What Is a Sales Engineer & How Do You Become One?

Do you believe all sales jobs are created equal? Think again. Sales roles can vary greatly depending on the types of goods and services being sold.

In the fast-paced field of technology, advanced knowledge is a critical part of the job. Who can sales reps call on to better understand the technical aspects of the products they are selling to help them close the deal?

训练有素的销售工程师。

销售工程师经常弥合产品开发和销售职能之间的差距。他们必须能够使用其应用的技术知识来帮助销售代表说服潜在客户选择其产品。在美国，销售工程师通常会执行全职时间表和average salary is $79,808 per year。

根据公司销售的性质，销售工程师可以花费大量时间与客户见面，而他们的工作时间可能会因客bob全站app户的需求而异。

On a normal workday, sales engineers can expect to spend a lot of time in meetings with potential customers and their sales rep colleagues, describing the technical features of their company’s products in greater detail, and creating strategies to drive sales.

销售工程师的素质

这是成功的销售工程师的一些关键素质。

1. Possesses technical and soft skills.

为了成功地，销售工程师需要在技术上有智慧，并具有人际关系和人际关系soft skills necessary to succeed in sales。至关重要的是，销售工程师能够以相关，易于理解的方式向销售代表和潜在客户解释高技术概念和产品功能。

For example, if a sales engineer works for a B2B software company and is supporting a prospect who doesn’t have a technical background, they need to be able to explain the functionality of the software in an engaging, empowering way that the prospect can understand and feel encouraged by.

2. Works well with others.

Because sales engineers work closely with sales reps to provide their expertise, they must be strong team-players. In an ideal sales engineer-sales rep partnership, the two parties work closely together. They build technically sound sales strategies to better serve their ideal customers.

例如，如果销售代表需要销售工程师的帮助为即将举行的演讲制定谈话点，则该工程师应知道如何最好地与代表进行交流以帮助准备结束。

3.解决问题的能力。

The goal of a sales engineer is to understand how the technical ins and outs of their products can help solve their customer’s problems. A successful sales engineer should be solution-oriented and always looking for ways to make their product even more appealing to the customer.

For example, let’s say a sales engineer works for a company that provides beverage dispensers to office spaces. The sales engineer should understand the common issues beverage providers are experiencing with their current dispensers. They should also be able to explain why the technical features of their product make it the best solution to solve the prospect’s pain point.

4.可以以易于理解的方式提供复杂的信息。

销售量engineers are often on hand to deliver presentations or answer technical questions that come up during sales pitches. They should be able to deliver information clearly, confidently, and succinctly to help their company win the sale.

5.从事销售工作的经验。

销售工程师必须了解销售流程的紧迫性。但是，他们还必须拥有先进的技术知识，以促进对客户及其公司有益的交易。bob全站app

例如，经验丰富的销售工程师应了解销售流程的来龙去脉和销售流程的理想点，以支持其代表以技术知识完成交易。最终，让销售工程师手头应加快销售流程，而不是减慢销售流程。

现在我们知道了销售工程师是什么，让我们讨论销售工程师的工作。

销售工程师的日常职责可能会因公司和工程师的具体工作声明而差异很大。bob全站app这是HubSpot产品经理和前销售工程师的方式弗拉·王（Flora Wang）描述了她在角色的平均一天：

“平均每天销售工程师,我跳上two to five sales calls. I had a team of sales reps I worked with directly, and we would get on calls somewhere in the sales process between demo to close.

I was often there to answer one-off questions or facilitate a technical deep dive to help reps prepare for their deals. If reps didn’t need me on a sales call to answer prospect questions, I would work with them offline to map out customer solutions or craft responses to questions with technical specificity.

我还管理了正在进行的项目，包括努力扩展销售工程功能，以为我们的销售代表提供更好的支持。”

在HubSpot，我们的销售工程师直接与销售代表合作，以促进销售流程，但将实际销售留给代表。在某些公司，销售工程师是进行销售的公司。

在这些情况下，销售工程师是一位联系潜在客户，谈判定价和条款，除了提供复杂的技术知识之外，最终结束了销售。

For sales engineers, there is no one-size-fits-all track for landing a role. Many sales engineers have a bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, or other related technical fields of study. Some sales engineers also have educational backgrounds in science or business and undergo technical training on the job.

除教育外，许多销售工程师还具有销售工作的动手经验，或与代表并肩工作。这有助于销售工程师获得有关销售流程的宝贵知识，以及销售技能they need to perform the job.

此外,许多销售工程师从事continuing education opportunities to keep up with ever-changing new technologies.

对于销售科学或技术复杂产品的公司，销售工程师是销售团队的宝贵资产。如果您有兴趣探索哪种类型的销售工作适合您，check out this post。