payton_pritchard

RSM

Valued Contributor

How do I tell my SE's they need to be better?

Our sales team works in tandem with a Sales Engineering team of 3 (2 + their manager), we sell a very technical product and the SE team presents demos, takes the lead on POC's, and are generally invited on most calls just in case.

All the SE's have been here at least a year but can't do more than an initial demo on their own. They work as a group after the first call (teamwork is great but kinda weird to have to invite an entire team to a straightforward POC kickoff) and after the first demo the manager of the team usually has to step in on any follow-up demos/Q&A calls/etc. which means that the customer now has a new technical point of contact who has none of the context from the last call and often has to re-explain things.

They're all very smart and we absolutely need them to close deals, but the way they do things makes our whole sales process disjointed and confusing, not to mention the two more junior ones struggle to answer a lot of questions, don't consistently give good demos, and things like that.

I'm no sales genius or technical expert myself so how do I let them know they need to be better without upsetting/insulting the people I need to close deals?

👑 Sales Strategy

☁️ Software Tech

9

19 comments

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BigCheese

Notorious Answer

2

Agency Recruiter

Unrelated: as an Oregonian who attended U of O, I very much appreciate your username.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

1

SaaS Eater

GO DUCKS BABY

BigCheese

Notorious Answer

0

Agency Recruiter

SCOOOOOOO 🦆

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

1

SaaS Eater

DUUUUUUUCKKKKKSSSSSS. God I cant wait for college football to get rolling

BigCheese

Notorious Answer

1

Agency Recruiter

Ah man, me neither. I got a couple of buddies going to the game at Ohio State and I'm quite jealous

someoneinsales

Tycoon

2

Director of Sales

Do they get paid comish also? If so just meet with them and ask them what do we need to do better in order to win these POCs get them to say they need to improve. If they don’t then sometimes tough love is the only thing that can break through. Who cares if they are mad you are going to make them more money in the long run and they will forgive you.

payton_pritchard

Executive

1

RSM

That's good advice, and I think the right way to handle it

butwhy

Politicker

2

Solutions Engineer

Wow, let me validate that that is weird af. I am not very patient with other SEs who are lazy, so anyone a year in who cannot own every inch of the technical cycle would receive a tongue lashing from me.

My gut is that they are being micromanaged by the manager who is not letting them own the deals and is taking over the next steps without teaching them. Also there needs to be a notes handover and sync - so I guess one thing you can do is before a meeting with the manager as the SE, do an internal sync call so they have all the context before being in front of the customer to solve the asking questions again thing.

Honestly, I doubt you are able to do anything else much to fix this, other than having a transparent conversation with your boss. Are other AEs frustrated by this as well?

payton_pritchard

Executive

1

RSM

Yeah it's definitely been pretty weird, first time I've seen something like this happening, other AE's are definitely a bit frustrated as well

I do my best to make sure everyone who might be involved has notes with email recaps, internal slack channels for all deals, and sync calls for any deal that might be significant but it's still telephone and there's little details and even things like tone that just don't translate that way.

Sometimes that manager comes on more as extra support but when some of the junior guys pass questions they can't handle on to him he ends up dominating the conversation after. He's way way better than them in all aspects of the role, which is good, but it feels like an awful flow from a customer experience perspective

butwhy

Politicker

0

Solutions Engineer

And this is exactly why I tell dudes who are very good SEs who think they have to become managers because it is "what's next" not to do it. They have a very hard time coaching instead of taking over completely.

Sucks.

LordBusiness

Politicker

1

Chief Revenue Officer

I was going to say the exact thing, it feels like the SE manager is inserting themselves to push their own value/agenda.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

1

☕️

Curious question: what is stopping you from teaching yourself and your reps to do the demos yourselves?

To your main question: you don't tell them, but you do have a conversation with their manager. Explain how the process is bumpier than a class-4 dirt road and you need to have a partner in the SE team, not a roadblock. See what happens after that.

payton_pritchard

Executive

1

RSM

Definitely working on up-leveling our own technical abilities, but being able to really demo and get into the weeds at the level many prospects want takes a level of expertise that isn't realistic (or worth it from a time-perspective) for our sales team. The SE's have some solid technical experience, much of it as practitioners rather than in sales, and they still get a bit overwhelmed/confused by the product at times.

The challenge is that the manager is a part of the issue, but point taken and good advice

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

1

☕️

Ah, makes sense re: technical depth.

People want to be a part of the solution, so make them feel like they're your partner and they should start working with you.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

0

SaaS Eater

Im confused, @payton_pritchard you say you need them to close RE tech knowledge but in the initial post you say they arent able to do more than an initial demo and that the manager needs to step in and take over at that point. You sure you need them? You sure you cant get to the level they currently operate at?

Beyond that, I think a candid conversation with the manager is key. Have him evaluate the deals (and their role) critically. If you are losing because of their skillset highlight it and then provide a path forward that solves the issue.

cw95

Politicker

1

Sales Development Lead

Make group sessions where you do the exact work what they do and see the outcomes then suggest different approaches if they aren’t doing it well. If they see a leader do well…monkey see monkey do!

JaySeaman

0

Enterprise Director - Southeast

@payton_pritchard the best advice i can give is be direct and give examples. I don’t care if it’s a BDR to Senior AE…advice matters across roles/titles. Commission don’t care. All the BI in the world doesn’t solve apathy and I’m reading in here but that seems the case. That said, take initiative, lead with customer outcomes in mind and unsell the status quo…that’s the magic. Happy to help if I can

FeedTheKids

Politicker

0

Solutions Consultant

Communication with the SE team is the easy answer.... But the answer no AE ever wants to hear is learn the system better.

This way they are only needed for Q&A and diving in the weeds on very specific use cases.

This doesn't mean you need to know every click or button but SaaS is "solution selling."

If you can't figure out the clients setup and main pain points then demo how your platform solves those problems.... Might not be in the right role

IYNFYL

Politicker

0

Enterprise SaaS AE

I recently came from an org that worked this same way and the mindset was the Sales Engineers did most of the selling and the AEs were more door openers and then order processors. I thought it was BS as an AE myself as the SE never got commission on the deal but did 70% of the work. Ultimately it comes from leadership though bc when I challenged the system I was told to stay my lane. I think the AE/SE relationship is critical as a team and the only way to build it is having them both engaged as much on the sale.

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