Mastering Technical Sales The Sales Engineer’s Handbook Third Edition For a complete listing of titles in the Artech House Technology Management and Professional Development Series, turn to the back of this book Mastering Technical Sales The Sales Engineer’s Handbook Third Edition John Care Aron Bohlig Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the U.S Library of Congress British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Cover design by John Gomes ISBN 13: 978-1-60807-744-1 © 2014 John Care and Aron Bohlig 685 Canton Street Norwood, MA 02062 All rights reserved Printed and bound in the United States of America No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized Artech House cannot attest to the accuracy of this information Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark 10 Contents Acknowledgments xix 1 Introduction: Why Study Technical Sales? New SE Experienced SE Sales Managers and Sales Trainers Sales Representative Marketing and Product Management Technical Consultants 2 An Overview of the Sales Process Definition of the Market Marketing Campaigns Customer Events Trade Shows and Seminars Mailing Lists and Outbound Calling Campaigns Partners Web-Based Form or “Fremium” Products 8 9 9 Lead Qualification 10 RFP 10 Discovery and First Customer Engagement 11 Present, Demonstrate, and Propose Presentation Demonstration Proposal 11 11 11 11 v vi Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook Proof of Concept (Optional) 12 Negotiations: Close or Lose—Getting the Deal 12 Post-Sales Support and Ongoing Account Management 12 Summary 13 3 Lead Qualification 15 Lead Quality Lead Ratings Qualification Criteria Budget Time Frame Fit: Do the Prospect’s Needs Match Your Solution? 17 17 18 18 19 20 Effective Lead Qualification Competitive Implications of Technical Qualification Criteria Making the Decision To Say No Defending Your Position When the Sales Rep Disagrees Low-Cost Fallback Strategies 21 21 21 22 22 Internal Roles in the Lead Qualification Process Sales Representative Inside Sales/Lead Development Sales Management SE Care and Feeding of the Inside Sales Team 23 23 23 24 24 24 Lead Qualification in Action: The Process with Three Common Scenarios Solicited Leads Unsolicited Leads Current Projects or Recommended Leads 25 25 25 26 Summary 27 4 The RFP Process 29 Creation of an RFP A Closer Look at Three RFP Myths 29 30 The Go/No-Go Decision 32 Internally Scoring the RFP 33 Handling Deadlines 35 Strategies for Avoiding an RFP 36 The Alternate Response Tactic 36 Completing the RFP 37 Presentation and Follow-Up 39 Contents vii Summary 40 Appendix 4A 41 5 Needs Analysis and Discovery 43 Overview 44 Why Discovery Is Critical 44 The Seven-Step Needs Analysis Approach Step 1: Identify Needed Information Step 2: Build the Perfect Pitch Step 3: Explain the Needs Analysis Process Step 4: Interview Key Customers Step 5: Observe Current Processes—Get to Know the End User Step 6: Synthesize Information Step 7: Prepare and Present Summary Wrap-Up 45 45 47 49 51 53 54 54 55 Customizing the Discovery Process Adapt Your Questions to Your Audience 56 56 Summary 58 6 Business Value Discovery 61 The Three Behavioral Crimes of Discovery Tell Accept Guess 62 62 63 63 The Business Switchback 63 The Heart of the Process Get a Full List Verify It Is Complete Add and Challenge Prioritize 65 65 66 67 67 Evidence and Impact What Happens If We Cannot Get Any Data? A Final Checkpoint—The Cost/Impact Comparison 67 69 70 Summary 70 7 Successful Customer Engagement 73 First Contact Remember What They Want from You Dissecting Project Dynamics Back the Strongest Faction 74 74 75 76 Identify the People You Need to Know Use Your Intuition 77 77 viii Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook But Don’t Forget to Use Your Brain Covering the Whole Team, Including the Minor Players 77 77 Coaches Where to Find Coaches What If There Are No Obvious Options? How to Get to Potential Coaches Developing the Coach The Unconscious Coach Maintaining the Relationship 78 79 79 80 80 81 81 Credibility Maintaining Credibility Losing Credibility Trying to Regain Credibility 82 82 82 83 Know What You Don’t Know 83 Summary 83 8 The Perfect Pitch 85 Paying Attention to the Attention Curve 86 Developing a Focused Message Start with the Structure: S = RM + 3KP Do a Data Dump to Identify Solution and Proof Points Organize the Ideas Focus the Message Transfer to PowerPoint 88 88 89 90 90 90 Nonverbal Delivery Skills 91 Verbal Delivery Skills Strategize the Start 94 96 Special Situations Very Large Audiences Presenting via Teleconference Around the Conference Room Table Feature and Function Presentations 96 96 97 97 98 Using Nervous Energy to Your Advantage 98 Finish Strong 100 Summary 100 9 The Dash to Demo 103 Some Philosophy and a History Lesson 103 Why Does the Dash to Demo Occur? 