Sales engineer

Sales engineer

Sales Engineer is a job/role found primarily in enterprise software, hardware or professional services companies. The role serves to bridge the gap between sales acumen and engineering expertise.

Role in Enterprise Sales

Initially, the products or services a company sold were easily understood by sales reps, who could represent these without assistance on sales calls. Any questions a prospect (potential customer) had could be addressed by the sales rep. As technology became more complex, generalists were replaced by specialists.

Sales reps, however, did not develop specializations. This break from a single sales rep being able to handle all aspects of the sale to one which he/she needed assistance was what brought about "Relationship Selling", or "Strategic Selling". The enterprise sales rep developed skills that got meetings with strategic buyers, but the sales rep was only expected to explain the solution at a high level, leaving the more technical aspects to be explained by the Sales Engineer.

Compensation

A key differentiator between Sales Engineers and all the other roles in an organization is that Sales Engineers are not on salary and bonus as most people in an organization are. Sales Engineers instead make a "base", and a "commission".

Notes

cite web | last= Unknown | title= "Sales Engineers", Bureau of Labor and Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition | date = 2007-12-18 | url= http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos123.htm Sales Engineers | accessdate= 2008-09-22 cite web | last = Unknown | title = "Summary Report for: 41-9031.00 - Sales Engineers", Occupational Information Network | url = http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/41-9031.00 | accessdate = 2008-09-24

cite web | last = Levine | first = Edward S. | title = The Evolving Sales Engineer | publisher = Dog Ear Publishing, LLC | date = 2007-08-30 | url = http://www.amazon.com/Evolving-Sales-Engineer-Edward-Levine/dp/1598584146/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product | accessdate = 2008-09-24 cite web | last = Care | first = John | title = Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer's Handbook | publisher = Artech House Publishers | date = 2008-08-31 | url = http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Technical-Sales-Engineers-Handbook/dp/1596933399/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222271695&sr=1-2 | accessdate = 2008-09-24 cite web | last = Rubli | first = Jerry | title = My Life As A Sales Engineer | publisher = Whitecaps Media | date = 2008-03-25 | url = http://www.amazon.com/My-Life-As-Sales-Engineer/dp/0975857762/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222271695&sr=1-3 | accessdate = 2008-09-24

cite web | last = Mourer | first = Darrin | title = What's in a name (Sales Engineer) | publisher = thesalesengineer.com | date = 2008-03-27 | url = http://www.thesalesengineer.com/2008/03/27/whats-in-a-name/ | accessdate = 2008-10-03


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • sales engineer — ➔ engineer1 * * * sales engineer UK US noun [C] COMMERCE, MARKETING ► someone who sells products or services for a scientific or technical company and has both sales skills and technical knowledge: »Because of the highly technical nature of many… …   Financial and business terms

  • sales engineer — pardavimo inžinierius statusas T sritis profesijos apibrėžtis Specialistas, gebantis išsamiai paaiškinti technines parduodamo gaminio arba produkto savybes ir apibūdinti jo parametrus. Jis turi išsilavinimą, jam leidžiantį suprasti kliento… …   Inžinieriai, technikai ir technologai. Trikalbis aiškinamasis žodynėlis

  • sales engineer — noun 1. : an engineer who sells equipment and manufactured products by estimating from plans and computing cost of installation and often establishes liaison between designers and contractors for the manufacture of machines and equipment suited… …   Useful english dictionary

  • sales engineer — sa·les en·gi·ne·er loc.s.m. e f.inv. ES ingl. {{wmetafile0}} TS tecn. professionista con particolari competenze tecniche, esperto nella diffusione e nella vendita di prodotti tecnologici molto sofisticati {{line}} {{/line}} DATA: sec. XX. ETIMO:… …   Dizionario italiano

  • technical sales engineer — pardavimo inžinierius statusas T sritis profesijos apibrėžtis Specialistas, gebantis išsamiai paaiškinti technines parduodamo gaminio arba produkto savybes ir apibūdinti jo parametrus. Jis turi išsilavinimą, jam leidžiantį suprasti kliento… …   Inžinieriai, technikai ir technologai. Trikalbis aiškinamasis žodynėlis

  • engineer — ▪ I. engineer en‧gi‧neer 1 [ˌendʒˈnɪə ǁ ˈnɪr] noun [countable] JOBS 1. someone who designs the way roads, bridges, machines, electrical equipment etc are built: • He is an engineer with an oil company. ˈproduct engiˌneer JOBS MANUFACTURING …   Financial and business terms

  • sales and applications engineer — pardavimo inžinierius statusas T sritis profesijos apibrėžtis Specialistas, gebantis išsamiai paaiškinti technines parduodamo gaminio arba produkto savybes ir apibūdinti jo parametrus. Jis turi išsilavinimą, jam leidžiantį suprasti kliento… …   Inžinieriai, technikai ir technologai. Trikalbis aiškinamasis žodynėlis

  • sales force — Synonyms and related words: agent, clerk, floorwalker, sales agent, sales engineer, sales manager, sales personnel, salesclerk, salesgirl, saleslady, salesman, salespeople, salesperson, saleswoman, scalper, seller, selling agent, shop assistant,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • Engineer boots — are one of many styles of leather boots: footwear often worn by motorcycle riders. The boots are most often made of heavy weight black leather, have a rounded toe and range in height from short (10 ) to extra high (38 ). The most typical height… …   Wikipedia

  • Sales order — The sales order, sometimes abbreviated as SO, is an order received by a customer from a business. A sales order may be for products and/or services. Given the wide variety of businesses, this means that the orders can be fulfilled in several ways …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”