Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer's Handbook

Mastering Technical Sales
The Sales Engineer’s Handbook
Fourth Edition
	Contents
	Acknowledgments
	Introduction
		You, the Audience
		Using the Book
		The Bottom Line
	Chapter 1
What Is a Sales Engineer?
		Role #1: The Technical Engineer
		Role #2: The Salesperson
		Role #3: The Trusted Advisor and Consultant
		Role #4: The Explainer of All Things (the Storyteller)
		All the Other Skills
		Summary
	Chapter 2
An Overview of the Sales Process
		Definition of the Market
		The Marketing Campaign
		Lead Qualification
		Request for Proposal
		Discovery and First Customer Engagement
		Present, Demonstrate, and Propose
		Proof of Concept
		Negotiations: Closed Won or Closed Lost
		Post-Sales Support and Account Management
		Summary
	Chapter 3 Lead Qualification
		Lead Generation
		Initial Lead Qualification
		Lead Quality
		Monitoring the Incoming Leads
		Summary
	Chapter 4
The RFP Process
		The Creation of an RFP
		The Truth Behind Three RFP Myths
		The Go or No-Go Decision
		Response Team Infrastructure
		Scoring the RFP
		RFP Avoidance Strategies
		The Alternate Response
		Completing the RFP
		Presenting the RFP
		Summary
	Chapter 5
Technical Discovery
		Initial Research—Before the Main Engagement
		Prelude: The Three Behavioral Crimes of Discovery
		Tell
		Accept
		Guess
		The Basic Methodology
		The Inputs
		The Middle Layer/Process
		The Outputs
		The Visualization
		The (Optional) Magic Wand
		Summary
	Chapter 6 Goals
Business Value Discovery 1: Pains and Gains
		The Sales Engineer Concept of Pain
		Latent Pain
		Current Pain
		Vision Pain
		How Not to Talk About Your Technology
		The Heart of the Process
		Gather a Complete List
		Verify That the List Is Complete
		Ask Permission to Add Your Own
		Prioritize the List
		Summary
	Chapter 7
Business Value Discovery 2: Time, Money, and People
		The BVD Quadrants
		How Do You Know It Is a Problem (Evidence)?
		What Is the Size of the Problem (Impact)?
		How Will You Know When It Is Fixed (Evidence)?
		What Is the Impact of the Problem Going Away?
		Questions About Questions
		The Closed-Ended Questions
		The Open-Ended Question
		The Nonquestion Question
		Answers About Answers
		The 3WM+M Approach
		The Time, Money, and People Approach
		You Can Be the Expert
		The Preliminary Financial Checkpoint—a Cost/Impact Comparison
		Summary
	Chapter 8
The FABulous Sales Engineer
		Some Basic Definitions
		The Sales Engineer Problem
		A Classic Nontechnical Example
		A More Functional Example
		The Fuzziness of Benefits
		FAB in a Zero Discovery Setting
		Back to Being FABulous
		Summary
	Chapter 9
Successful Customer Engagement
		The Technical Account Plan
		People: The Organizational Chart
		Installs: The Product Chart
		Projects: The Initiative Chart
		“Coolness”: The Technology Adoption Chart
		First Contact
		Where to Focus
		Find a Coach
		Now What?
		Summary
	Chapter 10 The Perfect Pitch: Structure
		Pay Attention to the Attention Curve
		Developing a Focused Message
		Start with Structure: Success = RM + 3KP
		Drill Down on Solution and Proof Points
		Organize the Ideas
		Focus the Key Points
		Transfer to Your Delivery Mechanism
		Summary
	Chapter 11
The Perfect Pitch: Delivery
		Nonverbal Delivery Skills
		Physical Appearance
		Posture
		Eye Contact
		Gestures
		Movement
		Facial Expressions
		Verbal Delivery Skills
		Pace
		Pitch
		Tone
		Volume
		Articulation
		Start with a Bright and Beautiful Beginning
		Make a Fantastic Finish
		Using Your Nervous Energy
		Presenting to Large Groups
		Summary
	Chapter 12
The Dash to Demo
		Why Does the Dash to Demo Occur?