105 “The Product” Becomes “the Solution” 105 Risk Mitigation 106 Contents ix Failing to Plan Is Planning to Fail 106 Logistical Implications 108 The Agenda 110 Preparing the Way 110 The Audience Segment the Audience Dealing with Mixed Audiences 111 113 113 Checkpoint Charlie 114 Summary 115 Appendix 9A: Sample Agenda Agenda Tuesday May 27th Vendor Presentation for New System 116 10 Snap Demos 116 119 Scoping the Snap Demo 120 Structuring the Snap Demo 121 Sample Snap Demo Structure 121 Keep the Demo Snappy 122 Wrapping the Snap Demo (Tell Them What They Saw) 123 Snap Demo for Executive Audiences 123 Closing the Demo and Establishing Next Steps 123 Snap Demo Considerations 124 Summary 124 11 Remote Demonstrations and Webcasts 127 The Basic Premise 127 Advantages and Disadvantages of the Remote Demonstration 128 Best Practices in Preparing for a Webcast 130 The First Three Minutes Are Critical 132 Effectively Constructing and Delivering PowerPoint for a Webcast 133 Some Really Bad Habits to Avoid 134 Engaging the Audience 135 Engaging Yourself 136 Prime Time for Webcasts 137 370 Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook sales engineering, vertical overlay sales, and product-management positions within the Clarify software division of Nortel Networks, where his responsibilities included strategy, new product introductions, and business development in the United States, Europe, and Asia Bohlig is active on the boards of U.S and European private Internet companies and nonprofits He holds an M.B.A from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and a B.S in computer science from the University of Puget Sound in Seattle Index A Abusive environments, working, 351 Accept, as discovery crime, 62 Account management, 12 Account ownership, 258–61 Action plan, prioritizing, 253 Alternate response tactic, 36–37 Annual review time, 284–85 Answer, in managing questions, 211 Applicant-tracking systems (ATSs), 333 Articulation, as verbal delivery skill, 95 Artistic ability, 147–48 Attention curve, 86–88 Audiences demo, 111–14 executive, snap demo for, 123 large, 96–97 mixed, dealing with, 113–14 segmenting, 113 webcast, engaging, 135–36 Avoiding trials, 167–69 B Bad habits, breaking, 93 Balance, work and personal life, 362–63 Benchmarking personal value proposition (PVP), 254 product, as competitive tactic, 275–76 reasons for using, 190–91 in success plan, 190 yourself, 190–91 Biased consultants/advisors, 156 Bid support, 302 Boot camp contacts, 196–97 focus of, 189–90 technical (TBC), 318 Branding, 115 Budget in lead qualification, 18–19 organizational pain and, 20 Bullets, PowerPoint, 91 Business switchback, 63–64, 71 Business value discovery accept and, 63 add and challenge, 67 behavioral crimes of, 62–63 business switchback, 63–64, 71 as continual process, 61 cost/impact comparison, 70 customer impact calibration matrix, 70 data-driven nontechnical questions, 69 evidence and impact, 67–70 first law of, 68 full list, getting, 65–66 guess and, 63 heart of the process, 65–67 no data and, 69–70 prioritize, 67 sessions, SE mindset during, 62 skill building, 71 summary, 70–71 tell and, 62 understanding your limits and, 67 verify completion, 66–67 371 372 Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook C Cadence and rhythm, in whiteboarding, 146–47 Candidates closing, 336–37 judging performance of, 335–36 screening, 332–33 See also Hiring Caveats, attaching, 348–49 Challenging yourself, 365 Cheats, whiteboarding, 149–50 Chunk, 146 Clarify, in managing questions, 210 Closing intellectually, 157–58 ROI analysis as tool, 243–44 whiteboard as tool, 151 Coaches developing, 80–81 establishing, 78 no obvious options for, 79–80 potential, getting, 80 relationship, 78–79 relationship maintenance, 81–82 time for development, 79 unconscious, 81 ways of helping, 81–82 where to find, 79 Coaching question, 205–6 Cold-calling, in salesperson transition, 290 Color palette, recommended, 149 in whiteboarding, 148–49 Competition comparison overview of, 273 refusing, 274 refuting negative claims, 275 strategies, 