bendandsnack

Account Exec

Help my SE sucks

Hey guys,

Brand new AE at a cloud consultant. My Sales Engineer is new as well, came from a good company so everyone thought he was going to do well.

However, he only worked on 1x strategic account at his last company, and we're juggling multiple fast-moving deals over here with various different deal cycles, as there's a plethora of professional services we offer.

I tried to be patient on the first few calls to give him the benefit of the doubt. Then he absolutely bombed on a call where my boss was supposed to be shadowing me, which ended in my boss calling his boss to yell and tell him to get his shit together.

The call was to go over a very niche product that I knew he didn't have experience with. I had tried to put some responsibility back on him by asking him to loop in another engineer(on my bosses advice), which he failed to do, ending in 3x consecutive customer questions answered with "I don't know" and no graceful sidestep.

I'll meet with him before calls to try & determine what we think the ideal outcome is ahead of time. It usually goes with him being "well, we won't know what they need until we talk to them and find out." That resulted in him saying to me on one call in front of the prospect "well I don't know where to go from here" after I specifically had discussed ideal next steps with him ahead of time.

I'm aware you need some discovery to determine the right path forward, but we are a "consultant" and where I've watched most deals fall short is when the sales team doesn't know how to guide the customer. We're also in a segment with a lot of startups that don't know what they're doing and are looking to us for advisory.

I feel like I'm beating my head against a wall here.

This feels like more of a vent but does anyone have any advice whatsoever?

☁️ Software Tech

✌️ Growing Pains

14

23 comments

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

6

☕️

Document. Document. Document.

bendandsnack

Politicker

1

Account Exec

you mean like document when he screws up?

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

4

☕️

Yes indeed. The best thing you can do behind the prodding you’ve already dork to loop in experienced SEs is to document their shortcomings. Fire fast, baby.

1nbatopshotfan

Politicker

3

Sales

Can he shadow more successful SE’s? Do you have any relationship with a better SE who can help guide them?

bendandsnack

Politicker

1

Account Exec

I do have good relationships with the other SEs but I'm not sure if this is worth burning my political capital with them

TheNegotiator

Arsonist

3

VP of Sales

Hahahahaha I literally laughed at the “my boss calling his boss to tell him to get his shit together”

Never worked with an SE on joint calls. I’ve brought product/tech, even my CTO once, but that’s as close.

Nice of you to be nice. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? I would’ve CRUCIFIED him after the 2nd dropped ball.

butwhy

Politicker

3

Solutions Engineer

"That resulted in him saying to me on one call in front of the prospect "well I don't know where to go from here" after I specifically had discussed ideal next steps with him ahead of time." Oh dear lord, this makes me furious on your behalf. I know these dudes well.

I know you said down thread you don't want to spend political capital on the other SEs, but I actually recommend looping one (a more senior one) in to see how bad this really is. A majority of us are anal perfectionists, and I wouldn't be surprised if they threw a bomb to the manager about it - along side your documentation of the incidents.

It might take a while - SEs are hard to hire in this market, hence why you have one with zero experience, and you might have to beef up and carry some of the technical discovery yourself until you can get them off your accounts. It will suck, but it might have the advantage of making you a stronger AE in the space as well; my favorite reps are ones who understand more of the tech to demonstrate value.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Why is your company pairing a new AE with a new SE? That sounds like an awful set up, TBH.

bendandsnack

Politicker

0

Account Exec

Desperate times call for desperate measures. And I cover SMB, I think his boss doesn't want him fucking up in Enterprise/Corp.

We're a consultant for a big tech company, so a lot of our reputation rides on how we handle calls in front of those reps.

In SMB I often don't have reps from our partner company joining as they have too many deals to juggle.

SADNESSLieutenant

Politicker

2

Officer of ♥️

have you tried unplugging him, shaking him up, blowing on him, and plugging him back in?

bendandsnack

Politicker

1

Account Exec

lol well played

SADNESSLieutenant

Politicker

1

Officer of ♥️

in all seriousness, talk to ur manager again and mention how it will affect pipeline and his goals and urs and if he could use his political muscle to have another SE lead the calls and for him to shadow a few times.

CaneWolf

Politicker

2

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

I haven't seen anybody say it so I'll go ahead. Did you ask to get a new one yet?

bendandsnack

Politicker

1

Account Exec

Update: complained about him once to my manager. I've been paired with a different SE who's also new but an absolute baller. The other reps are asking how I managed to swing it.

Speaking up helps I 'spose

bendandsnack

Politicker

0

Account Exec

No, nice girls problems lol

CaneWolf

Politicker

1

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

Yeahhhh, you need to talk to your manager about that.

saaster

Fire Starter

1

Account Executive

Dude been there - I’m not a throw a colleague under the bus sort of dude and am all for giving chances but I have a very short fuse when non quota carriers cost me money.

It sounds like you’ve been patient and nothing has changed so now it’s time to be the squeaky wheel - professionally. Document everything and share it often with your boss - like every single time.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

1

🦊

Sounds like he needs more training. Is there anyone else you can work with in the meantime?

Pachacuti

Politicker

1

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Ditto on the documentation. Does he support others with the same ineffectiveness?

How much of the technical load can YOU carry? Can you just cut him out of as many customer facing conversations as possible? Can you do discovery without him and then come to him with a list of questions? Trying to brainstorm how you can work with him but without him at the same time.

techsales

Politicker

1

Enterprise Account Executive

Is your SE responsible in these calls for demo'ing a product, providing discovery/technical guidance, both?

Good SEs are really hard to come by and if he's going from 1 account vs. dealing with more opportunities and more niche products, it's going to take some time. I'd approach helping yourself in 2 ways:

1. Like others have said--document every screw up. See if his boss/teammates can help provide more training/coaching while CYA in scenarios where it impacts a deal.

2. Can you do more to prep/hand hold before calls? Do you create a shared doc where you keep your notes for each of these deals? Do you try to script out what products/themes you want to focus on in the call? Sounds annoying but it might help him focus better if he is struggling managing these multiple deals.

Either way--I've been there. It sucks.

Boutdamtime

Politicker

1

Client Executive

I have two that blow. One told me he’s just hoping they fire him so he can get severance lol. It sucks. I document dates of meetings, responsibilities, and also when things aren’t done and why customers haven’t moved forward because of our slowness etc. it’s a bad spot to be but like others have said they don’t just grow on trees and you can’t have a combative or retaliatory relationship because you need them. Fine line to walk and why we get paid the big bucks loool

lovebread

Member

0

Infosec Sales Engineer

Extremely high likelihood your SE knows 1) they're bad 2) they bombed that call.

Usually you can throw SEs to the wolves and let them work with easy-going accounts before you test the waters of their technical limits.

Is this a presales engagement or post sales/customer success? If you prepped them with notes, have that documented for CYA reasons.

Three strikes and he's out is the safe bet for your own pipeline.

CRAG112

Valued Contributor

0

Account Executive

I've learned wildly different tech, industries, and verticals, all with zero experience going in.

I'll be your Huckleberry. Give me the shot as the SE. I do however need some product knowledge just to know wtf I am even discussing. Pointing a finger in the proper area works too.

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