Constant team or varied partners? What works best in sales engineering?
I’ve worked in both situations. Sometimes as an SE I worked exclusively, or close to exclusively with one salesperson (AE). I’ve also worked with different AEs depending on industry or geography. I’ve liked both.
I struggled with the 1:1 only because I just didn’t connect with the AE’s style. But even then, over time we learned to work well and efficiently together.
I was an SE in the software industry. I watched my husband work in a 1:1 team arrangement in the medical diagnostic equipment industry. He was the AE. He worked with one SE. They were a strong team who were friendly as well as efficient. For them, it seemed to work perfectly.
I didn’t like working with different AEs all the time. Didn’t hate it but it was hard to establish an efficient cadence.
So what are the pros and cons?
| 1:1 | 1:Several | |
|---|---|---|
| Efficiency You get to know each other and develop shortcuts | + | |
| More deals to work Especially important in areas like Canada with less ability to segment market due to population | + | |
| Creativity Working with different people should naturally bring new & approaches that could be lost in getting used to doing things the same way. | + | |
| Need for rapport Always important. But with 1:1 more critical. | ± | ± |
What do you think? Tell us in the comments below.
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