4/1/1: 4 Random Thoughts from me, 1 tools to help Sales Engineers, 1 quote for motivation

4/1/1 Uncover the Customer’s Greatest Need By Not Selling Continuously

December 24, 2021

By Ramzi Marjaba

4/1/1 Weekly

4 Random Thoughts, 1 Tool, and 1 Quote

Usually, I send my emails on Thursdays. I decided to move mine to today. In my mind, it’s because I wanted to email everybody on Christmas eve. It had a nice ring to it.

The truth is, however, I’ve had a migraine for the last couple of days, and when I attempted to write the 4/1/1 yesterday, it came out in Italian… I don’t speak Italian. So I decided to wait one more day.

This week we talked to Jason Cutter. Some of us may think that Sales is a bad thing. So I wanted to talk to someone who loves sales and is not a pushy salesman, but actually trying to solve a problem.

I really enjoyed my chat with him as he brings a different perspective to sales.

Check out my conversation here

Part of being able to help the customer is to understand what they need. This happens as part of the discovery call. So here’s a video of why we need a discovery call, and what the flow should be:

Now… 4/1/1!

4 Random Thoughts From Me:

1- Sales doesn’t have to be a dirty word. I mean it currently is, but as Sales Engineers, we get to change that.

2- Sales can be seen as a service. This is something that I’ll remember from Jason forever

3- One of the main pathways that SEs take when they want to move on from this role is going into Sales. Many of them are successful, especially when they already know the product and they can be the consultative salesperson. However when they move organizations and no longer know the product as much, they forget that Sales is a service or even how to provide that service. That’s when they need to lean on their SEs if they don’t want to become the Salesy salesperson.

4- The biggest gift an SE can give their salesperson is being their consultant. They might think they need an assistant. Someone who just jumps on to answer technical questions or do demos. What they do need in fact is a consultant, and someone to keep them honest.

1 Tool:

No tools for this week. Just turn off all the tools you got and spend time with your family

1 Quote:

“Some of our finest work comes through service to others.” — Gordon B. Hinckley

This has been a long road. I’m sure we’ve all had some good news, and we’ve faced some challenges. I’m thankful that you are with me, watching my videos, reading the newsletter, and know this that platform is yours. The questions you send in, the comments and feedback you provide, all improve everything I do and I appreciate it. I hope you continue to do so.

This is the last email of the year. I’m taking next week off, sort of. There will still be a podcast episode dropping on Monday so I hope you enjoy that.

Take care of yourself, your family, and your friends, and have a very Merry Christmas and an amazing New Year.