We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers

My guest for today is Chris Beaumont and he is a recruiter. We discuss how people should approach the job hunt, and what they can do to increase their chances to secure a job. We also talk about what employers are doing wrong while they are trying to fill the few recs they have open.  Show notes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show308

 Life does not exist without stress. There's also added stress when you're in the sales world. So I wanted to share the causes of stress as I see it, and how I handle it.  show notes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show307

Engineers are not usually known as creative types. This is a strange notion for me as I think engineers are some of the most creative people. We might not be creating art (although some engineers are artists), but we are being creative in solving a set of problems.  The problem is it doesn't show to the outside world.  But there are ways to do so, and Melanie Flores, my guest for this week found o...

A big piece of Sales Engineering is Sales. Most engineers don't like the sales part of Sales Engineering, but it's what SEs have to excel at to be good at their jobs. Taking it a step further, SEs have to excel at knowing their customers and that will make every aspect of sales easier.    These are all topics of conversation that Alvaro Tuscano and I get deep into, in addition to the challenges of...

In this engaging conversation, Jason Zeikowitz  discusses his experience as a Salesforce Technical Trainer. From handling an array of situations from training salespeople to construction workers who are initially resistant to using new technology, Jason shares the importance of combining questioning and communication to engineer buy-in.   show notes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show304

Mohamed, an experienced Solutions Architect, shares valuable insights about the hiring process and career progression at Amazon Web Services (AWS). He discusses various cloud roles, including Cloud Consultants, Cloud Providers, and Cloud Partners, emphasizing that there are opportunities beyond the 'big three' (Amazon, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud). He also provides a detailed view of the intervi...

Moving from India to the US takes some adjustment. Even if you know the technology, the people change, the requirements change and the way you interact with people changes too.     Show notes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show302

Sales Engineering is a transferable skill. Just because you're in one industry today, does not mean you cannot move. Case in point Faraz who is today's guest. Faraz started off in networking and IT, then moved into several different industries and remained successful throughout.  We will discuss his journey and what he did to learn and be successful in these different industries as a Sales Enginee...

After 300 episodes, I bring the original cohost back. Binayak Kanungo, aka Bini, comes to join me again on the podcast to give us an update on his career. Bini started off his SE career at a company called Assent, and although he was happy with the work there, the thought of wanting more pushed him to move on which turned out not to be a great move. That's when Bini started facing some challenges....

Were you ever asked, "Where do you want to be in 5 years?" I believe I've been asked once, in an interview, and I had no idea what I wanted to do now, let alone in 5 years. I have not been asked since.  John Simpson on the other hand talks to his SEs about career action planning. Not only where you want to be, but how to get there too.  And for sales engineers, there are many options for what to d...

Many Sales Engineers are getting hit with layoffs, especially when there's a new acquisition. This happened to our guest before he knew what Sales Engineering was, Jeff Dryall. But it did not happen once or twice. It's happened multiple times, and Jeff used it as an opportunity to identify a new challenge and go after them, including becoming a Sales Engineer.   Show notes: https://wethesalesengin...

Most SEs have an aversion to sales, which is why many have been very hesitant to enter the SE world. But as soon as we learn more about it, we understand that SEing is about solving problems which as techies, is what we want. The same goes for our guest today. Chris Snyder is the first SE within his organization and he's been thriving at it due to the support that he has, and the ability to get cr...

Having someone who worked on the procurement side, the vendor side, and the value-added reseller side in a condensed period allows us to ask many questions and get a holistic view of these different roles.    Our guest, Wesley Bellman has that exact experience in addition to a few more, so we get to see the similarities of working in procurement and how they interacted with VARs.    shownotes: htt...

We all have different paths into sales engineering. Some fell into it, and some fought for it. And once we get there, we find that not all sales engineering roles are created equal. Some require SEs to simply demo all day, and others have SEs on sight working to help an end user debug an issue they ran into. But all of them will have the SE deal with a salesperson. Our guest today is Ryan Krueger...

As I watch my kids in their activities, I can tell what they are good at, great at, and what needs work. For professionals, who don't have their parents watching their every move, every technique and reaction, we have to figure that out for ourselves.   My conversation with Jeff Perry is all about that. Jeff is a leadership and engineering coach. He takes me through some exercises to find my geniu...

A few weeks ago a discussion started on LinkedIn about vendors providing pricing on their web page. Damian Tomasino was for (with nuance), and John Care was against (also with nuance).  So I thought it would be best to jump on a call with Damian and John to discuss their initial thoughts and the nuances of it.  In this chat, we dig into their insightful opinions on this "controversial" topic, the...

All sales engineers watching this show have been through the recruiting process in the past. Some have had great experiences, and some have been ghosted. It is hard. But looking through the other end of the process, SE Managers and Directors have to recruit and make decisions that can either greatly improve the SE team, or bad behavior can permeate throughout.   Along with my guest Co-host, John H...

We've talked about moving into sales in the past. How to prepare for it, and what to do once we get there. The discussion with Mike today is similar, but he shares his own experiences. Why he wanted to move? What it was like once he was in that role and what did he learn?   Show notes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show291

Mohamad has an interesting story where he had to solve multiple problems in his life from leaving Egypt to the Gulf and then coming to the USA. From finding jobs that suit him, to learning on the job to do it.   Shownotes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show290

Account Planning is something that Salespeople are responsible for. Many Sales Engineers try to stay away from that as it's boring and many salespeople don't come up with a good plan. However, in this video, I make the case why some Sales Engineers should be involved. Here are the questions that we will answer today:   What is an Account Plan? Who is responsible for the account plan? Why should SE...

Are there any more secrets in this world? Actually, I'm sure there is, so let's narrow it down to what we do. Are there any more secrets to Sales Engineering? There are many out there posting, teaching, and sharing their information.   Fortunately, yes there are still some secrets. Some are hiding in plain sight, and some that we actually need to dig and research to highlight them. Today's guest A...

This week I chatted with Nate Broome from CaptivateIQ to discuss his career, his challenges, and what he is doing today at CaptivateIQ to build a great sales team. Show notes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show287  

Technology changes on what seems like to be a daily basis. How we sell has not changed in ages. Sure, they slap a new name and tweak a couple of terms, but the process of selling remains the same. SPIN Selling, Solution Selling, Challenge Sale, etc. But after covid, the PreSales role specifically has had to change. Those who see it coming can prepare, others will be left as Sales Support.   Today'...

Many individuals are looking for a job, and there are many common complaints. "No one is responding to me", "I'm being ghosted" etc.   In this episode, Ramzi discussed his thoughts about the job search, some rules, and how you can go about securing your next job. This is true whether you're looking to break into Sales Engineering, or you've been doing this for many years.  

As Sales Engineers, our job is complex, but it's very hard to do if we don't stay on top of our learning. Therefore a great skill that we need to develop is continuous learning. Or even more importantly the skill to set time aside to do continuous learning or to learn on the fly!    Today's podcast is an interview with Max Van Burke, Director of pre-sales at Pluralsight for EMEA. EMEA stands for E...