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The Presale data sheet
#1

The Presale data sheet

Saw this thread, and decided to bring more substance to it.

What is a "Sales Engineer"/"Presale Engineer"?
From Wikipedia:
Quote:Quote:

Sales engineering is a hybrid of sales and engineering that exists in industrial and commercial markets.
A sales engineer or presale engineer is the technical assistant of the sales person.
Sales is in charge of the whole process, and the presale is his technical assistant.
Quote:Quote:

A sales engineer is thus both "a salesperson that understands and can apply engineering" and "an engineer that understands how to sell engineered systems". They thus not only sell but also provide advice and support.

So - You are helping sales get the sale.
You prepare technical concepts, create bills of material (crucial in complex systems) and engage the customer technical people.
You are considered "less biased" (everyone knows that the sales guy is after money, you are perceived as a tech guy).
This applies to complex products and systems. My background is in telecom, and those systems are complex.

What do you need in order to become one?

First and foremost - you either have hands on experience or an Engineering/Tech degree. You may be in a different field - so relevant degree is usually mandatory (at least for long term).

You need medium to great people skills. You deal with all kinds of tech guys. Some are good people and some are scum. You have to be that cool guy who understands what he is talking about (intellectual mastery). You have to be able to form a connection with other techies and executives (although that is sales job).

You have to be able to compare on a technical level, as well as semi-commercial, the difference in features and products (sometime of the competition). A lot of this will come from the product manager.

You need to be a person who lives in fuzzy-logic environment.
Tech guys are mostly binary persons (good/bad), but is presales you are now dealing with complex systems and people. So customer logic maybe different than common one. I have seen it many times. If you cannot live in ambiguity, you will become frustrated.

Career Path

As I said above - you need the degree. It is almost a must.
Usually you start as tech support, QA or post-sale support (technician).
If you are good, and want to change to presales you can be promoted from within.
An alternative is coming from the customer side implementing those systems, or from a supplier side (very rare).
One may also grow from R&D and get tired of manufacturing and meeting deadlines and the pressure that R&D is experiencing on a daily/hourly basis. That transition is not easy at all (see fuzzy logic part).

Moving upward is either to:
  • Sales - You decide that you want to take the responsibility and find that having people as raw material works better than having documents as one.
  • Presale team leader - In mid-large corporations presales are managed by a team leader. In some cases I have seen VP sale support (extremely rare). So you just manage presales.
  • Product - You decide to become a product manager, because you work with R&D (you already know them).
  • Project management - you decide that fuzzy is not good and wish to be under a lot of pressure but at least have understandable scope.
[*] R&D - you now better understand the market, hate the fuzzy-logic situation and want to go back as leader in R&D.

Pros
My favorite is - having all the authority and (almost) none of the responsibility.
Explanation - If the deal dyes, it's sales fault. If the customer chose other vendor - it's the product manager fault.
Basically you are in the clear. You want to succeed, but no one will blame you (usually sales does not know what the BoM - Bill of Materials - should be and relies on you).

You get to travel and meet people. Again - one of my favorites. If you work Intl market - even better.

If you like tech stuff - you get to dive in and understand it. You may even demonstrate - you play with the equipment.

You usually get commissions - if sales succeed. That is almost "Money for nothing" (you did work for it)

Even if your sales guy does not sell - it may not impact on your reputation. After all - he has responsibility.

Cons

This is not a long term career. There are very few preslaes who do it till retirement. It is "easy" to bring a new young kid to replace you.
Also - there are not a lot of positions, and it keeps shrinking. Complex systems are still marketed, but corporations are using "pools" of presales. You then work with multiple sales and bounce around.

You report to a sales person.
Whatever people say, those guys see you as an instrument, and act accordingly. This could be annoying, and usually is.

If the sales guy is an idiot - you are stuck most of the time with an idiot. Replace "idiot" with "asshole" and the burn rate is accelerated.


Any more sharing on this subject is most welcomed

"I love a fulfilling and sexual relationship. That is why I make the effort to have many of those" - TheMaleBrain
"Now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb." - Spaceballs
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine" - Obi-Wan Kenobi
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#2

The Presale data sheet

Great thanks.

What's the best way to get an entry level position in this field?
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#3

The Presale data sheet

Still confused with what you actually do. Can you elaborate on a specific telecom product or software you sold before? How does one get their foot in their door in this field coming out as a Management Information systems major?
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#4

The Presale data sheet

Quote: (12-20-2015 08:14 PM)jake1720 Wrote:  

Great thanks.

What's the best way to get an entry level position in this field?

Best way - start in R&D or QA and work your way in. This is my opinion.

"I love a fulfilling and sexual relationship. That is why I make the effort to have many of those" - TheMaleBrain
"Now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb." - Spaceballs
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine" - Obi-Wan Kenobi
Reply
#5

The Presale data sheet

Quote: (12-21-2015 02:26 AM)kitlolz123 Wrote:  

Still confused with what you actually do. Can you elaborate on a specific telecom product or software you sold before? How does one get their foot in their door in this field coming out as a Management Information systems major?

I was a presale team leader and than a product manager and team leader.
It was a H/W vendor in optics/SONET field.
My portfolio was command and control, synchronization, IPTV and others (very broad portfolio) mostly from 3rd parties.

If you are MIS major - go to R&D and work either QA or junior programmer. You can try to work your way up from there.

"I love a fulfilling and sexual relationship. That is why I make the effort to have many of those" - TheMaleBrain
"Now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb." - Spaceballs
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine" - Obi-Wan Kenobi
Reply
#6

The Presale data sheet

Quote: (12-21-2015 02:56 AM)TheMaleBrain Wrote:  

Quote: (12-20-2015 08:14 PM)jake1720 Wrote:  

Great thanks.

What's the best way to get an entry level position in this field?

Best way - start in R&D or QA and work your way in. This is my opinion.

I'm currently mass applying to these jobs.

Thanks.
Reply
#7

The Presale data sheet

Quote: (12-22-2015 11:36 AM)jake1720 Wrote:  

Quote: (12-21-2015 02:56 AM)TheMaleBrain Wrote:  

Quote: (12-20-2015 08:14 PM)jake1720 Wrote:  

Great thanks.

What's the best way to get an entry level position in this field?

Best way - start in R&D or QA and work your way in. This is my opinion.

I'm currently mass applying to these jobs.

Thanks.

This usually takes time.
My advice (apart from patience): Look for people you know in those companies. I use LinkedIn (I'm highly connected) to see who I know on the inside.
Don't know if you have those contacts.
Good luck

"I love a fulfilling and sexual relationship. That is why I make the effort to have many of those" - TheMaleBrain
"Now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb." - Spaceballs
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine" - Obi-Wan Kenobi
Reply


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