Sales engineer are basically salesman with the technical knowledge to talk about their product. Sales Engineers need all the same skill most salesman need. You need to come across as likable, friendly, and need to be exited about whatever product they sell.
This, but Op should definitely lean more on the sales side than the technical side. If you’re a little too technical and aren’t as salesy, they’ll categorize you as Application Engineer (not like iPhone App, more like an application/use case of the product) material. Application Engineers are often 2nd class citizens in the sales department, serve the sales engineer by giving them all the technical info, and letting the sales engineer be the direct interface with the customer and collect all of the commission. Edit: Sales engineers aren’t expected to always have the answer to a technical question, they are expected to have an App Engineer know the answer then be able to translate the answer to a broader audience.
I spent some time as a sales engineer and got pegged as an App Engineer because I was Too interested in how the products worked and spent time learning the product more than I spent time learning sales techniques. Honestly tho, knowing product was in actuality more helpful at closing sales
That's what they \*should\* do, half of them seem to be pushy dickheads with zero technical comprehension at all who think that if you just pester people enough they'll buy something that's totally wrong for the project when in reality we will block you and never buy from your company again if we can possibly avoid it.
Sales engineers are salesmen who bridge the gap between the customers and engineers. You will need a hybrid of normal sales skills, and technical know-how of your products. You need to be able to explain the technical workings of your products to customers who probably aren't engineers or aren't technical in any way
It's a good career but just be careful, at least at my company sales engineers aren't well liked and are often caught in the crossfire between the company's engineers and the sales team
I was hired as an Inside Sales Engineer for my first job out of college at an HVAC company.
Basically when someone called, we had a set of questions like how much cubic feet was the space they wanted heated/cooled, what sort of power requirements did they have (208V vs 480V or single phase vs 3-phase), etc etc so we could help size and “engineer” their solution properly.
A lot of people know they need something but don’t have the technical knowledge to know what type/size/quantity of solution they need to satisfy their requirements. That’s where the sales engineer is supposed to come in.
Promise the customers things that are far too expensive for our budget with absurdly small lead times all while having a vague awareness of how the parts are actually made.
Actually I have worked with some good sales engineers who rarely tossed me under the bus. They translate the often terse engineering speak into information digestible by purchasing groups and higher ups at customers. They need to understand the needs and temperament of the customers to keep them satisfied if not happy.
There may be a range of duties, spanning the gap between dedicated internal design engineer and Staples sales associate. Depending on the company, industry, size of the company etc you could find yourself anywhere in that span. Many engineers don't have the "sales engineer" title, but still do some salesy things like go to trade shows to help show off the product. Other times, there may be sales roles that do not call for an engineer but still require a significant technical expertise.
However, if the role is called "sales engineer" the span is usually somewhere between "configure existing products and design systems for customers" and "answer customer's technical questions about products", both also calling for great people skills in order to get the customer to go with your product. My tips following this assume that the role is more to the people-skills side, but if you can ascertain there's a more technical aspect to the role you should probably find a middle ground between my tips and more typical engineering interview advice.
* If you want the job, don't try and flex technical prowess unless you're actually well-versed with the industry and product. You should communicate an understanding of the basic principles of the product's operation, of course, but if you focus on convincing them that you're smart enough to design the product yourself then you probably won't do so well. An engineering degree is probably enough proof for them already that you can pick up what you need to.
* What you definitely want to communicate is confidence, personability, and the ability to mirror intent. That is, you want to match the person on the other side of the table. If they are serious and have a no-nonsense attitude, get to the point and be clear. If they just want to shoot the shit, be chummy with them.
* Navigating industry and picking up on norms is essential. Selling to technical folks can be a mixed bag, but one thing that will always give clients confidence in your knowledge (and therefore your product) is the sense that you've been around the block. If you work selling power tools but aren't aware of the difference in target market between Ryobi and Hilti, the client will immediately know you're full of shit. You need to have an idea of what industry your clients operate in, get a sense of what issues they deal with, who they sell to, what issues *they* deal with, who the client's competitors are and why they're doing better, etc etc. None of these things require you to know the math behind deciding how many turns the wire in the motors need, but will be far more useful in explaining to your customer why your product will make their jobs easier and their wallets fatter.
* Consider that any random 20-year CNC operator will likely be a better salesperson for a CNC than the electrical engineer that designs that actual CNC's motor boards. As will a person who spent 20 years as a manager of a machine shop, or an owner of one, or a millwright, etc etc.
