Looking for sales engineer interview questions to help you prep for an interview? Well, here are somes of the ones that I like to use for SE candidates.
-Describe your biggest opportunity that you ever worked on that closed? What was your role and how did you positively impact the decision?
-Describe your biggest opportunity that you have lost to the competition? What would have you done differently (if anything) during the sales cycle?
-Describe your pre-qualification checklist that you ask your sales rep for prior to demo'ing?
-Describe how Sales Engineers get engaged from a process standpoint at your organization?
-Describe an opportunity that you won which required you to quarterback and orchestrate resources from many cross-departmental groups to help progress a deal to closed status?
-Describe your greatest competitive win
Now, after screening and interviewing a candidate for product/industry knowledge and fit, I ALWAYS have them come in person and do a demo to me in role play as a prospect. I have them present something that they are comfortable demo'ing. This a where you see exactly how much value props and traps they inject into their presentation, not to mention how effectively they are able to handle objections. Look over for my next update of useful Sales Engineer interview questions.
Showing posts with label Traps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Traps. Show all posts
11/08/2009
4/28/2009
Handling Traps for Sales Engineers
So, you like to plant competitive sales traps against your competition, sure...most good Sales Engineers do! Next question....so, do you like it when your competition plants traps for you??? Most SEs HATE it when it happens, BUT great Sales Engineers love competitive traps against them..... Say that again?!? YES, great Sales Engineers luv it when the competition tries to launch a competitive trap for them...
Why you ask? Simple....Think of this sports analogy, take an NFL cornerback who's sole responsibility is making sure that the quarterback and wide receiver don't connect for a pass completion. So all cornerbacks try to stop this from happening, BUT great cornerbacks ANTICIPATE the quarterback's pass ('trap' in the sales world), so when the pass is delivered a great cornerback is so well prepared to counter that they usually are there to pick off the pass and transition to an offensive threat in which the other team is not usually prepared for.
So ensure you work on your responses to common traps, so that you are prepared to transition from a defensive position with confidence, your prospect will appreciate your knowledge and increase your trust advisor status with them. So, use competitive trap defense in conjunction with offensive trap positioning, and your conversion rate will increase...Guaranteed!
Why you ask? Simple....Think of this sports analogy, take an NFL cornerback who's sole responsibility is making sure that the quarterback and wide receiver don't connect for a pass completion. So all cornerbacks try to stop this from happening, BUT great cornerbacks ANTICIPATE the quarterback's pass ('trap' in the sales world), so when the pass is delivered a great cornerback is so well prepared to counter that they usually are there to pick off the pass and transition to an offensive threat in which the other team is not usually prepared for.
So ensure you work on your responses to common traps, so that you are prepared to transition from a defensive position with confidence, your prospect will appreciate your knowledge and increase your trust advisor status with them. So, use competitive trap defense in conjunction with offensive trap positioning, and your conversion rate will increase...Guaranteed!
3/27/2009
Setting Effective Sales Traps
To set an effective sales trap, often the sales rep replies on the sales engineer to do so, and the sales engineer believes that is the responsibility of the rep...So sadly enough, the net result is that no one plants any effective traps. Now, I am not talking about Mud Slinging (although that has it's place only in very specific situations), I am referring setting effective sales traps.
I will call out one of the more successful traps that I have used numerous times with high success. This is only one of many effective methods, but it is the simplest to implement without many steps. The process is very easy, yet elegant and is delivered in a discreet way. When delivered correctly, your prospect will feel that you have genuine interest in their needs first and at the same time you are laying down your trap framework.
Here it goes:
Assumption: Your company is first to demo over your competition. The approach is different when your company is responding to traps set by your competiton who have already demo'ed
Step 1: When you have a significant competitive feature that trumps your competition, as a sales engineer you can Set The Landscape for the trap...This must be done in a POSITIVE 3rd perspective for the need for the feature. For example, Gartner/Forrester/IDS say that by 2011 the need for feature x will have grown by 200%.
