The first focus area is Prospecting. As step zero in the development of any business, this is, quite simply, an examination of the customer’s business and how your solutions can help them run it. There are those who may contend that this is the responsibility of marketing or “pure” sales rep roles, but I wholeheartedly disagree. The sales engineer often spends more face to face time with customers than any other role in the sales organization. Therefore, they often have the most opportunity to gain a deeper insight into the customer’s business and how their solutions can be optimally applied.

Prospecting includes gaining a deeper understanding of the:

• customer’s current environment as it pertains to the supplier’s particular solution offering(s)
• customer’s business strategy, priorities, and the current state of their pursuit of such
• customer’s industry and their position in it
• position of the supplier’s competition at the customer
• past experience of specific individuals at the customer with the supplier’s company, products, or services
• specific individuals at the customer who are accountable for accomplishing their company’s objectives

Gaining this understanding will lead to ideas for how the customer can use the supplier’s solutions. Collaborating with the rest of the sales team should, in turn, lead to new business opportunities. From a management perspective, the primary metric for Prospecting is opportunity pipeline. Much as an army moves on its stomach, a sales organization moves on its pipeline. If a company is not constantly developing new pipeline for its solutions, there is no reason for that company to exist as a going concern. The technical seller is often the first and primary contact that many customers have with a supplier. The technical seller has the deepest understanding of how a technology works and how it can be implemented to help customers run their business. Therefore, the technical seller plays a critical role in identifying new opportunities for customers to expand their use of our solutions.