274 tables, 275 third-party source, 274 Competitive analysis, 273 Competitive questions, 203–4 Competitive strategy developing, 269–71 financial and strategic benefits, 269 flanking and frontal strategies in parallel, 270–71 power words, 269 your capabilities and, 270 Competitive tactics analysis, 273 competition comparison, 273–75 enemy knowledge and, 271–72 number-one competitor and, 268–69 product benchmarks, 275–76 skill building, 276 strategy development and, 269–71 summary, 276 Competitors anticipating and outdelivering, 166–67 identifying, 267–68 knowing, 271–72 number-one, 268–69 proof points and, 156 researching, 198 SWOT matrix generated for, 271 Conference table meetings, 97–98 Consultants, working with, 211–12 Contingency firms, 331 Coordinate, in managing questions, 209–10 Cost/impact comparison, 70 Cost savings cost summary example, 240 estimating, 239 fixed, 240 variable, 240–41 Credibility in customer engagement, 82–83 losing, 82 maintaining, 82 trying to gain, 83 CRISP, 230–31 CRM/SFA system advantages of, 278–81 annual review, 284–85 corporate memory function, 282 data points within, 283 defined, 277 as nervous system, 278 numbers, 283–85 organizational knowledge, 281–83 repeatability, 280–81 skill building, 285 summary, 285 time and resource prioritization, 278–80 Cross-organizational alignment, 313 Current processes, observing, 53 Customer engagement backing strongest faction and, 76–77 coaches, 78–82 credibility, 82–83 first contact, 74–77 goals in, 74 great relationships and, 74 identifying people to know and, 77–78 luck, making own and, 75 in needs analysis, 45–47 personal agendas and, 75 postsales, where to draw line, 179 preparation before, 45 Index project dynamics and, 75–76 in sales process, 11 skill building, 84 successful, 73–84 summary, 83–84 unwritten rule, 73 what not to do, 83 what they want from you and, 74–75 Customer events, 8–9 Customer meetings after rollout, 174 during deployment, 173–74 project kickoff, 173 Customer relationship management (CRM) advantages of, 278–81 corporate memory function, 282 defined, 277 organizational knowledge, 281–83 repeatability, 280–81 repository, 283 time and resource prioritization, 278–80 true power of, 281 Customers expectations, 56 free consulting, 178 impact calibration matrix, 70 interviewing, 51–53 key, learning about, 197 participation, 112 types of, 57–58 Customer satisfaction objectives, 178 D Dash to demo agenda and, 110 audience and, 111–14 failing to plan and, 106–8 logical implications, 108–9 occurrence of, 105 philosophy and history lesson, 103–4 preparation and, 110–11 “product” becomes “solution,” 105–6 risk mitigation, 106 skill building, 115–16 summary, 115 Deadlines, RFP, 35 Delivery skills nonverbal, 91–94 verbal, 94–96 Demand generation, Demonstrations (demos) agenda, 110 audience, 111–14 branding and, 115 dash to, 103–17 373 need for, 120 preparation, 110–11, 302 public speaking maxim and, 114 remote, 125, 127–39 in sales process, 11 snap, 119–25 support, 319–21 in trials, 162 Deployment planning worksheet, 174 Discounting, in salesperson transition, 291 Discovery process as continual process, 61 customizing, 56–58 defined, 11 first customer engagement and, 11 high-level, 45 mastering, 58 perfect pitch in, 49 questions, adapting to audience, 56–58 in sales process, 44 SE as systems integrator during, 45 skill building, 59 summary, 58 Documentation information identification, 46 trials, 165 Documents, reviewing, 50 Downtime file, 253 E 80/20 rule, 348 Electronic whiteboard, 150 Engagement with management, 178–79 Engineering and technical support, 323–24 Equipment support, 319–21 trials, 165–66 Ethics customer treatment and, 255 lies and, 254–55 presale, 254 in sales, 254–56 Evaluations, conducting, 154 Evaluation strategies anticipating and outdelivering the competition, 166 developing, 154–55 negotiating engagement in trials, 154–55 proof of concept (POC) and, 153 skill building, 170 success and, 155 success criteria, 155–58 summary, 169 trial avoidance, 167–69 trials, 158–66 374 Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook Events, double-checking facts, 108–9 Executive meetings education versus selling, 220–21 executing, 220–22 follow-up after, 223 goals, determining, 219–20 money responsibilities, 218–19 people research, 217 planning, 217–20 presentation ideas, 221–22 presentation technique, 222 sensitivities during, 217 setting the stage for, 217–18 you as expert in, 220 