So I really enjoy explaining complicated technical products in terms a customer can understand, having done so through my own SaaS projects, I've also worked as a developer before.
I'm very much attracted by technical sales engineer position, how can I land myself that role ?
I have been selling enterprise software for the construction industry (a niche product) for about a year. In my situation the sales process is fairly simple once you have the right product (e.g., product market fit). Although this example is about the construction industry, some of the ideas may apply to other industries as well.
I start by attending industry trade shows and other industry specific events (i.e., conferences). Typically the upper management of these companies (VPs and Project Executives) attend these events since some of the events are in the day time and regular people have to work at that time. These events are great for networking and gathering new clients because the people who you meet are either the decision-maker or they can quickly introduce you to the decision-maker in their organization. One thing that I learned from selling to companies is that you should start as high up the organization as possible. A new employee or some in middle management is much less likely to pass your message along to their boss.
The most difficult part of enterprise sales is setting the right price. Typically enterprise software does one of two things. It either (1) increases revenue or (2) decreases cost. For both situation you need to quantify the client's current process - what they are doing now without your software. I typically measure labor hour saving per year per employee or new revenue generating potential per year. Then I calculate the new condition if the client were to use my software. The difference between the current condition and the new condition is the amount of value that the software is creating for the client. And finally, the price that I charge them should be a percentage of the new value that has been created. The price also needs to be high enough to cover all the cost (sales, development, marketing, and operations) and profit(20% to 60%).
What I have found is that most software engineers under price their products. An engineer might think along the following lines: "It costs me about $1000 to host my servers on AWS per year. If I charge $5000 then I would be highly profitable."
The problem with this way of thinking is that the person does not consider the value that they are adding to the client. The client doesn't really care about how much it cost you to build your product. They only care about the value that you can add them.
I can go on further if anyone is interested or have any questions.
Please do go on further, this is amazing insight into how you price enterprise sales.
What percentage do you charge of the value provided by the software? In my case, I save a company $100,000 worth of labor, what portion of that value is fair to take, and at what portion does it no longer make sense to purchase (obviously if it's 90% of that you are charging, it becomes too expensive for little gain)?
I'm sure you have competitors in this niche, how do you make sure that your prices are competitive?
Would love to talk to you more about this if you don't mind and get your personal opinion on my software (can you email me at [email protected]), and how to price it properly.
My biggest and most expensive lesson I learned this year so far is that you must target decision makers with budget and people with the right long term fit.
So the million dollar question becomes, how to find these golden nuggets. Is there any other way besides going to conferences? Although I would love to hear more on the specifics of what worked for you and what didn't. How do you pitch your product without coming across as an annoying door to door sales guy?
Please, I encourage you to continue writing more about your experience in this domain, would also love to personally talk to you via email.
Based upon my experience selling $200k to $3m solutions.
You need to be competent in the technology niche that you wish to work in.
You need to be interested in understanding the problems people are trying to solve, including the business, cultural, political and legacy technology background for those problems.
Having done that, you then architect the "solution" and present it.
Typically the client wants to pay far less, wants it much sooner and throws in a bunch of new constraints. So you go back and re-architect, repeat. A fast sales cycle is 6-9 months some can be multiple years and the technology moves along as they dither.
It helps to have client-side experience before crossing over to the vendor-side.
Have you applied and failed to get those positions?
A lot of companies have trouble filling sales roles, and adding your technical expertise is a huge advantage. I'd imagine any smart hiring manager would at least talk to you.
I have not applied yet. Usually reading the job description it's a bit intimidating. I've officially only worked as a software developer but have not worked in a sales role other than building my own SaaS from scratch, and selling it to other people.
I've been considering an entry level sales job to fill that gap before thinking about this role, but is that not necessary? Could it be possible to go into this role directly with only an engineering and some entrepreneurship experience?
Consider that there is a Senior Sales Executive out there today that you have knowledge & expertise to help. Suggest reaching out to Diretors & SVPs of Sales in the SaaS space. Linkedin is a good place to find them. Now gather intel and network. You must talk to these guys, the more, the better.
Incidentally, start reading up on the sales process. Recommend reading The Challenger Sale by Adamson and New Sales Simplified by Weinberg.