		Failing to Plan Is Planning to Fail
		The Agenda
		Before You Even Start
		Preparing the Way
		Engaging the Audience
		Back to the Dash to Demo
		Checkpoint Charlie
		Summary
	Chapter 13 Building the Demo
		The Pain of the Demo (Customer Perspective)
		Introducing the Demo GPS Roadmap
		Building the Demo GPS Roadmap
		Using the Demo GPS Roadmap
		Summary
	Chapter 14
Remote Demonstrations and Presentation
		The Basic Premise
		Advantages and Disadvantages
		Know Your Customer
		Know Your Technology
		Know Your Product and Know Your Demo
		Summary
	Chapter 15 Whiteboarding and Visual Selling
		The Power of Whiteboarding
		The Drawbacks of Whiteboarding
		Whiteboarding Within the Sales Cycle
		Getting Started
		The Overall Content
		The Visuals
		Whiteboarding Mechanics 101
		Stance
		Timing and the Chunk
		Cadence and Rhythm
		Speed and Handwriting
		Artistic Ability and Iconization
		The Implications of Color
		Some Shortcuts (Cheats) from Customers
		Using the Whiteboard as a Closing Tool
		Summary
	Chapter 16
Storytelling
		The Good and the Bad of Stories and Sales
		What Makes a Good Story—Structure and Syntax
		Fine-Tuning the Story—Grammar and Numbers
		A Special Case—The Conversational Customer Reference Story
		Summary
	Chapter 17 Evaluation Strategies
		The Effort Scale (How Did We Get Here?)
		Creating the Project Plan
		How Do You Define Success?
		How to Win: Determining the Success Criteria
		Evaluating the Success Criteria
		Intellectually Closing the Deal
		Running a Proof of Concept
		Phase 1: Document the Success Criteria
		Phase 2: Mini-Discovery
		Phase 3: Development
		Phase 4: Test
		Phase 5: Deployment
		Phase 6: Demonstration and Validation
		Phase 7: Presentation of Results
		Don’t Forget Training and Documentation
		Don’t Forget the Competition!
		And Don’t Forget the People
		The Technical Win
		Summary
	Chapter 18
Answering Questions
		Listen, Accept, Clarify, and Execute—The LACE Strategy
		Listen to the Customer
		Accept the Question
		Clarify Everything
		Execute the Answer
		Categorizing the Questions
		The Standard Question
		The Coach Question
		The Competitive Question
		The Consultants Question
		The Seymour Question
		The Hostile Question
		Summary
	Chapter 19
The Trusted Advisor Sales Engineer
		The Quantitative Benefits of Trust
		Defining the Trusted Advisor
		An Introduction to the Trust Equation
		Credibility (C)
		Reliability (R)
		Intimacy (I)
		Self-Orientation (S)
		Positivity (P)
		The Automatic Trust Advantage of the Sales Engineer
		Creating Your Own Trust Scale
		Calculating the T Score
		Using Trust in the Buying Process
		Some SE Specifics
		Summary
	Chapter 20
The Executive Connection
		An Executive Definition
		What Do They Want from You?
		Plan the Meeting
		Setting the Stage
		Follow the Money
		Setting the Goals of the Meeting
		You Are the Expert
		Execute the Meeting
		Presentation Ideas
		Answering Questions
		Follow-Up After the Meeting
		The Informal Executive Connection
		Summary
	Chapter 21
Doing the Math and Proving Business Value
		Proving the Value
		How Do Customers Assess Value?
		Typical Assessment Methods
		The Importance of Time to Value
		Closing the Loop
		The Customer Does Have to Spend Money, Too
		How Do Customers Create Budget?