Executive recruiters, 331 Executive rule of one, 217 Executives building relationships with, 223 compensated for performance, 219 connection, 215–25 defined, 215–16 engaging with existing customers, 175 goal setting with, 220 informal connection, 223–24 magic number for, 216 overlay sales/market, 306–7 rational decisions and, 223 skill building, 225 snap demo for, 123 summary, 224–25 what they think of you, 216 Expectations, outperforming, 363–64 Experienced SEs, 4–5 External branding, 250 Eye contact, 92 F Facial expressions, 94 Factory, working in, 197 Fallback plans 80/20 rule, 348 caveats, attaching, 348–49 help, getting, 347 postsales, 175–76 prioritization tactics, 349 strategies, 22 See also Time management Feature and function presentations, 98 Feedback, getting, 199 Field marketing, 307 Field SEs roles that support, 301–4 separate SE structure, 299–300 strong branch management, 301 See also Sales engineers (SEs) Financials of value proposition, understanding, 198 Finishing strong, 100 First contact backing strongest faction and, 76–77 great relationships and, 74 luck, making own and, 75 personal agendas and, 74 project dynamics and, 75–76 what they want from you and, 74–75 See also Customer engagement First six months boot camp training contacts, 196–97 content, understanding, 199 face time and relationships, 197 factory, working in, 197 feedback, getting, 199 financials, understanding, 198 industry and competitors, learning about, 198 key customers, learning about, 197 manual, reading, 195–96 math, learning, 199 mentor, finding, 195 plan, reviewing, 200 practice, practice, practice, 197 product, mastering, 196 product use, 199 technology, mastering, 196 tips for success, 195–200 video, watching, 196 Fit in lead qualification, 20–21 organizational pain and, 20 Fixed-cost savings, 240 Focused message developing, 88–91 idea organization, 90 residual message (RM), 88–89 S = RM + 3KP structure, 88–89 solution and proof points, 89 three key points, 88 transfer to PowerPoint, 90–91 Follow-up after executive meetings, 223 leads, to closeout, 212 RFPs, 40 training, 318–19 Forecast and, in salesperson transition, 290 G Generic questions, 208 Gestures, 93 Goals in customer engagement, 74 Index of executive meetings, 219–20 personal, 248–49 setting and achieving, 364–65 setting with manager, 188 Go/no-go decision, 32–33 Guess, as discovery crime, 62 H Handoff customer skimps on training and, 180–81 customer tries to it themselves and, 181 major accounts, 179–80 “project goals” document and, 182 troubleshooting, 179–82 Headhunters, 331 Hierarchy of needs, 316 Hiring engaging sales in process, 335 interview, 333–36 job description, 328–29 job roles and, 337 position escalation and, 337 process, 336–37 profile, 329–31 recruiters and, 331–32 references, 334 referrals, 331 screening candidates, 332–33 skill building, 338 summary, 337 winners, 327–38 Hostile questions, 206–7 I Iconization, 147–48 Ideas, organizing, 90 Impact, 343 Importance, 342–43 Inconsistencies, 58 Informal executive connection, 223–24 Information identification customer engagement, 45–47 documentation, 46 preparation before engagement, 45 worksheet, 48 See also Needs analysis Information synthesis, 54 Infrastructure building, 315–26 change during life of company, 316 demonstration and equipment support, 319–21 engineering and technical support, 323–24 375 general SE processes, 324–25 hierarchy of needs and, 316 knowledge management (KM) and retention, 321–23 philosophy, 315–17 presentation, 320 skill building, 326 summary, 325 support groups, 306 training techniques, 317–19 Initial corporate training, 317 Initial technical training, 317–18 Internal branding, 250 Interviews candidates, judging performance, 335–36 expectations, setting, 333–34 preparation, 333–34 questions and answers, 334–35 stress level, amplifying, 336 See also Hiring J Job description, 328–29 Job roles, 337 K Knowledge management (KM) defined, 321 retention and, 321–23 system requirements, 322–23 L Lead qualification, 15–27 care and feeding of inside sales team, 24 case study, 16 common scenarios, 25–26 competitive implications of technical criteria, 21 in conjunction with sales rep, 17 criteria, 18 defending position versus sales rep and, 22 defined, 15 effective, 21–22 inside sales/lead development, 23–24 internal roles in, 23–25 low-cost fallback strategies, 22 questions, 18 sales engineer (SE) role, 24 sales management role, 24 in sales process, 10 