#160 Civil Engineers Need Love Too!

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Notes:

If you’ve been following this podcast long enough, you’ll know that I built this to create a community of Sales Engineers all over the world so we can all grow and learn together. But how many of you belong to an organization catered specifically for your profession?

Ken Lambert, the current President of the North American Association of Sales Engineers (NAASE), aims to bring Sales Engineers and technical sales reps across North America in one organization to enable members to connect, create Certified Sales Engineers and advocate on behalf of the profession. The organization provides members with opportunities to network on industry-specific forums, webinars, and blogs. Moreover, through its membership, a certificate is awarded to Sales Engineers that designate them as skilled, life-long learners who are passionate about client success.

In this podcast, we talk about why he founded NAASE, the commonalities and differences between Sales Engineers working for software and non-software industries, how he differentiates himself from other Sales engineers, and how you can prospect on Linkedin or connect with prospects without being sleazy.

Key Takeaways:

Join us in our conversation and learn:

- 00:27 A little bit about Ken Lambert’s background and what NAASE is all about
- 02:11 How selling building products is a lot different from selling software or widgets
- 04:00 Ways to differentiate yourself when you’re selling a commodity to customers
- 06:08 His responsibilities being both in sales and sales engineering roles
- 07:23 Working in the non-software world versus structure and working relationship dynamic between SE and AE in the software world
- 08:52 How it’s like selling a new product that isn’t like anything else in the market and no one even knows it exists
- 11:34 Connect with prospects and get them into a call without being salesy or sleazy
- 15:51 Is it possible for mechanical or civil engineers to become Sales Engineers?
- 20:28 Two reasons Ken founded the NAASE?
- 23:36 How to qualify to become a Certified Sales Engineer

Quotes:

(04:36) On how to differentiate yourself if you’re selling a commodity – “In a commodity market, product, it really is. If our price is similar to somebody else, what am I gonna do to create value to make up for that 20% upcharge? In software, that’s the same thing, if you’re selling a CRM software and sure 20% higher than somebody else, what are you doing for that 20%?”

(8:52) How he balanced the sales and sales engineering roles – “No one knew our branding company product existed, the prospecting pounding the pavement was very real. I really had to start it from there, that was my first priority, if you don’t do that, you’re not gonna get a meeting. So. I spent 60% of my time trying to get that meeting, and then 40% prepping and planning, and doing back and forth, trying to bring it from RFP to a sale and that takes time.”

(17:25) On why anyone can get into sales engineering – “There’s a lot of opportunity for people that are not in software to get into Sales Engineer.”