Start a site explaining technical bits, build a following, use that as a portfolio to land a job. Ideally, specialize in technology & products, which just so happen to be owned by the companies you want to work for, they will likely hear about you long before you apply for any job. Think of this as a 1-2 year project, but it will dramatically raise your internet profile, and you will personally grow too.
what are some examples of people and blogs that have done this already? I think I can learn the fastest by reading such blogs and trying to emulate what they've done but in a domain that I'm familiar with.
[+] [-] dqdo|11 years ago|reply
I start by attending industry trade shows and other industry specific events (i.e., conferences). Typically the upper management of these companies (VPs and Project Executives) attend these events since some of the events are in the day time and regular people have to work at that time. These events are great for networking and gathering new clients because the people who you meet are either the decision-maker or they can quickly introduce you to the decision-maker in their organization. One thing that I learned from selling to companies is that you should start as high up the organization as possible. A new employee or some in middle management is much less likely to pass your message along to their boss.
The most difficult part of enterprise sales is setting the right price. Typically enterprise software does one of two things. It either (1) increases revenue or (2) decreases cost. For both situation you need to quantify the client's current process - what they are doing now without your software. I typically measure labor hour saving per year per employee or new revenue generating potential per year. Then I calculate the new condition if the client were to use my software. The difference between the current condition and the new condition is the amount of value that the software is creating for the client. And finally, the price that I charge them should be a percentage of the new value that has been created. The price also needs to be high enough to cover all the cost (sales, development, marketing, and operations) and profit(20% to 60%).
Basically: If (Price < Value_Created && Price > Cost + Required_Profit){ Deal} else {No Deal}
What I have found is that most software engineers under price their products. An engineer might think along the following lines: "It costs me about $1000 to host my servers on AWS per year. If I charge $5000 then I would be highly profitable."
The problem with this way of thinking is that the person does not consider the value that they are adding to the client. The client doesn't really care about how much it cost you to build your product. They only care about the value that you can add them.
I can go on further if anyone is interested or have any questions.
[+] [-] curiously|11 years ago|reply
What percentage do you charge of the value provided by the software? In my case, I save a company $100,000 worth of labor, what portion of that value is fair to take, and at what portion does it no longer make sense to purchase (obviously if it's 90% of that you are charging, it becomes too expensive for little gain)?
I'm sure you have competitors in this niche, how do you make sure that your prices are competitive?
Would love to talk to you more about this if you don't mind and get your personal opinion on my software (can you email me at [email protected]), and how to price it properly.
My biggest and most expensive lesson I learned this year so far is that you must target decision makers with budget and people with the right long term fit.
So the million dollar question becomes, how to find these golden nuggets. Is there any other way besides going to conferences? Although I would love to hear more on the specifics of what worked for you and what didn't. How do you pitch your product without coming across as an annoying door to door sales guy?
Please, I encourage you to continue writing more about your experience in this domain, would also love to personally talk to you via email.
[+] [-] CyberFonic|11 years ago|reply
You need to be competent in the technology niche that you wish to work in.
You need to be interested in understanding the problems people are trying to solve, including the business, cultural, political and legacy technology background for those problems.
Having done that, you then architect the "solution" and present it.
Typically the client wants to pay far less, wants it much sooner and throws in a bunch of new constraints. So you go back and re-architect, repeat. A fast sales cycle is 6-9 months some can be multiple years and the technology moves along as they dither.
It helps to have client-side experience before crossing over to the vendor-side.
[+] [-] smt88|11 years ago|reply
A lot of companies have trouble filling sales roles, and adding your technical expertise is a huge advantage. I'd imagine any smart hiring manager would at least talk to you.
[+] [-] curiously|11 years ago|reply
I've been considering an entry level sales job to fill that gap before thinking about this role, but is that not necessary? Could it be possible to go into this role directly with only an engineering and some entrepreneurship experience?
well my email is [email protected] if anyone wants to talk.
[+] [-] unknown|11 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] JSeymourATL|11 years ago|reply
Consider that there is a Senior Sales Executive out there today that you have knowledge & expertise to help. Suggest reaching out to Diretors & SVPs of Sales in the SaaS space. Linkedin is a good place to find them. Now gather intel and network. You must talk to these guys, the more, the better.
Incidentally, start reading up on the sales process. Recommend reading The Challenger Sale by Adamson and New Sales Simplified by Weinberg.
[+] [-] WestCoastJustin|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] curiously|11 years ago|reply