Boosting Productivity for Sales Engineers: Unleashing AI for Smarter Solutions

I often say Sales Engineers are like the special forces of the revenue team – we’re brought in to not only highlight technical features but also champion customers’ pain points and demonstrate how the product can best address them practically. In my 8 years as a SE, I’ve evolved beyond creating product demos and coding in pre-sales activities, taking on multiple hats – some even say I moonlight as a Swiss Army knife for the revenue team!

In this thrilling journey, I’ve become proficient in everything from CRMs, Product Management software, to creating business cases for new initiatives. So, it’s no surprise that like special forces, SEs like me adopt cutting-edge tools to stay razor-sharp. This is how I became an early adopter of ChatGPT, and using AI as a force enabler has multiplied my productivity while keeping both internal and external “customers” happy. Here’s a rundown of the various ways I’ve harnessed the power of ChatGPT as a Sales Engineer:

1. Refining product demo video scripts and generating voiceovers: ChatGPT has helped me create polished and engaging scripts for product demos. With the right prompts, it not only improved my talk tracks but also provided transitions and visuals. Then, I added another layer of AI for text-to-speech voiceovers – it’s like an AI inception: AI-written scripts spoken by AI, talking about AI. Mind-blowing, right?
2.  Assisting with coding and providing code solutions to specific client problems: ChatGPT has been instrumental in guiding me through the coding process and offering tailored code solutions for client issues. I can provide email conversations, and it generates accurate code solutions with faster turnaround times. It also fine-tunes my responses to technical queries by proofreading them for clarity and context.
3.  Answering RFPs and Security Questionnaires: Crafting contextualized answers based on existing knowledge is made easier, allowing me to focus on proofreading for accuracy and ensuring faster turnaround.
4. Conducting competitor analysis to highlight our product’s competitive edge: ChatGPT digs deep into competitors’ offerings, comparing features, pricing, and more, so I can confidently showcase our product’s advantages.
5. Creating and updating technical documentation, such as user guides and FAQs: ChatGPT has been a lifesaver in generating and updating technical documents, ensuring our customers have access to accurate, up-to-date product information.
6. Developing comprehensive training materials for both internal and external stakeholders: ChatGPT’s assistance allows me to develop and update training resources, streamlining onboarding and ongoing learning.
7. Crafting personalized customer outreach messages for improved engagement: ChatGPT helps me draft personalized emails and LinkedIn messages for prospects, making my outreach efforts more engaging and relevant, and refining my reposts of our organization’s social outreach.
8. Preparing for meetings with suggested talking points and insights into customer concerns: ChatGPT has been a game-changer in generating talking points, responses to potential objections, and insights into customer concerns for my meetings. I can also review call recordings and compare them with my notes to create clear summaries of customer meetings, capturing key points, decisions, and action items.

There are other avenues where SE’s can also use AI for enablement, such as collaborating with marketing teams to create content like blog posts, whitepapers, and case studies or analyzing historical data to create accurate sales forecasts and identify potential pipeline bottlenecks. So the use cases will continue to grow as AI becomes the force multiplier it is.

Now for the disclaimer – while productivity gains have been significant, it’s essential to consider the potential privacy concerns when using ChatGPT for these use cases. Some concerns that organizations may have include:

• Sharing sensitive customer information: When using ChatGPT to craft proposals or personalized outreach messages, there’s a risk of exposing sensitive customer information to the AI.
• Intellectual property protection: Utilizing ChatGPT for tasks like coding, creating marketing materials, or generating technical documents could potentially lead to concerns about protecting the organization’s intellectual property – think of it as keeping the secret sauce recipe safe.
• Data storage and access: As ChatGPT processes and generates content, there may be concerns about where this data is stored, who has access to it, and how securely it is managed.
• Compliance with industry-specific regulations: Certain industries, such as finance and healthcare, have strict regulations regarding data privacy and security. Organizations in these sectors may be hesitant to adopt AI solutions like ChatGPT without a thorough evaluation and understanding of the potential risks – better safe than sorry, right?

To address these privacy concerns, both SEs and their organizations can take the following measures:

• Anonymize sensitive data: Before sharing any customer information with ChatGPT, ensure that personally identifiable information (PII) is removed or anonymized.
• Implement access controls: Establish strict access controls to limit who can use ChatGPT and what information they can share with the AI, reducing the risk of unauthorized access or data exposure.
• Secure data storage: Ensure that data storage and processing systems adhere to industry best practices and security standards, reducing the likelihood of data breaches.
• Regularly review AI-generated content: Periodically review the content generated by ChatGPT to ensure it aligns with your organization’s privacy policies and industry regulations – trust, but verify.

There’s no doubt that the AI revolution sparked by ChatGPT has made it an invaluable tool in my Sales Engineer toolkit, boosting my productivity and efficiency across a multitude of tasks. After all, AI is here to stay beyond just ChatGPT – we will all be seeing products and tools which Sales Engineer’s speak to incorporating AI more and more. By harnessing the power of AI, I can focus on what I do best – solving complex customer problems and driving business growth. While privacy concerns are valid, with the right precautions and responsible usage, organizations can benefit from the incredible potential that AI solutions like ChatGPT have to offer. And just like that, we’ve leveled up in the game of sales engineering!

Special thanks to the author of this article Faraz