The Evolving Sales Engineer: Updated Version

Traditionally, sales and systems engineers (SEs) have been expected to simply provide technical information related to the sales efforts of their account managers. Now, SEs are expected to be technical experts plus: be perceived as consultative contributors to the sales process, connect technical features to business drivers and pain points, succeed with managers and executives, earn "a place at the table' where strategic conversations occur, tailor presentations based on attendees' titles, personality traits and anticipated concerns, handle the most common and challenging objections, identify and satisfy business and personal needs plus uncover cross-sell and account expansion opportunities. "The Evolving Sales Engineer" was written to provide SEs with proven behaviors, techniques, skills and mindsets that will enable them to excel given these emerging expectations. Numerous success stories and examples are included to reinforce chapter highlights. Also included is a special section on SE management. Written to managers, it provides guidance on how to select, build and develop high performance SE teams. By reading this section, SEs will also benefit by gaining an understanding of how to align their performances with evolving managerial goals and expectations.

Author Ed Levine is Co-Founder of Technically Speaking, an international consulting firm specializing in enhancing the performance of client-facing teams. Ed has trained thousands of SEs, account managers and management teams on sales strategies and techniques. He has also spoken on a variety of sales topics at sales kick-off events worldwide.