Transitioning from Sales Engineering to Pure Sale

One of the most logical and common step for a Sales Engineer to move on from his or her position would be to go into pure sales. Some Sales Engineers turn out to be great Sales Representatives and others not so much. Some Sales Engineers love the transition, while others hate it and cannot wait to go back.

I personally did the switch briefly a couple of years ago, and I enjoyed a lot of success. However, after the novelty of a new job wore off, I realized how much I was not enjoying it. After 4 months of being the Salesperson, I called up my former manager and asked for my old job back.

There are some aspects of sales that I loved so much, and there are things that I just hated. I wanted to share that info with any Sales Engineer who is thinking about switching. I’ll start off with a few great things about Sales, then discuss some aspects that sucked, and finally if I were to try sales again, how I would go about transitioning.

Before we get too deep into this, if you are looking to transition into Sales, there are a few titles you might need to be aware of. In the blog post “The Confusing Titles of Engineers in Pre Sales” I touch on more titles for Salespeople as well.

Why Move into Sales?

1- More Money:

It is no secret that Sales Reps make more money than Sales Engineers, especially on a good year. Sales reps usually have a more even split between their base salary (salary which they get paid no matter what) and their commission. The base/commission splits change from one company to another, but the most common ones, as far as I know, are 50/50 and 60/40. I’ve even heard of some Sales reps getting paid 100% commission. Their base, where it applies, is usually comparable to the base of a Sales Engineer. So if a Sales Engineer is getting paid 100k base and 25k commission on an 80/20 split, then the Sales Rep would get the 100k base and a 100k commission on a 50/50 split. So just a tad more money!

2- In Control of their Destiny:

Have you ever watched The Lion King?  There is a scene when Mufasa, the king, takes Simba to the top of the mountain and shows him his kingdom. The same goes for the Sales Rep, to an extent. The Sales Rep can stand on their imaginary ledge and look at all his customers and prospects and figure out how he’s going to work with them. That is called account planning. They can decide how to tackle one account, who to get involved in a deal, how often to call the customer or anything else. It’s their own little kingdom.

3- In Control of their Calendar:

They can choose when to do what and for how long. When to meet customers, when to make follow up calls, when to have internal meetings with product management or their Sales Engineer.

4- Crafting the Strategy:

By far the most enjoyable aspect of being a Sales Rep for me was coming up with a strategy to close deals, find new customers, and set up newly qualified meetings. All of it is challenging, but the rush of accomplishing one of these is indescribable. Well, it is similar to doing a kick a** demo as a Sales Engineer that get the customer ready to buy. I guess it is describable.

There is also the aspect of selling internally. It is the job of the salesperson to get the product management team to do what is needed to help close a deal or to have a Sales Engineer buy into the vision of the strategy to sell to the customer. It is pure leadership.

Those were my top 4 reasons to move into sales, but I’m sure there’s more. Now, I know what you are thinking: if “Sales” is so great, why did you switch back to Sales Engineering? Well, one vague reason is that it was not the right time in my life.

Why not move into sales?

Here are a few not so vague reasons as to why I switched back to being an SE:

1- Management hounds the Sales Rep

The entire company is counting on Sales Reps to make sales. The CEO and upper management will need to show the shareholders how well the company is doing, Sales Directors want to make their quota, get paid their full commission and keep their jobs, and the other employees want to get paid their salaries.

This usually leads to Sales Directors and VP of Sales calling the Sales Reps often and at all times to see where they are on a specific opportunity, or when they will be getting a Purchase Order (PO) from customers. This happens all the time, but the level of consistent calling intensifies at the end of quarters and at end of the year.

When I acted as a Sales Rep for almost 1 quarter, I had a deal that was supposed to come in on the last day of the quarter. I called the customer at 9:00 AM to check the status as he had committed that I will be getting the PO. The customer confirmed I will be getting the PO at noon. At 9:30 I got a call from my Director asking me if I called the customer. I updated the director on my conversation with the customer. He asked me to call again. At 10:30, I got a call from the VP of Sales who asked for a status. I updated him as well. He also asked me to call the customer, again. I did not call the customer, and I got the PO at noon as he promised.

I don’t know if this is something that was specific to my former company but suffice it to say,
“Sales” is a very demanding job.

