Sales Engineer as the “Gut Check”

Sales engineers bring a lot of value to the deal, and to their companies.  One of the most important is that of the practical “gut check” that is often needed during many bids and potential orders/contracts.

Most SE’s are teamed up with an Account Executive- someone truly in “sales” who has a typical response of “Yes” when the client or prospect asks a hard question or a tough request.  Salespeople in general, by nature and really by their compensation package, are optimistic and they (almost) always want to say “Yes”.  But sometimes “Yes” can be bad….

I’ve been through this many, many times in my career and again just recently.  Someone in sales or in business development was engaging with a prospect about a potential large deal, and they brought me in during an internal meeting to look at the feasibility of our company adequately performing on this project.  I probably was seen as the buzzkill, as I sat there and explained several reasons why we really were not in a position to profitably and reasonably fulfill the potential purchase order.

People, oftentimes Account Executives, may ask us in front of the prospect or privately, “Can it be done?”.  That is not a great question.  Almost anything “can” be done.  The larger question is- can we make a fair profit on it?  Or, “should” we do it or attempt it?  Those are all very different things.

Whether it is software or a tangible piece of equipment, there are limitations.  Is there customization possible?  Probably.  Is there some odd work-around we can do?  Maybe.  But how far does our team and our company want to step outside of our wheelhouse and comfort zone to land a deal?  There are many scenarios out there of vendors losing a lot of dollars and time because they really wanted to sign that contract.  Not to mention the likely angst involved with several members of their team in just trying to push the project across the goal line.  What is the “cost” of that?

Aside from just looking at this from the vendor’s perspective, what about the prospect/buyer?  If you are trying to make something work for them, and it is a battle and not quite 100% all along, have you attained real satisfaction from the client?  Would they work with you again down the road?

I do understand that we need Sales; we need PO’s.  Without those, there is no company, no business, and no Sales Engineer position.  But SE’s are known for being technical, and also pragmatic and practical, and those are crucial elements needed for a successful company.  Ideally a team will have a SE and an AE that complement each other to the benefit of the company but also the client.