#198 Ghosting, Interviewing, and Hiring New Sales Engineers?

Notes:

As an SE, we get to do the fun stuff. That’s according to our guest today, but I would agree with him 100%. Our job is one of the most rewarding jobs out there and yet, there are still many ways where our role could be improved. That’s why in today’s episode, Justin shares why he loves sales engineering so much and how he helps other SEs to become better as an SE manager.

Justin Hammon is the Manager of the Solutions Engineers at CivicPlus, an expert in local government website design, development, content management, and e-government tools and applications that promote community involvement and participation. CivicPlus does software solutions for local government, specifically in the United States, Canada, and Australia.

Key Takeaways:

How Justin went from retail sales and retail management to manager of solutions engineering at CivicPlus
His transition into the SE role after working years as an outside salesperson and regional salesperson
Did Justin ever ask the hiring managers at CivicPlus why he was recruited into the company?
How the onboarding process was like for Justin and was he sent out to start selling right away
One of Justin’s biggest struggles transitioning from working in retail sales to selling into local government
What enticed Justin to go into sales engineering?
His personal experience working with an SE that got him to consider taking on the same role
How an SE lends credibility to his partner AE during meetings with clients or prospects
Did Justin’s view of sales engineers back then change when he himself became an SE?
What Justin’s experience is like from being an SE to going into management and leadership
How his experience as an SE enabled him to work better with his team in terms of strategies during calls and outside of calls
When is it appropriate for AEs to step in and do demos themselves rather than SEs?
What can still be improved in the hiring process of sales engineers
How Justin finds good quality candidates and makes sure they are a good fit for the role and company
When choosing someone, are you choosing for coachability or experience?
Who mentors Justin’s team other than himself

Quotes:

“Ultimately, it comes down to the process of buying, things can just be derailed randomly through personalities or previous relationships within those organizations. And sometimes you don’t get that full story, they guard the decision-maker in the economic buyer lot more effectively than maybe in a private business.” – Justin Hammon

“The difference between an AE and an SE sometimes is the amount of time dedicated to learning the product or demoing the product. Sometimes the AEs can demo a product, at least here. And they’re pretty effective at it, but they are cold calling, they’re moving deals forward. They’re trying to progress the sale, they’re trying to take note of the next steps and all these things. They’re demoing about a third of the time if not less than any given SE on my team.” – Justin Hammon

“It’s not about what you can do and can’t do. It’s about what we can do together.” – Justin Hammon

A big difference between SES and AEs is just the chunks of time that they work. I find that an AE is working in five minute chunks, where they’re calling this person, they hang up, they maybe write the notes, call the experts and call the next person. But SEs tend to work in half-hour, two hour chunks depending on the company they work for. – Ramzi Marjaba

“The other part that you probably know about but aren’t mentioning is about the experience with the client or the prospect. They feel better that you’re talking about a solution in their terms, in their world. It’s about taking them through that journey because they’ll feel more part of that process than if you come in and just ‘throw spaghetti’ at the wall and see what sticks. – Justin Hammon

“It’s not about really your knowledge of the product. It’s really how you prep for this, how you deliver that.” – Justin Hammon