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4/1/1: 4 Random Thoughts from me, 1 tools to help Sales Engineers, 1 quote for motivation
4/1/1 Tactics to Overcome Self-Doubt and Frustration
- March 31, 2022
By Ramzi Marjaba
4/1/1 Weekly
4 Random Thoughts, 1 Tool, and 1 Quote
If sales engineers don’t know their product or technology, they are usually easily exposed. Customers can accept the response “I will get back to you”, but there is only so much that they can accept. And they can usually tell when they are lying. However, this is a fear that many SEs have, that we’re not good enough, don’t know the product, don’t know if we’re asking the right questions, etc. I was surprised when a VP of Sales Engineering, a chemical engineer who’s studied Thermodynamics, say that he felt that on occasion.
In addition to the occasional imposter syndrome, sales engineers face a lot of frustration as well. Whether it’s because the Account Managers setting up unqualified calls, Product Managers not adding the features we think are needed, and so on. Here’s one tip on how to handle that.
Let’s dig into this a bit with the 4/1/1
4 Random Thoughts From Me:
1- Even the people in the highest positions have a bit of self-doubt.
2- Best way to overcome self-doubt/imposter syndrome is to practice, practice, and more practice. When we start going out into the wild and see that we are helping others, confidence creeps in and we start feeling better about ourselves.
3- Before we start practicing, we should find out what we need to practice. For the first while, I was great at technology but bad at sales engineering. So I practiced sales engineering through the podcast, blogs, and on my own. Now, I need to get back to practicing technology and learning.
4- What we need to practice changes from week to week, month to month, and year to year. What do you need to work on?
1 Tool:
Something I like to use while practicing is a whiteboard. It helps me think. But right now with not visiting customers in person as much, whiteboards are harder to use. However, the witeboard website is a simple easy-to-use website that you don’t have to sign in/up. You just have to go to that site and start using it.
1 Quote:
“Confront your fear and turn the mental blocks into building blocks.” – Dr. Roopleen
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