2- Law of Diminishing Returns

As I said, “sales” is a demanding job. It’s not just the management who are demanding, the Sales Rep is usually very demanding on himself and those around him since a big chunk of the income is tied to the sale. Many Sales Reps I know do not stop working at 40 hours and are usually working throughout the night, early mornings, weekends, and vacation time. Their income is dependent on it. Some are so successful that they are making way over quota which usually translates to lots of money. Most are average salespeople who either just make their quota or miss it by a small margin. Depending on their commission splits, some barely make more money than Sales Engineers, especially those who just switched from being Sales Engineers. Engineers who do the switch to Sales in the same company usually get a minimal salary bump.

In my case, my On Target Earnings(OTE) increased by C$10K only. So I went from working 45 to 50 hours a week all the way to 70 hours a week for an additional 10K if I make quota. Although the plan was to exceed quota, I was spending a lot more time to do that. So my hourly rate dropped down significantly. For example, if as a Sales Engineer I was making an OTE of 100K a year and working 45 hours, as a Sales Rep, my OTE increased to 120k, and working 70 hours a week, my hourly rate dropped from $42.7/hour to $32.96/hour.

3- Blamed for Not Making Quota

The first line of blame for not making quota is the Sales Rep. So if the quota is not hit, it is the Sales Reps fault, even if their biggest customer merged with another company and froze all spending. Some organizations take that into account, others don’t. The Sales Rep has a quota to make, and now he or she should find another customer willing to spend.

4- Customers treat Sales Reps Differently

I had been working with my customers for almost 2 years as a Sales Engineer before switching to Sales. Before the switch, customers were happy to see me, they would always answer my calls, and would approach me in the hallway to have a chat about work or any other topic they fancy. As soon as I switched, customers stopped answering and returning my calls, and I did not have access to the buildings even though I was still doing the Sales Engineering role (Side note: my organization was unable to find a Sales Engineer). Just the fact that I was asking for a Purchase Order changed their view of who I am at my core. I went from the guy who helps, to the guy who asks for money. That being said, I am a big boy and I can handle it, but it is something that people need to be aware of before the switch.

The process of moving to sales 

Now that we’ve covered the good and ugly of Sales, how does one transition to becoming a Sales Rep. There is no one way to do so, but if I ever decide to give Sales another try, this is the process that I would try to apply.

1- Start small (1 or 2 accounts):

I would want to try out Sales on a small scale. This, for one, would allow me to practice being a salesperson on a smaller scale. Although there is overlap, the skills that Sales Reps need to master and how they are used are different from those of Sales Engineers. Having 1 or 2 accounts will help understand what it takes to be successful on a small scale and flex some of those sales muscles that I believe I have without being over-leveraged.

That being said, many sales organizations would not want to do that. My old organization was one of them. I wanted to try it out with one or two accounts, but they needed full commitment. “You are either in or you’re out”. That’s a quote from Ocean’s 11, I think.

2- Negotiate a better salary

Something that really bit me in the behind is the fact that my base was severely reduced. Also, my total compensation was not something to brag about for a Salesperson. That meant I took the risk of becoming a Salesperson, affecting my family’s income, without much of an upside. Negotiating a better salary is really dependent on the negotiatee?, emm negotiator? the guy who’s negotiating to be in a position of power. With less than 2 years of Sales Engineering experience was not a position of power.

3- Have the Sales Engineering thing down

Before I move to a sales role, I want to have the SE thing down. If I have not mastered one position, why would I move to another that is very related? The SE skill set is transferable to the sales role. It is like being an athlete then moving on to be a coach. We don’t need to be the best athlete to become a great coach, but being a good athlete who has mastered the game will help us understand it better and give us the opportunity to observe more coaches (Salespeople) and how they do the job.

4- Time it right

It is said that there is no right time to try something new. However, I do believe there is a completely wrong time to do so. When I dipped my feet in the raging hot water of sales, I had my first baby boy, and he was only 2 months old. I wanted to give my all to my baby boy, and I wanted to give my all to my new career as a Salesperson. That was one “alls” too many. Was it doable? Yes. Was it fun,

5- Make sure you have a good boss

Some bosses are bad. We’ve all had experience with some. Bad bosses can make your life miserable in any role. Sales is no exception. So before I make a move next time, I would make sure that the person I would be reporting to is a good boss. I am still trying to figure out how to figure that out, and once I have a few thoughts on that, I will share them with you. In the meantime, I’d be interested to know how you can tell if your potential boss is a good boss.

In conclusion, like any job, there are some great aspects to sales and some that are not so much. Many Sales Engineers have done the switch to sales and have been very successful. Some have not. It is hard to say who will be successful, who will enjoy it. This post is meant to shed some light at the aspects that no one talks about and hopefully help others learn from my mistakes, but in the end, everyone has to make their own decision.

What are some pros or cons that I missed here?