		Value Engineering and FinOps
		Cloud Financial Operations
		The Emotional Return on Investment
		Summary
	Chapter 22 The New SE: Getting Started
		The Ramp Process
		Setting Goals with Your Manager
		The Need to Succeed
		Boot Camp
		Develop a 30-/90-/180-Day Plan
		The Overall 30-90-180 Structure
		The First Six Months
		Find a Mentor
		Read the Manual
		Watch the Movies
		Join the Club
		Master the Product
		Work in the Factory
		Practice, Practice, Practice
		Know Your Customer Stories
		Use Your Product (If You Can)
		Get Feedback—from Everyone
		Summary
	Chapter 23 Creating Your Personal Brand
		Defining Personal Brand
		Building the Foundation
		Creating the Statement
		Using and Living the Brand
		Honesty and Ethics
		Summary
	Chapter 24
Selling with and Through Partners
		The Different Forms of Partnership
		Working the Relationship and the Infrastructure
		Defining Account Ownership
		Rules of Engagement
		Categorizing the Partners
		Partner Enablement
		The Special Role of the Partner Engineer
		Summary
	Chapter 25
Competitive Tactics
		The Competitive Landscape
		Your Number One Competitor
		Identify Your Competition
		Know Thine Enemy
		Five Competitive Strategies for the SE
		The Frontal Strategy
		The Flanking Strategy
		The Fragment Strategy
		The Defend Strategy
		The Develop Strategy
		The Customer and the Competition
		Reversing the Dirt
		Summary
	Chapter 26
Using the CRM System
		Why CRM Is Your Best Friend
		Time and People Management
		The Beauty of Repeatability
		Using the Features and Tapping Organizat
		CRM and Personal Gain
		Annual Review Time
		Summary
	Chapter 27 Compensation (Show Me the Money)
		The Basic Components of a Plan
		Fixed (Base) Salary
		Variable Pay
		MBOs and General Performance
		Stock Options and Equity
		Other Plans
		Leveraging the Plan
		Ramping
		Who Else Cares?
		Negotiating the Plan
		What Is a Target?
		Building the First Plan
		Summary
	Chapter 28
Moving into Sales
		Skill Building
		You Want to Do What?
		Preparing for the Transition
		What Are My Chances?
		What Should I Expect?
		Making It All Work
		Summary
	Chapter 29
Career Progression
		Some Typical Organizational Structures
		Behavioral Competencies
		Functional Competencies
		The Many Paths to Greatness
		Summary
	Chapter 30
Becoming an Effective Subject Matter Expert/SE Specialist
		The Drivers of SE Specialization
		Becoming the Subject Matter Expert
		Various Types of SME Teams and Positions
		Team Technical Selling—and Why It’s Hard to Do
		Team Technical Selling—the Effective SME
		The Seven Sins of Team Selling
		Summary
	Chapter 31
The Hiring and Interview Process
		The Hiring Process—Manager View
		The Job Description
		The Real Job Description
		Looking in All the Usual and Unusual Places
		The Interview—Manager Side
		The Hiring Process—Candidate View
		The Screening Call
		The Hiring Manager
		SE Leadership (Director/VP)
		The Salespeople
		Closing the Deal—Moving from Recruit to Attract
		Summary
	Chapter 32
Time Management for the Sales Engineer
		Tempus Fugit (Time Flies)
		The Distractions, Objectives, and Gains
		Taking the DOG for a Walk
		Creating a Tactical Time System
		Starting the Day
		Running the Day
		End of Day
		Summary
	Chapter 33
Managing Yourself by the Metrics
		Some Basic Metrics Philosophy
		Getting Started
		Learning and Growth
		Process
		Customer
		Finance
		Maximizing the Metrics for Personal Gain
		Here Be Dragons (Pitfalls to Avoid)
		Summary
	Chapter 34
Final Words
		Show Your Passion
		The Work-Life Balance
		Show Your Time to Value
		Build the Relationships
		Challenge Yourself and Others
	Appendix: More About Mastering Technical Sales
	About the Author
	Index