Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer's Handbook

by John Care, Aron Bohlig

Written to help professionals decode the black art of selling complex, high-value products, this handbook is focused upon improving the methods and skills of those who engage in the technology side of the sales equation.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Technology, Professional Development

383 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2014

Reviews

[Sergey S]

Хорошая книга для начинающего пресейла.

[Chris Bauer]

One of the few books I've found on my career and it is a keeper.

The author provides invaluable information on best practices for any sales engineer, regardless of experience level. While each organization has a unique sales motion, the vast majority of lessons in this book are applicable. I've been in this profession since 1997 and found myself reminded of lessons forgot long ago. Useful for that experience alone.

I'll definitely be purchasing copies of this book for newer SE staff on my teams. Especially those with minimal experience in the field.

[Steve Smith]

So much better than Demo to Win and other transactional treatises on what B2C sales can teach B2B sellers. So much. If you like that kind of thing, this book will drive you NUTS. One of the few sales books based on big-n as well as personal insights from a recognized master of his craft. I put this book next to SPIN Selling, Start with No, Compensating the Sales Force, and The Challenger Sale in my library.

[John Archer]

Relied a little too much on package application scenarios from mid 90s/early 2000s Oracle app sales .

Mostly common sense...A few ideas that mostly boild down to doing your prep work

[Jules Bordat]

Chapitres intéressants:

- 15: The U in Technical Sales
- 23: Time Management for SEs

Autres:

- 5: Needs Analysis and Discovery
- 8: The Dash to Demo
- 17: Competitive Tactics

Avoid the RFP:

- Technical Reference Close: show 2 references to avoid the RFP
- Workshop close: do a POC instead of an RFP

Discovery: also helpful to build credibility.

Presentation: Non-verbal is 80%, content is only 20%.

Use energizers as an intro, such as a story or a promise.

Idea: role plays for demo + involve the audience.

Topic ideas:

- Objection handling
- Most common Backbase objection and how to reply
- Seymour type of questions

Goal of the meeting:

- Minimal Acceptable Achievement
- Best Possible Result

Selling to execs

- Keep it simple
- Educate rather than sell
- Come prepared
- Create personal internal and external branding (Personal Value Proposition).

Be the best demo-er and presenter.

Deep domain expertise in Wealth Management and Private Banking.

+ evidence and actions

Work with Jesse on action plan for Principal SE.

Partners: create:

- One page elevator speech
- List of business problems we solve
- High level tech requirements
- Who do I call list?
- Likely competitors

[Mark T]

At last, I found a book which covers something different in the aspect of sales. There are a lot of books that focus in developing a salesperson's mindset but only few that covers the technicalities of the job. Maybe because selling is mostly interpersonal, however if the relationship of business providers to prospects is almost equal, it boils down to which provider can communicate their solution to the prospect and meet expectations. It is easy to say but it would require team effort, deep knowledge of your product/system and your reputation in the industry.

This book did an outstanding job for providing a complete guide for technical sales. This is a must-read for all new SE's, salespersons and sales managers particularly in B2B sales.

[Iván Acosta]

It is a really fantastic book for the roles that we support the sales processes (Solution Consultant, Sales Engineers or Presales) since it is totally focused on establishing and cultivating relationships with key executives, as well as useful tools like:

-Lead qualification
-Remote demonstration techniques or webcasts
-Business value discovery
-Handling objections
-Connection with the executives
-How to be a trusted advisor
-Sales with partners

In other topics that are exciting for those who every day learn and apply knowledge in this professional area.! I hope you enjoy this book as much as I do.

[Charlie Lopez]

It was a great foundation when moving from a support role in technology to a sales role.

[Javier HG]

Si te dedicas a vender, no te lo pienses mucho y compra este libro. Aunque por el título se puede pensar que se refiere a puestos con responsabilidades muy concretas y técnicas, y que no se puede aplicar a ventas más "generalistas". Todo lo contrario. Aunque "Mastering Technical Sales" se escribió para formar a ingenieros de ventas (la parte más técnica de ventas complejas), las enseñanzas de este libro son muy útiles para cualquier labor de ventas.

Cómo preparar una llamada, cómo presentar el producto, cómo trabajar en equipo, cómo gestionar tu tiempo... Este es un libro denso y leerlo llevará su tiempo, pero no porque esté mal escrito. Para nada, sino porque cada página tiene utilidad. Lo tendrás de referencia y motivación.

[Phuong]

good