What does it take to be a successful sales engineer in the world of high-tech consultative selling? is one of the most common questions I get asked.
One of the challenges in today’s volatile markets, characterized by increasing pricing pressures driven by the commoditization of technologies, is the ability of companies to deliver a clear and precise value proposition to their prospects.
Companies are finding it very difficult to defend the value of their offerings in their target markets, primarily due to a growing difficulty connecting their value proposition with customer success metrics and, above all, because few sales professionals know how to quantify this value and align it with customer problems.
In this post, I’ll share 10 keys to success as a consultative sales professional.
- Be perceived as an expert in the technologies your company sells and demonstrate that you are an excellent ally for your contacts.
- Build deep personal relationships with multiple managers within your clients’ and prospects’ companies, paying particular attention to senior executives.
- Deeply and fully understand your clients’ business models and organizational structures.
- Know how to connect and align the technical features and functions of your solutions with the economic benefits slot deposit pulsa and the core of the problem you’re trying to solve.
- Must be autonomous, self-sufficient and flexible with changes
- They must be able to identify the problem to be solved, diagnose it, and perform a needs analysis. They must also be able to conduct sales interviews and connect with the decision-making group and the managers who have the final say.
- Know how to accelerate the sales cycle so that it is as short as possible.
- Help generate highly qualified sales opportunities for the marketing department, mastering the sales funnel as a management tool and sales philosophy.
- You must be an excellent communicator and know how to ask and answer questions, as well as how to properly handle objections.
- Know the key players in your sector, meaning clients, partners, consultants, competitors, suppliers, associations, etc.