Founder’s Message:  How Will the Sales Engineer Market Progress in 2023?

Summertime in business can be a little bit quieter than normal, and the same has been true recently for NAASE.  That said, we shortly will be announcing much of our Autumn (and Winter) event schedule.  We also will be sharing some key information on how the NAASE membership is actually made up- and which sectors are represented in the Association.

As I sit writing this update, I do wonder how the market for SE’s in general (in the USA) will develop over the remainder of 2022 and into the new year.  There are certainly some conflicting dynamics.

I’m not an economist, so these are just my personal observations and opinions.

Overall, there is no question that there are more SE’s today than there were 10 years ago.  Or 5 years ago.  Interest and use of SE’s has been trending up for some time.   More companies are expanding their SE departments, and many other companies who never employed an SE or a Presales Consultant have now hired their first one.  And this is true across many different sectors.  More C-suites see the real and clear value of the SE to their bottom line and their revenue success.

All that said, we may be nearing some sort of temporary ceiling on new SE hires- or at least on SE compensation increases.   We do hope that SE layoffs are kept to a minimum, if applicable.   SE’s are not exempt from the concerns of the broader economy, and we all can see that many companies and sectors are having some trouble here in August 2022.  Year-to-date, the NASDAQ is down 21%, and the S&P 500 is down 14%.  Companies are having to make some tough choices, and they are looking at headcount and compensation.  And let’s face it, sales engineers are not “cheap”, with an average salary of approximately $120,000.  They are generally allocated to overhead as opposed to an Account Executive/ Account Manager whose pay is often directly tied to sales/receivables.  Thus, CFO’s are looking at their SE numbers.

Though we are seeing continued high inflation, and a rather stagnant economy, we do hope and expect that the trends that were well evident from 2018- 2021 in the sales engineering space will still continue onward and upwards in due time.  Corporations now more than ever are looking to become more efficient, to innovate, and to partner with their clients and their prospects.  Sales engineers are uniquely qualified to help accomplish all of those goals.

Best of luck for the remainder of the summer, and as we look to Q4 in the near future!

Regards,

Ken Lambert

Vice President/ Founder – NAASE