the part of those customers, but you will be hard pressed to find a client or customer that appreciates the time and effort that goes into the sheets of drawings we create.
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
"It's awfully small!" - "I'd call it cozy!"
"That one's dilapidated!" - "It's a handyman's special!"
"That one's on fire!" - "Motivated seller!"
I use this one with the young engineers all the time as a teachable moment...
It helps to believe in what you're selling- so selling what my company provides is dead easy for me.
I hear you about saying too much, talking yourself out of a job or having your proposal's scope of work used to instruct others who sell cheaper hours. That happened to many times to me when I was in consulting, so I'm very glad to have exited that line of work.
RE: Why are engineers so bad at sales?
Some of the salespeople I know actually talk very little, but are somehow very good at listening and getting the others to talk. The problems show up later, because you need to walk the client through a few options to find out what he actually wants. The clients needs to see a few options to find out what he wants. We had a one face to the customer approach in sales for some time, our sales guys are reluctant to talk about stuff they don't understand very well so the process of walking the client through his options becomes very lengthy and often invlove many iterationsof proposals and meetings. So this 'good' salesmenship has downsides on the sellers part.
(Close to half my co-engineers were women, but all the salesfolk are or were salesmen)