The 3 + 1 Rules of Sales Engineering Leadership

SE Leader vs SE Manager:

SE Manager is viewed as a first line manager, in charge of the care and feeding of SEs that report to them, it’s a position.

SE Leader isn’t tied to a title, it’s a mindset.

Insight to a Sales Leader that the book will give:

It will give more structure to the sales pipeline.
Insight to how to best use an SE org.

3+1 Rules of SE Leadership

Rule 0: Manage yourself.

Have to make sure you’re in a good spot in order to best manage others.
Continuously find ways to improve how you do things.
- Time management
- Balance Strategic and Tactical thinking
- Consider your role on calls as a manager.

Rule 1: Develop and serve your people

Remember: RADAR

R: Recruit

A: Attract

D: Develop

A: Advance

R: Retain

The 5 phases of growing and developing anyone to your SE organization.

When recruiting for your team, it’s important to make sure you have a strong bench of those that align with your overall brand and team mission.

Rule 2: Run your organization as a business

Forget about the technical win.

It’s not just about that. Aim for the overall win. Sales is a team effort.

Orient your teams to be able to support the overall win, not just the technical win.

Chapter in the book: What Can Possibly Go Wrong?

Came out of a conversation with SE Leaders
What got you here will get you there.
Be aware of the mistakes you can be prone to make.

Embrace the mistakes you make and learn from them. More applicable in Western cultures, in some cultures, mistakes are meant to be developed upon behind the scenes.

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss in enthusiasm”

Winston Churchill

Be aware of cultural nuances if you’re managing or working in/on global teams.

Remember the methodology of the British Rowing Team:

“What will make the boat faster?”

Always be considering what can be done to drive the team to be more effective. Consider the brand you want for your SE team.

Rule 3: Serve and Delight your customers

Never stop learning – continue to prepare yourself for the future.

What is the role of an SE Manager on Calls?

You’re the executive/adult in the room.
You should be making sure everything is on track.
Level up the conversation
Help the Sales person secure higher contacts in the prospect organization,
Observe your SE direct reports to find coaching opportunities
- Don’t step in unless absolutely necessary.
- Know your role!

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Buckets of Areas to Evaluate to always be considering improvements.

Learning and Growth – Aligns with Rule 1
1. How are your people, where can they grow, what can be improved on, what are they doing well, etc…
Process – Aligns with Rule 2
1. Internal process, are things happening as they should be.
Customer – Aligns with Rule 3
1. How are things going with them? Are they happy?

Make sure you have data to back up your decisions.

Use data for the greater good.

Show that your collection of data is meant to get make your team’s lives better and they’ll buy in to what you want to do.

Not So Fire Round:

What do you love about being an SE Manager/Leader?
1. Loves developing, managing, mentoring and overall just helping others improve and be better.
Biggest mistakes he’s seen made by SE Managers.
1. Don’t try to make everyone like you, recognize the unique strengths of your team and leverage those to overall grow the worth of every individual, and ultimately the team.
Books/Tools/Resources John Recommends:
What separates the Great SE Managers from the rest?
1. The best managers have empathy.
2. They need to understand what motivates and drives those that work for them.
3. They have to always be driving to make those around them better.