From a full focus on engineering to a hardcore sales-driven attitude, and everything in between.
This article is about a journey I enjoyed greatly and that has brought me great insights…. Please enjoy the read!
As a Sales Engineer myself, I explored the entire spectrum of technical sales before I found my balance. In my early years as a Sales engineer, all my attention went to the technical side of sales engineering. Technical know-how provided a good cover-up for my rookieness.
Some years later, I made a drastic switch. I started to understand that for every project I won as a sales engineer, there was a sales rep making a really healthy commission. As a fresh parent, I could use a better salary, so I went ahead and applied for the account manager’s role.
Personal lesson no.1: Just being an expert doesn’t put money on the table.
To be successful in sales I thought I needed to change my approach, to leave engineering behind and become more salesy. Sadly, that didn’t work out for me. As a salesy account manager, I didn’t perform to the standard I wanted to perform, and quite honestly this newfound style just didn’t suit my personality at all.
Personal lesson no.2: Trying to be someone you’re not, is inefficient and makes you less effective in sales.
Years later when I co-founded my first company in Oil & Gas Filtration I finally found balance. I found my “Engineer’s way” in sales.
I realized that if I wanted to swim with the big fish, I’d better be a Shark. Ruthlessly efficient and effective.
So this is what I came up with:
By rearranging the sales process to accommodate my Engineer’s way, I put in measures that would require customer commitment as we went through different steps of the sales process. I effectively integrated commercial intelligence into my working methods.
Commercial equality became one of my standards. This newfound process enabled me to stay true to the engineer’s way, gaining trust through clarity. Yet the process I followed made sure all actions were designed to drive the sale forward.
I also tackled my mindset issue. How to drive more sales without being salesy, if you wish to call it that way. I started using my engineer’s desire to give clarity upfront, and made it work for me.
How? By communicating commercial impact as a logical consequence to the provision of value. By doing so, my conversion rates started to improve quickly.
Personal lesson no.3: Wow, people actually commit to buy from experts they trust and respect.
Working “the engineer’s way” meant I could take control and actively drive the sale forward. Following a structured approach resulted in winning more opportunities (increased conversion rates), and spending less of my time on opportunities that would never fly. As a result, my bottom line improved quite significantly.
Personal lesson no.4: Working a solid system gives you a structure to win. It makes your results more consistent and predictable.
Fast forward a couple of years, I started and sold businesses, teach Technical Sales at multiple Universities in The Netherlands, and wrote the book Challenge, Sell Teach, Involve.
I’m proud to say that “the engineer’s way” gives sales some much-needed subject matter expertise, and enables SMEs to drive sales without being salesy.
That being said. I recently released a LIVING BOOK called: – Challenge, Sell Teach, Involve – that explains how you can leverage subject matter expertise to be more effective in sales.
Want to know what to more about that LIVING book? You can check it out here Challenge, Teach, Involve.
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Take care — Mohamed Ali