Step 2: Next, compliment your competitor on how they have chosen to implement this feature...Yes, I did say COMPLIMENT, BUT spin it with a comment, something like Vendor A has a pretty good Feature X for certain situations, but there approach varies from our we architected ours...
Step 3: Now, list our why your company has selected their approach to how they designed that feature which is unique AND more relevant to prospects key business requirements and business pains
Step 4: This is where the call-to-action for the TRAP comes into play...Proactively invite them to do further research on it, perhaps suggest they reach out to the other vendors they are considering to bring it up as a point of discussion.
This easy to apply sales tactic for setting traps is highly effective when you have the delivery down pat. The genuine interest in looking out for the prospects best interest is paramount, as it will help to solidify you role as a trusted advisor in their solution making process...Good luck!
I will call out one of the more successful traps that I have used numerous times with high success. This is only one of many effective methods, but it is the simplest to implement without many steps. The process is very easy, yet elegant and is delivered in a discreet way. When delivered correctly, your prospect will feel that you have genuine interest in their needs first and at the same time you are laying down your trap framework.
Here it goes:
Assumption: Your company is first to demo over your competition. The approach is different when your company is responding to traps set by your competiton who have already demo'ed
Step 1: When you have a significant competitive feature that trumps your competition, as a sales engineer you can Set The Landscape for the trap...This must be done in a POSITIVE 3rd perspective for the need for the feature. For example, Gartner/Forrester/IDS say that by 2011 the need for feature x will have grown by 200%.
Step 2: Next, compliment your competitor on how they have chosen to implement this feature...Yes, I did say COMPLIMENT, BUT spin it with a comment, something like Vendor A has a pretty good Feature X for certain situations, but there approach varies from our we architected ours...
Step 3: Now, list our why your company has selected their approach to how they designed that feature which is unique AND more relevant to prospects key business requirements and business pains
Step 4: This is where the call-to-action for the TRAP comes into play...Proactively invite them to do further research on it, perhaps suggest they reach out to the other vendors they are considering to bring it up as a point of discussion.
This easy to apply sales tactic for setting traps is highly effective when you have the delivery down pat. The genuine interest in looking out for the prospects best interest is paramount, as it will help to solidify you role as a trusted advisor in their solution making process...Good luck!
2/15/2009
SEs Leaving Competitive Traps
It is truly amazing that most Sales Engineers know their competition's product stack inside and outside, backwards and forwards...Why is it then that many senior SEs do not plant effective competitive traps in their deals. They all 'know' they should, but they often forget to do so.....Sure, it takes time to strategically plan out how to set a trap up, work on your delivery of the trap, and then have an appropriate 'call to action' for your prospect to follow-up on that trap. Yet, many SEs get lazy and forget to do so.
BUT, isn't that what you competition is doing to you already?!? Think to yourself, how many times have I had to answer that loaded question of, "How do you compare your solution to vendor x?" Most SEs (the good ones...) can answer this in a heartbeat in their sleep, but too many times discussing competitive landscapes is very reactive, instead of being PROACTIVE.
Here's what I mean, unfortunately many SEs only answer a planted question, and it is ONLY then that they begin their offense on the competition, which truly comes across as mud-slinging the other vendors as it is typically not well planned out and comes across only as a retaliation to the original question...
Being a seasoned Sales Engineer, keep a cool head, and plan your PROACTIVE competitive attacks/traps carefully as you normally do your REACTIVE competitive replies and you too will increase your close ratio!!!
BUT, isn't that what you competition is doing to you already?!? Think to yourself, how many times have I had to answer that loaded question of, "How do you compare your solution to vendor x?" Most SEs (the good ones...) can answer this in a heartbeat in their sleep, but too many times discussing competitive landscapes is very reactive, instead of being PROACTIVE.
Here's what I mean, unfortunately many SEs only answer a planted question, and it is ONLY then that they begin their offense on the competition, which truly comes across as mud-slinging the other vendors as it is typically not well planned out and comes across only as a retaliation to the original question...
Being a seasoned Sales Engineer, keep a cool head, and plan your PROACTIVE competitive attacks/traps carefully as you normally do your REACTIVE competitive replies and you too will increase your close ratio!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
