4/1/1 Spray and Pray Works Despite You, Not Because of You

November 11, 2022

By Ramzi Marjaba

4/1/1 Weekly

4 Random Thoughts, 1 Tool, and 1 Quote

We had some interesting people on the show recently. Cyrus Harbin being one of them. Someone who is new to Sales Engineering yet doing a great job evangelizing for the role. If you want to see what a new comer to the world of SE looks like, and what your first your can look like, well, here it is

Check out my conversation here.

Also, I’ve been asked on so many different occasions about how I became a Sales Engineer. Saying by accident always leads to more questions, so here’s my story from graduation to Sales Engineering

Now here’s the 4/1/1

4 Random Thoughts From Me:

1- I’ve said this multiple times, but the Sales Engineering community is the best community in the world.

2- Other SEs will be there for you if you need them. And you have to remember to be there for others when they need you.

3- Spray and pray can work if the customer you are talking to knows exactly what they need and know the problem they are trying to solve.

4- Similarly, spray and pray while applying to jobs could work if we get lucky and hit the right employer at the right time. To optimize our chances, we need to build our network far in advance of when we need the job, so instead of spraying and praying, we can be more of a sniper and go after the roles that best suit us.

1 Tool:

Slack – There are so many slack channels now dedicated to sales engineering. There might be some research needed to find the right ones, but they are out there.

1 Quote:

“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”- Warren Buffett

An additional note, I recently was on Jeff Perry’s Podcast where I discuss Sales Engineering, what it is, how we get paid, and the stresses related to it.