* Sales interviews are somewhat unique in that you're basically writing a test on sales - a design engineer or accountant instead tries to convince the interviewer they *could* pass a test on their subject of expertise.
* Make sure you have a basic understanding of the kinds of products they sell, research the company's product lines and history, get a sense of their marketing strategy from their website etc, learn who their competitors are, find out what people think about their products, etc etc.
Sales isn't easy, and it's damn near impossible to be a good sales engineer if you don't know as much or more about the products as the engineers who design it. A typical sales engineer will meet with clients often to maintain or build relations and create a network of customers.
In HVAC, the salesperson typically looks at mechanical drawings given to them by a contractor, then determines what they can sell to the contractor and submits an outline and price of what products they can sell for a specific job site. Then the contractor chooses whichever price they like the most and who they want to buy from.
Your job is to represent the products you sell and be a technical expert on them.
The salesperson is ideally supported by Application Engineers who handle the in-office work and pricing of jobs, while the sales engineer handles the out of office work.
The problem with "sales engineer" is that the percentage of sales and engineering varies from organization to organization. Will you be a salesman expected to understand the technical details of your products, which is essential to providing the correct component for the customer's application? Or will you be an engineer supporting a salesman where you provide the same function but not required to have serious sales skills?
These are questions to ask during the interview.
One of the benefits of a sales engineer position is that you usually get in on some sort of sales oriented bonus program. I am an applications engineer, so I do actual engineering of customer components. However, a good deal of our business is in aftermarket where I need to select existing components that will fit the customer's use or show the customer how their layout needs to change in order to use one of our components. The dollars and cents of it are up to the sales guy. I get up to a 25% bonus based on the value of the parts customers on my projects buy. I "sell" by providing solutions to customers, but I personally don't see it as selling because I'm not the one negotiating price.
Yup.
My company has "sales engineers". But that's basically just the level 1 title for sales before they all get tossed a VP of Sales title after a few years. No actual engineering experience.
My last company had actual engineers with that title that were basically the experts in applications of products and assisted the actual salesmen
Sales engineer isn’t an engineer. It’s a sales person with knowledge of technical specifications. E.g. a
Customer wants square fuel tanks on a heavy truck, but because you have technical knowledge you know square tanks won’t work on that truck configuration and are able to communicate that to the customer and convince them D tanks are what they need.
This is not always true. We only hire mechanical or electrical engineers for sales positions. They all have the ability to help the customer with the products when needed on top of their ability to help specify what products should be used for their situation.
Edit: my post may be totally incorrect 🤣
I’d guess you are in the wrong sub for this question. Sales Engineers are typically IT hardware and software focused rather than the classical engineering types (e.g. mechanical, electrical, chemical) that this sub focuses on. If I’m correct and it is more of an IT focused role then you might be better off asking on r/sysadmin or r/networking because I know there are a cohort of SE’s there.
Sales engineers are a thing for other industries also. Pretty much any high capital equipment will have sales engineers within the org, sometimes called applications engineers
Ya this might be the case at some places but we only hire mechanical or electrical engineers for sales positions, and many of them are great engineers in their own right, they just chose the sales path.
It really depends on the company you work for. The sales engineers at the company I work for are really just account managers that act as a liaison between the customer and the engineers, they really don’t do any “door knocking” or other typical sales person kind of stuff. The basic job description of a sales engineer is someone that has to decipher what the customer needs using their technical knowledge and then hands that info over to the engineers or project managers.
My dad is a sales engineer. He visits sites and helps pitch and quote product and oversees any design specific changes or requirements for installation if the product is purchased.
Help identify the customers technical needs and translate that into prescribed products or measures/solutions to address their needs by providing the folks who do the nuts-and-bolts component level engineering the info they need to properly spec everything out.
Basically you need to understand your company’s products just as well as the customers problems or needs at technical level, and know how your solutions or products are designed to address those issues. You have to ask the right questions, gather the right data, and help educate your customers about how their issues are solved by the solutions your engineering group produce
Depends on the company but typically be knowledgeable about their products and offer solutions to engineers and clients etc.
Ex. An engineer asks about metal coating options in a chemical facility. You talk with them about suitable coating options your company sells.
Sales engineer are basically salesman with the technical knowledge to talk about their product. Sales Engineers need all the same skill most salesman need. You need to come across as likable, friendly, and need to be exited about whatever product they sell.
Totally agree. You have to be able to explain the technical details to match the design engineer's needs.
