3 Traits of a Successful Sales Engineer

Sales Engineer.  Solutions Consultant.  The “Smart Guy” (or Gal).  Whatever you want to call it, I’ve been doing it for nearly 25 years and it is one of the most challenging and rewarding roles I’ve ever had.  

I love the pursuit of the deal, but I also love how there are so many hats to wear: seller, product expert, storyteller, demo wizard, technologist, project manager, mediator, and therapist to name a few.  I’ve narrowed it down to three traits, though, that I think were critical to my success over the years

1. Control What You Can Control. The world is an unpredictable place.  You can’t control everything, but with proper preparation you can avoid a lot of catastrophes.  I had a dongle for every possible laptop connection.  My MiFi ensured I always had Internet access.  I have two computers at home in case Zoom stops working on one.  I leave for appointments 30 minutes before I think I need to.  I have prep calls before every customer meeting.  You only get so many at bats in sales.  A little planning allowed me to maximize every opportunity to the best of my ability.

2. Never Stop Learning. Technology changes so fast.  There are new developments and processes all the time.  Competition changes.  Customer initiatives change.  It is imperative to keep learning and altering your worldview to match the current reality.  Most importantly, though, is to keep improving yourself.  Learning new ways to articulate a value prop.  Learning new ways to handle objections.  Learning new ways to communicate and present.  Whenever I thought that my demo or pitch was perfected, I challenged myself to come up with one learning I could apply to improve my demo or pitch the next time.

3. Always Be Curious. Once I stopped quickly answering every question a customer threw at me and started asking why that was important to them, I began uncovering their true motivations and pain.  This was a game changer for me.  We have our own idea of what it means to “improve their experimentation program,” but what does that mean to the customer?  Asking questions like “How?” or “What’s not working now?” uncovered things that were often completely unexpected.  Having a genuine interest and curiosity about a person and their thoughts creates connection, relevancy, and trust.

Developing these traits took time.  I didn’t have them from day one.  The beauty of them though is they not only made me a successful SE, but also helped me be more successful in life.  

What other traits do you think should be at the top of the list?  Let me know in the comments below.