sales representative role, 23 skill building, 27 summary, 27 376 Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook Lead quality budget, 18–19 fit, 20–21 qualification criteria, 18 ratings, 17 time frame, 19–20 Leads following-up to closeout, 212 getting, 16–17 ratings, 17 recommended, 26 in salesperson transition, 291 solicited, 25 unsolicited, 25–26 Lead SEs, 305–6 Leveraging sales team in postsales, 175 strengths, in salesperson transition, 293–94 Life cycle diagramming, 56 sales, Limited trial/workshop close, 36 Listen, in managing questions, 209 Long-term time management abusive environments, working in, 351 personal commitments, 351 work levels, negotiating, 350 M Mailing lists, Major accounts designation, 179 special requirements, 179–80 Managing by the metrics bonus compensation versus MBO, 356–57 communication internally and with company executives, 359 for individuals, 354 for managers, 354–55 metrics-based management and, 357–58 overview of, 353–54 pitfalls, avoiding, 358–59 skill building, 360 summary, 360 weighting the metrics, 356 Manual, reading, 195–96 Margin, calculating, 242 Market campaigns customer events, 8–9 mailing lists and outbound calling campaigns, partners, trade shows and seminars, Web-based form or “premium” products, Marketing and product management, Markets, definition of, Mentor, finding, 195 Mentoring and skills development, 303 Metrics managing by, 353–60 using to communicate, 359 weighting, 356 Metrics-based management, 357–58 Motivation, 303 Movement, 93 Multiplier effect of partnership, 263–64 N Needs analysis in adding value, 43 critical nature of, 44–45 current processes observation, 53 customer interview, 51–53 defined, 11 information identification, 45–47 information review, 50–51 information synthesis, 54 overview of, 44 perfect pitch, 47–49 process explanation, 49–51 seven-step approach, 45–55 solution brief, 50, 51 summary preparation and presentation, 54–55 technical template, 46 worksheet, 47 wrap-up, 55–56 See also Discovery process Negotiations engagement in a trial, 154–55 in sales process, 12 Nervous energy techniques, 99 using, 98–99 visualization and, 99–100 welcoming, 99 New SEs, Nonquestion, 208–9 Nonverbal delivery skills eye contact, 92 facial expressions, 94 gestures, 93 movement, 93 physical appearance, 91 posture, 92 O Objection handling See Question management Index Ongoing engagement plan, 172–73 Open-ended questions, 57 Organization, this book, Organizational knowledge, 281–83 Organizational structure, 297–314 importance of, 298 in multinational companies, 298 separate SE structure, 298–300 skill building, 314 strong branch management, 300–301 summary, 313–14 totally independent SE structure, 300 Outbound calling campaigns, Outperforming expectations, 363–64 Overlay sales/market executives, 306–7 P Pace, as verbal delivery skill, 94 Partners background materials, 264 deals, as effective tool, 257 enablement, 264–65 engaged, 258 faithfulness to, 259 management of, 262–63 needs, balancing, 262 parallel partner-relations organization, 263 relationship, working, 261–64 scaling, 264 selling with, 257–66 SE materials for, 264–65 support and response time expectations, 262 technical categorization for enablement, 265 tiering, 263 Partnership account ownership and, 258–61 defined, 257–58 faithfulness to, 259 leverage, 265 multiplier effect of, 263–64 pluses and minuses, 260 skill building, 266 summary, 265–66 Passion, 362 Payback period, 242–43 People you need to know, in customer engagement, 77–78 Perfect pitch, 85–101 attention curve, 86–88 building, 47–49 conference room table, 97–98 377 in customer interviews, 52 in discovery process, 49 eye contact, 92 feature and function presentations, 98 finishing strong, 100 focused message, 88–91 large audiences, 96–97 nervous energy, using, 98–100 nonverbal delivery skills, 91–94 physical appearance and, 91 presentation skills, 92 public speaking and, 85 skill building, 101 slide presentation, 48–49 special situations, 96–98 summary, 100–101 teleconferences, 97 verbal delivery skills, 94–96 Personal commitments, 351 Personal references, 176–77 Personal value proposition (PVP) baseline, establishing, 252 benchmarking, 254 career progression and, 253–54 communicating, 250–51 defined, 249 delivering on, 251–54 list planning, 251 putting into action, 253 steps to achieve, 252 Physical appearance, 91 Pitch, as verbal delivery skill, 95 Planning failure, 106–8 with manager, 189 post-rollout, 