A startup sales team usually starts with a founder who sells. Then, a salesperson or two. Maybe some SDRs. Then, a director or VP. Then, more reps. Then sales operations. And at some point, most B2B SaaS sales leaders find themselves wondering, “Do we need a sales engineer?”
I am a big believer in the impact a fantastic sales engineer can have on a small, high-growth company. However, deciding to hire the first person into this role can be scary. When I first took the leap, I was at the point where I knew if I invested X in a sales hire, I could expect about Y in revenue/bookings as they ramped. I didn’t know if a sales engineer would be additive to that. I wondered if there would be a way to calculate the impact. I worried it would be an expense that didn’t pay off.
It turns out that when you have a strong sales engineer, all of those questions go away. You don’t need to measure the impact; you can feel the impact, and it’s palpable. A sales engineer helps you grow your team faster and helps your salespeople sell more.
You can easily measure a sales engineer's impact by evaluating closed-won metrics (they should go up), sales cycle (they should go down), and even rep ramp time (they should go down).
So, if you are wondering what a sales engineer is, what they actually do, and if you need one…here are some thoughts to get you started.
You know, I love a good Wikipedia quote, so let’s start with a definition.
Sales engineering is a hybrid of sales and engineering that exists in industrial and commercial markets. Buying decisions in these markets are made differently than those in many consumer contexts, being based more on technical information and rational analysis and less on style, fashion, or impulse…A sales engineer is thus both “a salesperson that understands and can apply engineering” and “an engineer that understands how to sell engineered systems”. They thus not only sell but also provide advice and support.”
I also like this definition a lot:
“The role of technical sales engineers essentially involves translating and explaining highly complex technical information to customers and clients, focusing on revealing how a product or piece of equipment can solve specific problems. They therefore play an important role in the modern sales process.”
Grade Ireland
The role of a sales engineer sounds pretty technical, but even software companies that sell to non-technical buyers with a relatively simple product often can benefit from having a sales engineer.
A sales engineer is more than someone who translates technical concepts to a layman or speaks tech to a technical buyer. A sales engineer translates use cases into reality, business needs into functional examples, and custom requirements into feasible outcomes. They become the representative of your product and its capabilities.
Here is a list of primary duties that sales engineers can be responsible for in a startup: