artofsales

Sr. Director of Enterprise Sales

Do Tech Salesfolks have to really talk tech?

In the world of Tech sales, how important is it for the Enterprise sales reps to understand and talk tech to some extent with the customers?

I grew up the sales org in SaaS company being able to get into the discussion, understand the customers pain point and stitch it together with our tech offerings. This has really worked in my favor. Clients don't see me as just a pushy sales guy, but more of a consultant who can solve their pain point. While building my team, i've been successful in recruiting sales folks that can understand & talk tech. However, it's difficult to scale for sure.

Would love to know your opinion on should they really talk tech?

If they don't, then would it take away the hidden advantage ?

Do you believe Tech salesfolks have to really talk tech? If not, then would the value

Attached poll

Yes, should talk tech No, presales is very much required

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

☁️ Software Tech

🏋️‍♀️ Leadership

💼 Productivity

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19 comments

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Kinonez

Celebrated Contributor

6

War Room Enthusiast

They need to understand how the technology works in order to answer simple questions and point the customer into the right direction. How else will we solve their issues if we don’t understand them?

artofsales

Good Citizen

1

Sr. Director of Enterprise Sales

I agree. But how easy is it to scale your sales team with folks who can understand tech? Pretty tough in my experience. So our hiring goals keep stretching, impacting our growth.

Kinonez

Celebrated Contributor

0

War Room Enthusiast

I mean they need to be able to sell, that’s the main skill they should have, but understanding tech is helpful, nonetheless.

KendallRoy

Politicker

4

AM

You need to have a decent baseline knowledge otherwise you'll have no credibility with the prospect. I'd say I handle 80% of what's thrown at me in the sales process and then use the SEs for the more technical questions.

goose

Politicker

3

Sales Executive

Tech sales people don’t have to talk bits and bytes. They need to solve problems.

Of course, if they are technical that helps.

CoorsKing

WR Officer

3

Retired King of the Coors Knights

Tech rep here selling a very technical product to technical buyers: yes. If you don’t understand the tech you can’t do valid discovery and determine root business pain. I botched my first few calls while still ramping the product knowledge.

butwhy

Politicker

2

Solutions Engineer

I prefer working with AEs who can "talk tech" or at least have a foundational understanding of the value of the tech because it makes for bigger deal sizes. Also it is very obvious when a sales rep is "parroting" their slides and pitch, and that cuts the ability to build rapport in the Enterprise space that you can solve any of their issues.

However I don't enjoy working with reps who think they know everything about the product and don't see the value of an SE. They end up inevitably promising things that don't exist and shushing me in a meeting - which makes me want to light their hair on fire. There's a nice medium in terms of tech knowledge that makes a sales rep effective.

artofsales

Good Citizen

0

Sr. Director of Enterprise Sales

That’s an interesting and true point. Tech sales folks who act like a know-it all can actually be bad for business.

WolfOfDalalStreet

Fire Starter

1

SDR

Scaling the org with good sales reps who can talk tech can be difficult. My previous org was doing good with around 40 reps with decent tech knowledge. As they scaled to 120 people, things started falling apart like a house of cards.

artofsales

Good Citizen

0

Sr. Director of Enterprise Sales

so what changed in your org to ensure productivity & quality was intact? Brought in presales?

UserNotFound

Politicker

1

Account Executive

In enterprise sales, I think it's important to have someone who can speak enough to get in the door and pique the interest of DM (and their army), and get to pain points/light discovery, but actually find more value in bringing in an SE to talk the in-depth talk. It's more impactful for a few reasons:

1) It creates a feeling of a divide between when they're being "sold" and what the "facts" are. If there is one person both creating rapport and discussing back-end technology functions, it waters both down in the buyers mind.

2) It makes the buyer feel like they're worthy of additional resources, AND gives a reason for multiple meetings. Yes, keep the timelines short- but also giving the buyer the feeling that they're so special and unique that additional resources are required is an ego stroke.

3) Good cop/bad cop: why what they want can/can't be achieved, why they're looking at the wrong metrics for ROI- whatever it may be. Having someone who can say they've sat in the seat across the table at some point brings a perspective that the prospect cant/wont have on their own without the sales rep having to be the constant 'challenger' in the exchange.

ultraman

Tycoon

1

Shepherd

So much of tech is application based though. I sell hardware that is vital for R and D and production and I spend 80% of the sale just listening to them talk about their application and then the rest of the time is spent putting together the appropriate solution for that. You have to have the knowledge to know what to ask, but for me it’s about listening and then researching with our engineers and then selling the shit out of what we come up with.

Justatitle

Big Shot

0

Account Executive

A basic understanding for the surface level conversations that the prospects they speak with will have knowledge on, further than that and a technical understanding it probably falls into an SE's hands to ensure there isn't any confusion

xxx

Valued Contributor

0

CRO

I tend to work with and buy things from people who know the industry, the solution, and how it works. I am not saying they have to know the deep tech involved, but its paramount to have a really good understanding of the tech to understand if it can/will work for a client.

superhans

Executive

0

Senior Sales Consultant

It completely depends on the product. If you’re talking to a CMO they just need to understand what it does not how it works. If you’re talking to a CTO you need to understand how it works or have a sales engineer

hh456

Celebrated Contributor

0

sales

I've always found you're never going to out expert them on their own product, but if you can explain how your solution attaches to their expertise, you'll succeed.

Upper_Class_SaaS

Politicker

0

Account Executive

I think it is important to at least be able to know enough to advance the conversation and close a deal by yourself if there are no other resources available.

mikehoncho

Good Citizen

0

Account Executive

You need to know enough about your tech to connect your features/functions to pain points and business value but if you get too stuck in the weeds you'll have trouble getting higher up in the org.

BdubSE

Opinionated

0

Global Manager - Sales Enablement

Im in sales training/enablement specifically to help reps in presales , sales, etc to talk tech in the right way without having to be an engineer or SE or whatever. It’s tough, but doable, and every role needs different levels of knowledge and ability, but there has to be a basic foundational understanding of the product, the customer, and how the two connect.

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