174 Point of escalation/general management support, 303–4 Position escalation, 337 Post-rollout planning customer session agenda, 174 Postsales, 171–85 customer meetings, 173–74 executives and, 175 fallback strategy, 175–76 leveraging the sales team, 175 maintaining relationships for add-on sales, 177 ongoing engagement plan, 172–73, 184 personal benefits of support, 176–79 project kickoff, 173–74 record-keeping forms for, 184 site reference and review document, 185 skill building, 183 summary, 182 378 Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook Postsales (continued) support, 12, 171 transition plan development, 172 troubleshooting the handoff, 179–82 Posture, 92 PowerPoint bullets, 91 constructing and delivering for webcasts, 133–34 transfer to, 90–91 Power words, 269 Preparation before customer engagement, 45 demo, 110–11 interview, 333–34 summary, 54–55 webcast, 130–32 Presentation executive meetings, 221–22 infrastructure, 320 RFPs, 39 in sales process, 11 Priorities, in business value discovery, 67 Prioritization qualification, 341–42 quantification, 342 tactics, 349 task, 343–45 task process, 341 See also Time management Procrastination problem, 340–41 Product becomes the solution, 105–6 defining, 105 expertise, 303 mastering, 196 using in everyday life, 199 Product/market gap, Profile, hiring, 329–31 Project cost, estimating, 239 Project kickoff, 173–74 Project manager, trials and, 164 Proof of concept (POC), 12, 153 Proposal, 11–12 Public speaking, 114 Q Question management answer, 211 clarify, 210 consultants and, 211–12 coordinate, 209–10 defined, 201 listen, 209 objection handling versus, 201–2 question categorization and, 202–9 restate, 210–11 skill building, 213 summary, 212 techniques of, 209–11 Questions adapting to audience, 56–58 business issue, 68 in business value discovery, 66 capturing, 113 categorizing, 202–9 coaching, 205–6 competitive, 203–4 discovery, data-driven nontechnical, 69 generic, 208 hostile, 206–7 interview, 334–35 list of most common, 202 nonquestion, 208–9 open-ended, 57 Seymour, 204–5 specific, 57 validity, 202–3 weak interactive, 135 R Ramping benchmarking, 190–91 boot camp, 189–90 defined, 187 goal setting, 188 knowledge for success, 188–89 Recruiters dealing with, 331–33 executive, 331 types of, 331 References, 334 Referrals, hiring, 331 Relationships building and maintaining, 364 coaches, 78–79, 81–82 in customer engagement, 74 with executives, 223 with partners, 261–64 postsales, 177 Remote demonstrations See Webcasts Repeatability, 280–81 Request for proposals See RFPs Restate, in managing questions, 210–11 Return-on-investment (ROI) advanced calculations, 244–45 calculating, 237–45 caveats and disclaimers and, 243 completing, 243 cost savings and, 239–41 Index payback period and, 242–43 revenue and margin and, 241–42 skill building, 245 solution-oriented, 106 starting, 238–43 step-by-step, 238 summary, 245 tactical considerations, 219 total project cost and, 239 value drivers and, 241–42 See also ROI analysis Revenue and margin, estimating, 241–42 RFPs alternate response tactic, 36–37 benefits of, 29–32 bias and, 30 completing, 37–39 completing and winning deals correlation, 33 creation of, 29–32 deadlines, handling, 35 defined, 10 economics of responses, 34 follow-up, 40 go/no-go decision, 32–33 internally scoring, 33–34 internal purpose, 31 management, 33 myths, 30–32 need question, 31 need to answer, 32 presentation, 39 process, 29–41 response resources, 32–33 in sales process, 10 scorecard, 34, 41 skill building, 40 strategies for avoiding, 36 summary, 40 Risk mitigation, 106 ROI analysis biggest question in completing, 238 as closing tool, 243–44 data to fill model, finding, 244 defined, 237 job of, 238 sources, citing, 245 S S = RM + 3KP structure, 88–89 Sales consultant (SC), Sales engineers (SEs) bid support, 302 career path, 307–8 demonstration preparation, 302 379 experienced, 4–5 field, 299–300, 301 general processes, 324–25 lead, 305–6 in lead qualification process, 24 mentoring and skills development, 303 motivation, 303 new, as part of sales organization, 298 point of escalation/general management support, 303–4 product expertise, 303 RFP view, 38 roles that support, 301–4 sales stages and key tasks for, 13–14 sample duty statement, 329 time management for, 339–52 training, 301–2 trust and, 231–32 Sales ethics, 254–56 Sales force automation (SFA) assumption, 277 defined, 277 forecasting aspect of, 278 implementation, 