4/30/2010

Sales Engineer Salary Bands

An average Sales Engineer salary varies on a bunch of factors...Here are a couple of the factors:  location (each city has its own supply and demand)...so someone working in the Bay area will command a higher salary than an SE in North Dakota.  SO if you are an upcoming SE, you may want to research cities than have a higher pool of companies to match up to your salary expectations.  Years of Experience is important, so if you are a SE who has covered the corporate fortune 500 space for 15 years will offer you more $$$ than and entry level SE will only a few years experience. A variety of experience is also important, as a Sales Engineer salary takes into account selling and solutioning in a variety of different marketplaces and segments. Strong supplementary skills around BPM, requirements gathering, project management, team lead responsibilities can also lend themselves to higher OTEs.  Vertical experience is just an important as product and competitive knowledge.  Typically vertical experts and SMEs can demand higher salaries and usually get them.  Previous Track Record is important, an SE that repeated supports a sales team that over achieves on their quotes can command a higher salary.  These are just a few of the areas to consider when negiotating an Sales Engineer salary

4/17/2010

Sales Engineer Interview Demonstration Role-Play

I always have Sales Engineer Interviews with new candidates perform a demonstration role-play as part of the interview process...One of my previous mentors always did this and it always give him a great cross section of the potential of an Sales Engineer candidate.  Always have your recruiting team set the stage with your SE that this stage in the interview is to see how they present a solution that they are comfortable discussing.  It is important to have the interview candidate provide the following details at least a day or two prior to the mock demonstration event.  They need to tell the panel the roles of the interviewers, the current mock system/application environment and a couple KBRs (Key Business Requirements).  The demo is usually a 40-45 minute exercise that allows the interviewers to accurately gauge presentation effectiveness, delivery of unique business value, solution crafting, objective handling and thinking outside-of-the-box.

Try it in your next Sales Engineer interview process, and I am sure you will make it an important step as part of your SE evaluation process...Good Luck!