Blog
4/1/1: 4 Random Thoughts from me, 1 tools to help Sales Engineers, 1 quote for motivation
4/1/1 Learn to Be Known, Be Endearing, Accept Feedback
By Ramzi Marjaba
4/1/1 Weekly
4 Random Thoughts, 1 Tool, and 1 Quote
What is some advice that was given to you when you started your career as a Sales Engineer? Or what is some advice you would give to know people getting into the role? We just had Jeff Margolese on the podcast and had a great discussion that has resonated with many people. Jeff is the Global VP of Solutions Consultants at ServiceNow and he shared on the podcast the advice that he gives his team.
I mention a couple of his points below, so without further ado, let’s jump into the 4/1/1
4 Random Thoughts From Me:
1- Be known for something. It is not enough to be good at something anymore. There are many who are good. We have to be great. Not only do we have to be great, but others also have to know that we are great at it. So we have to humbly advertise ourselves.
2- Be endearing to sales. Sales is a tough job. I know since I’ve been doing it for a while now. There are many forces and pressures that are surrounding a salesperson, from making sure they have a job next quarter (i.e. making quota) to finding new customers and in some cases making sure old customers are happy and ready to buy more. The one thing they don’t want to worry about is their SE. And as I said last week, we don’t know what somebody else is going through, so don’t be judgmental.
3- In order to be known for something, experimentation is needed. And we have to think outside the box. So if everybody is doing something one way, and we suspect there might be a better way, we should experiment with it. And if we’re going to fail, it’s better to fail fast and move on, than wonder what will happen.
4- Don’t give feedback through text, teams, slack, and especially not after hours. If you have something to tell your colleague, set up a time during the day to have a discussion. Messaging is an ineffective way to do things, context is lost and there isn’t any room for discussion or to ask clarifying questions to make sure everything is understood. Also, if you want to give feedback, you have to be able to receive it.
1 Tool:
For those who have not heard of Calendly, it’s a tool to speed up the process of booking appointments. If you want to schedule a call with a customer, no need to go back and forth 17000 times to figure out a time that works for both of you. Just send them a link and they will have access to your calendar.
You might need to check with your IT to make sure they allow it, unlike our IT that doesn’t like to make our job easy.
1 Quote:
“Worry not that no one knows you; seek to be worth knowing.” – Confucius
Stay in the loop
Subscribe to get our latest content by email.