278 See also CRM/SFA system Sales life cycle, Sales managers in lead qualification process, 24 overview of, Sales methodologies, Sales methodology correlations, 279 Salesperson transition, 287–95 buy-in, 292–93 cold-calling and, 290 discounting and, 291 expectations, 290–91 forecast and, 290 leads and, 291 making it work, 291–93 motivation in, 287–88 network creation, 292 open mindedness and, 293 positioning for, 288–89 psychological orientation, 289 saying “no” and, 291 skill building, 295 strengths, using, 293–94 summary, 294 Sales process discovery and first customer engagement, 11 fluidity of, lead qualification, 10 market campaigns, 8–9 380 Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook Sales process (continued) market definition, negotiations: close or lose, 12 overview of, 7–14 post-sales support and ongoing account management, 12 present, demonstrate, and propose, 11–12 proof of concept, 12 RFPs, 10 skill building, 14 stages and key tasks, 13–14 summary, 13 trust in, 234–35 Sales representatives in lead qualification process, 23 overview of, 5–6 Sales support function field marketing, 307 infrastructure support groups, 306 lead SEs, 305–6 overlay sales/market executives, 306–7 SE manager, 304 trainer, 304–5 Sales team, leveraging, 175 Sales trainers, Schedule management example, 343 running like a business, 340 Screening candidates, 332–33 Secondary players, 78 Self-branding defined, 249 external, 250 internal, 250 statements, validating, 251 SE management, 299, 301, 304 Seminars, SE organizations SEs, 309–10 20 SEs, 310–11 100-200 SEs, 311–12 cross-organizational alignment, 313 differences in SaaS, 312 models, 308–13 models in the real world, 313 ratios: 2-to-1 or 1-to-1, 308–9 roles in, 301–7 splitting business unit, 312 Separate SE structure corporate support, 299 defined, 298 field SEs, 299–300 SE management, 299 See also Organizational structure SE view of, 38 Seymour question, 204–5 Skill building competitive tactics, 276 CRM/SFA system, 285 customer engagement, 84 dash to demo, 115–16 discovery process, 59 evaluation strategies, 170 executive connection, 225 hiring, 338 infrastructure building, 326 lead qualification, 27 managing by the metrics, 360 organizational structure, 314 partnership, 266 perfect pitch, 101 personal value proposition (PVP), 256 postsales, 183 question management, 213 RFPs, 40 ROI calculation, 245 salesperson transition, 295 sales process, 14 snap demos, 125 starting, 200 time management, 352 trusted advisor (T/A), 236 webcasts, 139 whiteboarding, 152 Slide presentation, 48–49 Snap demos business value discovery, 71 closing, and establishing next steps, 123–24 considerations, 124 defined, 119 for executive audiences, 123 hardware example, 122–23 sample structure, 121–22 scoping, 120 skill building, 125 snappy, 122–23 software example, 122–23 structuring, 121 summary, 124 touch points, 121 wrapping, 123 Software as a service (SaaS) SE organization, 312 Software installation, 165–66 Solicited leads, 25 Solution and proof points, 89–90 Solutions architect (SA), Sound bites, 249 Index Speed and handwriting, in whiteboarding, 147 Starting 30-/90-/180-day plan, 191–95 ramp process, 187–91 skill building, 200 success in first six months, 195–200 summary, 200 Strengths, using in salesperson transition, 293–94 Strong branch management corporate support, 300–301 field SEs, 301 SE management, 301 Success criteria, determining, 155 definition of, 155 ensuring, 157 first six months, 195–200 knowledge for, 188–89 sample criteria form, 160 working backward from definition of, 158 Summary preparing, 54–55 presenting, 55 T Tactics alternative response, 36–37 competitive, 267–76 ROI, 219 Technical boot camp (TBC), 318 Technical consultants, Technical reference close, 36 Technical sales methodologies, reasons for studying, 1–5 success, Technicians, trials and, 163–64 Technology adoption bell curve, 104 mastering, 196 Teleconferences, 97 Tell, as discovery crime, 62 30-/90-/180-day plan as action-oriented, 193 defined, 192 developing, 191–95 example plan 1, 192 example plan 2, 192–93 overview of, 191–92 qualities of a good plan, 194 ready to go, 194–95 structure, 193 Time and resource prioritization, 278–80 381 Time frame in lead qualification, 19–20 organizational pain and, 20 Timeliness, 343 Time management “be prepared” task list, 349 daily close, 347 fallback plans, 347–49 fixed time and infinite demands and, 339–41 impact and, 343 importance and, 