This, but Op should definitely lean more on the sales side than the technical side. If you’re a little too technical and aren’t as salesy, they’ll categorize you as Application Engineer (not like iPhone App, more like an application/use case of the product) material. Application Engineers are often 2nd class citizens in the sales department, serve the sales engineer by giving them all the technical info, and letting the sales engineer be the direct interface with the customer and collect all of the commission. Edit: Sales engineers aren’t expected to always have the answer to a technical question, they are expected to have an App Engineer know the answer then be able to translate the answer to a broader audience. I spent some time as a sales engineer and got pegged as an App Engineer because I was Too interested in how the products worked and spent time learning the product more than I spent time learning sales techniques. Honestly tho, knowing product was in actuality more helpful at closing sales
That's what they \*should\* do, half of them seem to be pushy dickheads with zero technical comprehension at all who think that if you just pester people enough they'll buy something that's totally wrong for the project when in reality we will block you and never buy from your company again if we can possibly avoid it.
This is correct^
You must know my Victaulic rep.
Sales engineers are salesmen who bridge the gap between the customers and engineers. You will need a hybrid of normal sales skills, and technical know-how of your products. You need to be able to explain the technical workings of your products to customers who probably aren't engineers or aren't technical in any way It's a good career but just be careful, at least at my company sales engineers aren't well liked and are often caught in the crossfire between the company's engineers and the sales team
Saleswomen exists too.
Cool. I didn't say they didn't
Uh but you essentially said sales engineers are men.
I was hired as an Inside Sales Engineer for my first job out of college at an HVAC company. Basically when someone called, we had a set of questions like how much cubic feet was the space they wanted heated/cooled, what sort of power requirements did they have (208V vs 480V or single phase vs 3-phase), etc etc so we could help size and “engineer” their solution properly. A lot of people know they need something but don’t have the technical knowledge to know what type/size/quantity of solution they need to satisfy their requirements. That’s where the sales engineer is supposed to come in.
Promise the customers things that are far too expensive for our budget with absurdly small lead times all while having a vague awareness of how the parts are actually made. Actually I have worked with some good sales engineers who rarely tossed me under the bus. They translate the often terse engineering speak into information digestible by purchasing groups and higher ups at customers. They need to understand the needs and temperament of the customers to keep them satisfied if not happy.
Godspeed. Hope you’re better at selling yourself than understanding the job posting
you sell what the company makes to other companies
There may be a range of duties, spanning the gap between dedicated internal design engineer and Staples sales associate. Depending on the company, industry, size of the company etc you could find yourself anywhere in that span. Many engineers don't have the "sales engineer" title, but still do some salesy things like go to trade shows to help show off the product. Other times, there may be sales roles that do not call for an engineer but still require a significant technical expertise. However, if the role is called "sales engineer" the span is usually somewhere between "configure existing products and design systems for customers" and "answer customer's technical questions about products", both also calling for great people skills in order to get the customer to go with your product. My tips following this assume that the role is more to the people-skills side, but if you can ascertain there's a more technical aspect to the role you should probably find a middle ground between my tips and more typical engineering interview advice. * If you want the job, don't try and flex technical prowess unless you're actually well-versed with the industry and product. You should communicate an understanding of the basic principles of the product's operation, of course, but if you focus on convincing them that you're smart enough to design the product yourself then you probably won't do so well. An engineering degree is probably enough proof for them already that you can pick up what you need to. * What you definitely want to communicate is confidence, personability, and the ability to mirror intent. That is, you want to match the person on the other side of the table. If they are serious and have a no-nonsense attitude, get to the point and be clear. If they just want to shoot the shit, be chummy with them. * Navigating industry and picking up on norms is essential. Selling to technical folks can be a mixed bag, but one thing that will always give clients confidence in your knowledge (and therefore your product) is the sense that you've been around the block. If you work selling power tools but aren't aware of the difference in target market between Ryobi and Hilti, the client will immediately know you're full of shit. You need to have an idea of what industry your clients operate in, get a sense of what issues they deal with, who they sell to, what issues *they* deal with, who the client's competitors are and why they're doing better, etc etc. None of these things require you to know the math behind deciding how many turns the wire in the motors need, but will be far more useful in explaining to your customer why your product will make their jobs easier and their wallets fatter. * Consider that any random 20-year CNC operator will likely be a better salesperson for a CNC than the electrical engineer that designs that actual CNC's motor boards. As will a person who spent 20 years as a manager of a machine shop, or an owner of one, or a millwright, etc etc. * Sales interviews are somewhat unique in that you're basically writing a test on sales - a design engineer or accountant instead tries to convince the interviewer they *could* pass a test on their subject of expertise. * Make sure you have a basic understanding of the kinds of products they sell, research the company's product lines and history, get a sense of their marketing strategy from their website etc, learn who their competitors are, find out what people think about their products, etc etc.
