Why not use the cold, dark nights to pick up / download one of our recommended reads. Turn what could be boring time into some highly valuable additional skills, an asset in the future at any age.
Sales is ever evolving, and the best Sales Engineers know the importance of staying relevant, ensuring they constantly work on their skills. The same can be said for if you are just starting our in your presales career, the more information you can absorb the quicker you will find the approach that works for you.
We hope you agree these recommended reads can help at any level when working to up your pre-sales game:
1)
Title: The Trusted Advisor Sales Engineer
Author: John Care
Information: Survey after survey shows that customers view the Sales Engineer as the standard of truth. That’s why Sales Engineers have been referred to as Trusted Advisors more frequently in the last twenty years. But that doesn’t mean the designation is a given. Becoming a Trusted Advisor is harder than it sounds. In fact, many organizations either never try to live up to the name, or make a half-hearted attempt.
Trusted Advisor – two words, five syllables and fifteen letters that John Care says hide a massive complexity. Which is why he wrote this book specifically to start the individual Sales Engineer on the journey to becoming a Trusted Advisor.
He breaks the process down into three sections:
1. Learn how to define and actually measure trust with your clients.
2. Look at the practical aspects involved in building trust through Discovery, Presentations, Demos and all the other standard activities of an SE.
3. Examines how to get started and put it all into practice – both for individuals and for SE teams.
This is not a tiny list of tips and tricks or even a 40 page eBook covering the basics. This book is packed full of thoughts, ideas, best practices and real life examples based on dozens of clients and thousands of students who have already taken the workshop.
2)
Title: Look Me in the Eye
Author: Julie Hansen
Information: Video calls and online meetings aren’t going away. The way we interact with colleagues and customers has shifted from in-person to largely online. So what happens when the skills we have for selling face-to-face fall flat on camera?
You still need to establish the same amount of credibility in virtual meetings, but many people make accidental blunders on camera that can derail the conversation and even the entire deal. Whether you’re interacting with customers or creating automated demos, this guide provides all you need to know to create a near in-person experience in a virtual or hybrid world.
3)
Title: The Six Habits of Highly Effective Sales Engineers
Author: Chris White
Information: Wanting to up your sales game? Gain the skills to confidently demo every time. Avoid the common pitfalls that are holding you back. Master the art of answering difficult questions, apply best practices to your process, and accelerate pipeline velocity and close more deals.
The habits in this book help you smoothly deliver and answer questions during any presentation while simultaneously avoiding burnout by building the confidence of saying “No” when required. The Six Habits of Highly Effective Sales Engineers will teach you skills you need to enhance your abilities.
4)
Title: The Social Sales Engineer
Author: Patrick Pissang
Information: Are you afraid of software making your job obsolete? If not, you should be.
Specialized SaaS applications are automating repetitive tasks and will soon replace you if your job involves running intro demos or dozens of other low-level tasks. The software being used to make things easier may one day take over most of your tasks.
So, how do you avoid becoming obsolete?
The Social Sales Engineer shares timeless principles you can use to shape your sales engineering future on social media and position yourself as a trusted advisor in your client’s organization.
Patrick Pissang shares his philosophy on how to lead the client with methods they don’t expect and therefore won’t forget. He uses a buyer enablement approach to coach customers while they run the proof of concept. Patrick then explains how his original thinking can be expanded to work for social media, something that even sales engineers need to build their brand. Learn to confidently sell more solutions while building your brand original ideas––both online and offline.
5)
Title: Great Demo!
Author: Peter E. Cohan
Information: Delivering effective demos is an art. One that takes lots of skill and practice. And, even if you’re a pro at demoing, you might be looking for a new strategy to up your game. Great Demo! outlines a proven methodology for improving your demos.
Peter Cohan shares his experience from delivering and viewing thousands of demonstrations. Deliver intelligent automated demos that are highly compelling using what he refers to as the “Do the Last Thing First,” concept. This book offers a straightforward process that can easily be applied to the demos you’re already doing every day.
The great news is there are also lots of pre-sales opportunities and you can view some of our pre-sales roles here.