342–43 long-term, 350–51 prioritization, 341–42, 343–45 procrastination problem, 340–41 running your day, 345–47 30-/90-/180-day plan, 191–95 schedule, running like a business, 340 skill building, 352 structure for, 342–45 summary, 351 task completion, 347 timeliness and, 343 Time zone offset chart, 138 Tone, as verbal delivery skill, 95 Totally independent SE structure, 300 Touch points, 121 Trade shows, Trainers, 304 Training customers, 164–65 customer skimps on, 180–81 follow-up/update, 318–19 initial corporate, 317 initial technical, 317–18 product, 301–2 sales engineers (SEs), 304–5 techniques, 317–19 Transition plan development, 172 Trial close, 54 Trials avoiding, 167–69 decision-maker readiness for, 156 demonstration and validation phase, 162 deployment phase, 161 development phase, 161 documentation, 165 document success criteria phase, 159 does the customer do? 168 equipment, 165–66 high-level account manager steps, 159 mini-discovery phase, 159–60 negotiating engagement in, 154–55 networking and access, 166 organization, 162–64 382 Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook Trials (continued+) payment for, 168–69 phases, 158–62 presentation of results, 162 project manager and, 164 references and, 169 running, 158–66 salesperson and, 164 technicians and, 163–64 test phase, 161 training, 164–65 See also Evaluation strategies Trust measuring, 230–31 in sales cycle, 234–35 scale, 232–33 score sheet, 233 Trusted advisor (T/A) built-in advantage of SE, 231–32 core of, 229 CRISP and, 230–31 defined, 230 impact of, 227–28 program definition, 228–30 in sales cycle, 234–35 skill building, 236 summary, 235–36 trust measurement and, 230–31 trust scale, 232–33 T-score, 232, 233–34 T-score calculating, 233–34 customer behavior, 234 defined, 232 implementation, 235 improving, 234 U Unconscious coaches, 81 Unsolicited leads, 25–26 Unwritten rules, of customer engagement, 73 V Validation, branding statements, 251 Validity questions, 202–3 Value business discovery, 66–70 defined, 17 needs analysis and, 43 See also Personal value proposition (PVP) Value drivers, 241–42 Variable-cost savings, 240–41 Verbal delivery skills articulation, 95 defined, 94 pace, 94 pitch, 95 start strategy, 96 tone, 95 volume, 95 Verification, in business value discovery, 66–67 Video, watching, 196 Visual selling artistic ability and iconization, 147–48 cadence and rhythm, 146–47 cheats from customers, 149–50 chunk, 146 as closing tool, 151 electronic whiteboard, 150 getting started, 144 implications of color, 148–49 sales cycle fit, 143–44 speed and handwriting, 147 stance, 145 whiteboarding mechanics, 144–45 Volume, as verbal delivery skill, 95 W Web-based forms, Webcasts activity monitoring, 136 advantages and disadvantages of, 128–30 approaching, 130 audience, engaging, 135–36 bad habits to avoid, 134–35 confirmation, 136 constructing and delivering PowerPoint for, 133–34 default mouse pointer, changing, 135 e-mailing key screens before, 131 engaging yourself, 136–37 first three minutes, 132 most effective, 130 optimum days for, 138 positive and negative uses, 129 premise, 127–28 preparation best practices, 130–32 prime time for, 137 rationale behind, 127 rechecking technology, 131 recommended timing guidelines, 130 skill building, 139 summary, 138 technical contact, 131 time zone offset chart, 138 using two different browsers, 132 weak interactive questions, 135 wrap-up, 137–38 Index Whiteboarding advantages of, 141–43 cadence and rhythm, 146–47 chunk, 146 as closing tool, 151 drawbacks of, 143 electronic whiteboard, 150 getting started, 144 mechanics 101, 144–45 sales cycle fit, 143–44 skill building, 152 stance, 145 summary, 151 Work levels, negotiating, 350 383 Y You and your career management, 247–48 ethics, 354–56 goals, 248–49 personal value proposition, 249–51 skill building, 256 summary, 256 .. .Mastering Technical Sales The Sales Engineer’s Handbook Third Edition For a complete listing of titles in the Artech House Technology Management and Professional Development Series, turn to the. .. Continually Challenge Yourself 365 xviii Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook Appendix: More About Mastering Technical Sales 367 About the Authors 369 Index 371 Acknowledgments... original publication the art of sales has remained relatively constant, but there Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook have been industry changes such as the emergence of software-as-a-service