Then I get together with members of the SE hotline yesterday. We had a combo of folks who just got offered a role as an SE for the first time and SE Leaders. So we talked about expectations and tips to survive their first few months.

Here’s the 4/1/1

1- Before you join a company, check how many AEs you will be covering, and what support you will have to grow.

2- Active listening is so important to new SEs. This is when you have the right to sit back and listen. You listen to customers, fellow SEs, and account managers. This is the hardest skill to master, mainly because we feel like we need to contribute by talking. As new SEs there are a dozen other ways to actually contribute before we open our mouths.

3- In addition to learning the product and what it does for the customers when joining a new organization as an SE, the SE has to learn who to build connections with internally. From professional services to product managers, all can help the SE do their job better.

4- The biggest thing is the SE needs to be a problem solver. “Not my job”, or “I cannot do this” are not in the vocabulary. If it’s “not my job”, I can still take ownership of getting it done and then find out who’s job it is to do it and get them to do it. It’s not “I cannot do this”, it’s “how can I get this done”. Once that question pops up, we notice how we can get a lot more done than we thought.

I mentioned the SE Hotline in a previous email. This is a place where once you sign up, you would have your dedicated coach. Someone you can message at any point to discuss what you are going through. Someone to guide you on how to achieve your goals as a Sales Engineer. If this sounds interesting, check out the Beta Site below. We are looking for Founding members to be our first clients and help streamline the process. 

SE Hotline