3 Steps to Being a More Effective Sales Engineer
Presales and Solutions Engineers don't need to know the ins and outs of sales methodologies, but knowing these 3 questions will save them tons of wasted time.
MEDDPICC, BANT...
ValueSelling, SPIN Selling, Solution Selling...
The list goes on…
Bored. That’s how most sales engineers feel when people talk about sales frameworks, processes, and methodologies. Understanding the minutia of these frameworks is not the sales engineer’s job. However, being aware of the following 3 questions can help sales engineers save a lot of time and be more effective.
In short, the 3 Why’s will help you figure out if the deals you're working on will ever close.
If your prospect can’t answer these three questions, then you can do as many POCs, workshops, and demos as you want, but the prospect will never buy anything from you. Let’s take a closer look at each Why.
Most of the time, when you’re talking to a prospect, you are not talking to the person that writes the checks that pay for your software. That means that the person you're talking to will need to explain to the person writing the checks why they should buy your software.
The first question the “check writer” (sometimes referred to as the “economic buyer”) is going to ask is not…
“Which product should we buy?”
Rather it is...
“Why should we do anything about this problem?” (i.e. Why Anything?).
In other words, they need to be convinced that the consequences of doing nothing are much greater than the consequences of doing something new, different, and potentially risky.
This is why discovery is incredibly important. After all, most deals don’t stall because the product is not valuable, they stall because there isn’t enough value in making a change and doing anything about the problem.
If the person you’re talking to is able to convince the person writing the checks why they should do anything, then the next question that the person writing the checks will ask is, “Why Now?”
It may be worth doing something, but doing something is hard. Doing nothing is easier. So why not wait a few months? After all, budgets are tight and companies can only tackle so many new initiatives at once.
Much like “Why Anything,” you can uncover “Why Now” by doing proper discovery. Many sales engineers will ask, "how quickly do you need a solution?" This is a good question to ask prospects, but you’ll usually get the same answer…“we need it ASAP,” or, “we needed it yesterday.” Every salesperson wants to hear a sense of urgency, but questions like this often don’t uncover the real urgency. To get at the urgency, a better question to ask is something like, "If you don't do something right now, what happens?" Depending on the response, you’ll know how urgent this problem is, and can decide if it’s worth asking follow-up questions like, "is this as urgent for the leadership team as it is for you?"
“Why Now” is usually the hardest Why to get answered, which is why most deals end in “No Decision.” It’s not a question of whether your product or solution is a good one, it’s a question of whether the company needs your product or solution right now.
Most deals end in “No Decision” because the answer to “Why Now?” is usually, “It Can Wait.”
Why Us/You is where the sales engineer shines. It requires discovery of the customer’s current situation and ideal future state, great problem-solving and solutioning skills, and great storytelling and messaging skills. When those things come together it’s common for sales engineers to achieve the “Technical Win” and position the product as the ideal solution to the prospect’s problems. Doing so then helps your prospect explain to the person writing the checks the reason why they should choose your solution.
If your prospect can confidently answer all 3 Why’s, you’ll probably win the deal. If even one of them is missing, you’ll lose.
The 3 Why’s are important for the sales engineer to know and understand because most SEs tend to be brought in to help with question #3 (Why Us/You). After all, Sales Engineers are rockstars, and they’ll often give amazing demos and presentations, and win their POCs but the deal will die because #1 and #2 aren’t answered.
So next time you get asked to do a POC or demo, see if you can answer “Why Anything” and “Why Now” first. If you can’t, it might be too soon and you might be spending too much time on a deal that will never close.
Unlike traditional presales training that teaches engineers how to give demos, Alpha Presales training teaches engineers how to do less demos and POCs. We’ll help you take your sales engineers to the next level with skill-building workshops that improve their Leadership and Discovery capabilities. Book a call with Alpha Presales and help your team get to the next level.
MEDDPICC, BANT...
ValueSelling, SPIN Selling, Solution Selling...
The list goes on…
Bored. That’s how most sales engineers feel when people talk about sales frameworks, processes, and methodologies. Understanding the minutia of these frameworks is not the sales engineer’s job. However, being aware of the following 3 questions can help sales engineers save a lot of time and be more effective.
In short, the 3 Why’s will help you figure out if the deals you're working on will ever close.
If your prospect can’t answer these three questions, then you can do as many POCs, workshops, and demos as you want, but the prospect will never buy anything from you. Let’s take a closer look at each Why.
Most of the time, when you’re talking to a prospect, you are not talking to the person that writes the checks that pay for your software. That means that the person you're talking to will need to explain to the person writing the checks why they should buy your software.
The first question the “check writer” (sometimes referred to as the “economic buyer”) is going to ask is not…
“Which product should we buy?”
Rather it is...
“Why should we do anything about this problem?” (i.e. Why Anything?).
In other words, they need to be convinced that the consequences of doing nothing are much greater than the consequences of doing something new, different, and potentially risky.
This is why discovery is incredibly important. After all, most deals don’t stall because the product is not valuable, they stall because there isn’t enough value in making a change and doing anything about the problem.
If the person you’re talking to is able to convince the person writing the checks why they should do anything, then the next question that the person writing the checks will ask is, “Why Now?”
It may be worth doing something, but doing something is hard. Doing nothing is easier. So why not wait a few months? After all, budgets are tight and companies can only tackle so many new initiatives at once.
Much like “Why Anything,” you can uncover “Why Now” by doing proper discovery. Many sales engineers will ask, "how quickly do you need a solution?" This is a good question to ask prospects, but you’ll usually get the same answer…“we need it ASAP,” or, “we needed it yesterday.” Every salesperson wants to hear a sense of urgency, but questions like this often don’t uncover the real urgency. To get at the urgency, a better question to ask is something like, "If you don't do something right now, what happens?" Depending on the response, you’ll know how urgent this problem is, and can decide if it’s worth asking follow-up questions like, "is this as urgent for the leadership team as it is for you?"
“Why Now” is usually the hardest Why to get answered, which is why most deals end in “No Decision.” It’s not a question of whether your product or solution is a good one, it’s a question of whether the company needs your product or solution right now.
Most deals end in “No Decision” because the answer to “Why Now?” is usually, “It Can Wait.”
Why Us/You is where the sales engineer shines. It requires discovery of the customer’s current situation and ideal future state, great problem-solving and solutioning skills, and great storytelling and messaging skills. When those things come together it’s common for sales engineers to achieve the “Technical Win” and position the product as the ideal solution to the prospect’s problems. Doing so then helps your prospect explain to the person writing the checks the reason why they should choose your solution.
If your prospect can confidently answer all 3 Why’s, you’ll probably win the deal. If even one of them is missing, you’ll lose.
The 3 Why’s are important for the sales engineer to know and understand because most SEs tend to be brought in to help with question #3 (Why Us/You). After all, Sales Engineers are rockstars, and they’ll often give amazing demos and presentations, and win their POCs but the deal will die because #1 and #2 aren’t answered.
So next time you get asked to do a POC or demo, see if you can answer “Why Anything” and “Why Now” first. If you can’t, it might be too soon and you might be spending too much time on a deal that will never close.
Unlike traditional presales training that teaches engineers how to give demos, Alpha Presales training teaches engineers how to do less demos and POCs. We’ll help you take your sales engineers to the next level with skill-building workshops that improve their Leadership and Discovery capabilities. Book a call with Alpha Presales and help your team get to the next level.
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