Sales engineering isn’t a well-known career path. However, it can be enjoyable and lucrative while offering a good work/life balance – especially for those with the right blend of skills and knowledge.
A sales engineer acts as a bridge between businesses and the teams that create complex scientific and technical products. As they work with business clients to understand their technology needs, sales engineers suggest and customize solutions, explain product functionality, troubleshoot issues, and provide technical demonstrations. They might also relay customer feedback to their product development teams, impacting their company’s innovation strategy.
Sales engineering is unique because it requires a wide and varied skill set. Sales engineers must have a deep technical knowledge of the product they’re selling along with the soft skills required to excel at sales and communicate complex scientific and technical information in easy-to-understand language.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for sales engineers is expected to grow by six percent by 2033, which is faster than the average for all occupations. And, with a median salary of $116,950 USD in 2023, it’s a career path with promising salary prospects as well.
The Day-To-Day Work Of Sales Engineers
Sales engineering is a highly specialized role. It requires both technical expertise and the soft skills needed to excel at sales. Typically working in business-to-business environments, sales engineers work with companies to understand their scientific and technological needs and present solutions.
While sales engineers require a deep technical understanding of the products they sell, many of their day-to-day duties are rooted in sales, including meeting with clients and engaging in the negotiation and marketing tactics needed to complete a sale. According to a piece at Indeed.com, the typical daily duties of a sales engineer include:
- Developing and maintaining relationships with clients;
- Reviewing, identifying, and evaluating client tools, processes, and systems to suggest appropriate products and services;
- Meeting with sales teams to gather and share information about client needs;
- Preparing and delivering compelling and easy-to-understand product presentations to potential clients;
- Recommending appropriate products, services, or resources to clients;
- Demonstrating products to clients;
- Planning and modifying products to meet client needs;
- Assisting clients with troubleshooting installed products or equipment;
- Performing research and development tasks to create new products based on client feedback;
- Helping to ensure client satisfaction and retention; and,
- Collaborating with other engineering or tech professionals on product development.
Additionally, working on various communications is a critical part of a sales engineering role. Sales engineers should be prepared to:
- Answer complex technical questions using easy-to-understand non-technical language, both in writing and in person;
- Draft proposals; and,
- Work with marketing teams to create content, whitepapers, and training materials.
Finally, like all professionals in the tech and engineering sectors, sales engineers must devote some time to continuous learning and professional development. It’s especially important that they stay up-to-date on technological advancements and competitor products.
Essential Skills Of Sales Engineers
To excel in their role, a sales engineer must have strong hard skills in their area of expertise and a mix of soft skills, especially those related to customer service and sales. This blend of skills isn’t common – but remember that both hard technical and soft skills can be developed.
Hard Skills
It’s essential for sales engineers to have the hard technical skills, developed through education and/or training, to understand the product they are selling. Technical expertise is required to assess customer needs, suggest appropriate solutions, and troubleshoot issues that may arise during and after implementation.
Traditionally, employers have valued post-secondary degrees as a way to ensure that candidates have the required hard skills. However, as businesses move towards skills-based hiring, fewer job postings are including degree requirements. Instead, many employers are relying on skills assessments and technical interviews to determine a candidate’s hard skills.
Interpersonal Skills
Interpersonal skills are critical for sales engineers. The role requires active listening, empathy, collaboration, making connections, and building and maintaining relationships. Sales engineers must be able to understand and navigate social and professional settings effectively, tailoring their approach to each audience.
Communication Skills
Strong verbal and written communication skills are necessary for success as a sales engineer. The role requires explaining complex technical information in easy-to-understand non-technical language in various ways. For example, sales engineers may need to draft proposals, prepare and lead presentations and product demonstrations, write whitepapers and other reports, and contribute to training materials using language that non-technical experts can understand. Additionally, the role may require record keeping.
Analytical Thinking Skills
At its base, the sales engineer role is essentially about problem-solving – using analytical thinking to examine customer issues and find an appropriate solution. Additionally, a sales engineer may need to creatively develop changes or improvements if the product offered by the sales engineer’s company isn’t quite what the client needs.
Customer Service And Sales Skills
Sales engineers need to negotiate with, persuade, and influence clients to sell products. They also need skills that will attract and retain customers. An effective customer service toolbox contains a number of skills, including empathy, active listening, problem-solving, patience, tenacity, and an interest in helping others.
Leadership Skills
Sales engineers often have to take the lead in their roles, whether leading sales teams within their organization, clients through decision-making processes, or product development teams after delivering client feedback. The ability to motivate and give direction to others, as well as accept accountability, can be important in many sales engineering roles.
Creativity Skills
Many engineering and tech professionals are inherently creative since the profession thrives on finding creative solutions to issues. However, those working as sales engineers may find creativity deeply important to their roles since they need to develop ways to approach new clients and sales strategies. Sales engineers may be required to develop pitches, presentations, and training materials. Finally, those in the role are often innovators, using client feedback to develop or improve the products offered and ultimately helping their companies grow.
How To Become A Sales Engineer
If you already have the technical and soft skills required to be a successful sales engineer, it can be relatively easy to transition into sales engineering as a career path.
Develop Your Technical And Soft Skills
As outlined above, a successful sales engineer has a unique combination of hard technical and soft skills. Before attempting to embark on sales engineering as a career path, make sure your skill set is a good match.
If your technical skills need to be enhanced, attending boot camps, engaging in self-directed learning, or taking online courses may help you land the job of your dreams. Improving your soft skills can be a little more difficult since these skills aren’t easily taught. However, they can be refined through deliberate, thoughtful practice and, in some cases, formal learning opportunities like workshops, courses, or seminars.
Gain Experience
Demonstrating that you have both technical and sales experience can be helpful when applying for sales engineering roles. If you followed the traditional path of earning a post-secondary degree before starting your career in the engineering or IT sectors, you may not have had a chance to gain sales experience. You can gain that experience by taking a side gig in a sales or customer service role, being mentored by a senior sales representative in your company, or applying for entry-level sales engineering roles.
Pursue Relevant Sales Certifications
Just as for technical expertise, there are also certifications for sales expertise. Having relevant sales certifications can enhance your credibility and demonstrate your suitability for a sales engineering role.
Certifications are usually earned via self-directed learning in online courses. Some certifications to consider pursuing include:
- Certified Professional Sales Person (CPSP), which covers the basics of sales and influencing others;
- SMEI Certified Professional Salesperson (SCPS), which focusses on practical sales and business vocabulary; and,
- Project Management Professional (PMP), which is a globally-recognized project management certification that demonstrates the ability to manage processes, people, and business priorities.
Once you have a good base of the skills and knowledge required for a sales engineering role, the next step is to start your job search.
Strategize Your Job Search
As with any job search, one that focusses on obtaining a sales engineering role should start by optimizing your resume and LinkedIn profile. Use AI to create compelling, focussed statements that emphasize the skills and knowledge that make you a great fit for sales engineering roles.
Finally, prepare for your interviews. Since the role of sales engineer requires both technical and sales expertise, you may be required to participate in both a technical interview and a typical behavioral interview. Being adequately prepared for the interview process is critical to securing a sought-after role and beginning the career of your dreams.
