- Sales engineer
Sales Engineer is a job/role found primarily in
enterprise software ,hardware orprofessional services companies. The role serves to bridge the gap between sales acumen andengineering expertise.Role in Enterprise Sales
Initially, the products or services a
company sold were easily understood bysales reps, who could represent these without assistance on sales calls. Any questions a prospect (potentialcustomer ) had could be addressed by the sales rep. Astechnology became more complex,generalist s were replaced by specialists.Sales reps, however, did not developspecialization s. 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". Theenterprise sales rep developed skills that got meetings with strategicbuyer s, but thesales 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 otherrole s in anorganization is that Sales Engineers are not onsalary and bonus as mostpeople in anorganization 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
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