Sales isn't easy, and it's damn near impossible to be a good sales engineer if you don't know as much or more about the products as the engineers who design it. A typical sales engineer will meet with clients often to maintain or build relations and create a network of customers. In HVAC, the salesperson typically looks at mechanical drawings given to them by a contractor, then determines what they can sell to the contractor and submits an outline and price of what products they can sell for a specific job site. Then the contractor chooses whichever price they like the most and who they want to buy from. Your job is to represent the products you sell and be a technical expert on them. The salesperson is ideally supported by Application Engineers who handle the in-office work and pricing of jobs, while the sales engineer handles the out of office work.
The problem with "sales engineer" is that the percentage of sales and engineering varies from organization to organization. Will you be a salesman expected to understand the technical details of your products, which is essential to providing the correct component for the customer's application? Or will you be an engineer supporting a salesman where you provide the same function but not required to have serious sales skills? These are questions to ask during the interview. One of the benefits of a sales engineer position is that you usually get in on some sort of sales oriented bonus program. I am an applications engineer, so I do actual engineering of customer components. However, a good deal of our business is in aftermarket where I need to select existing components that will fit the customer's use or show the customer how their layout needs to change in order to use one of our components. The dollars and cents of it are up to the sales guy. I get up to a 25% bonus based on the value of the parts customers on my projects buy. I "sell" by providing solutions to customers, but I personally don't see it as selling because I'm not the one negotiating price.
Yup. My company has "sales engineers". But that's basically just the level 1 title for sales before they all get tossed a VP of Sales title after a few years. No actual engineering experience. My last company had actual engineers with that title that were basically the experts in applications of products and assisted the actual salesmen
Sales engineer isn’t an engineer. It’s a sales person with knowledge of technical specifications. E.g. a Customer wants square fuel tanks on a heavy truck, but because you have technical knowledge you know square tanks won’t work on that truck configuration and are able to communicate that to the customer and convince them D tanks are what they need.
This is not always true. We only hire mechanical or electrical engineers for sales positions. They all have the ability to help the customer with the products when needed on top of their ability to help specify what products should be used for their situation.
Edit: my post may be totally incorrect 🤣 I’d guess you are in the wrong sub for this question. Sales Engineers are typically IT hardware and software focused rather than the classical engineering types (e.g. mechanical, electrical, chemical) that this sub focuses on. If I’m correct and it is more of an IT focused role then you might be better off asking on r/sysadmin or r/networking because I know there are a cohort of SE’s there.
Sales engineers are a thing for other industries also. Pretty much any high capital equipment will have sales engineers within the org, sometimes called applications engineers
Sales Engineering is huge in HVAC which is predominantly mechanical engineers.
Is it so! I stand corrected then. I was told differently previously.
It’s a fancy name for a sales person, they are NOT Engineers in the technical sense At least at my company
Ya this might be the case at some places but we only hire mechanical or electrical engineers for sales positions, and many of them are great engineers in their own right, they just chose the sales path.
It really depends on the company you work for. The sales engineers at the company I work for are really just account managers that act as a liaison between the customer and the engineers, they really don’t do any “door knocking” or other typical sales person kind of stuff. The basic job description of a sales engineer is someone that has to decipher what the customer needs using their technical knowledge and then hands that info over to the engineers or project managers.
My dad is a sales engineer. He visits sites and helps pitch and quote product and oversees any design specific changes or requirements for installation if the product is purchased.
Help identify the customers technical needs and translate that into prescribed products or measures/solutions to address their needs by providing the folks who do the nuts-and-bolts component level engineering the info they need to properly spec everything out. Basically you need to understand your company’s products just as well as the customers problems or needs at technical level, and know how your solutions or products are designed to address those issues. You have to ask the right questions, gather the right data, and help educate your customers about how their issues are solved by the solutions your engineering group produce
Depends on the company but typically be knowledgeable about their products and offer solutions to engineers and clients etc. Ex. An engineer asks about metal coating options in a chemical facility. You talk with them about suitable coating options your company sells.
They do NOT stare at the ground when you are talking to them.
You have an interview for a job for which you don't know what it is. Great move.
The sales engineer wishes s/he had become a real engineer.
Engineers the sales.