Thoughts on the October 13th SE MeetUp in SF

pSales Engineers are a rare breed and we come in all shapes and sizes from a million different backgrounds. Because of this, it's often difficult to find a crew of SE's to bounce ideas off of and share experiences with that aren't in your immediate circle.

The SE MeetUp held at the Talkdesk office yesterday evening was a rare experience. In my 10 or so years in the profession I have never seen that many SEs in one room. Everything from senior managers, principals, directors as well as junior folks and even a few that were just curious about the role. And EVERYONE was talking up their companies and hiring like CRAZY.

The "fireside chat" as it were, had 3 accomplished SE professionals from 3 different organizations chatting about their experiences in a panel format, with a crew of about 50 or so other SE participants. They had a nice selection of beer and finger food (the natural sustenance of the SE), and some comfy couches to sit on during the talk. When I say "fireside chat', it basically means they have a loop of a nice warm fire on the projector or flatscreen from youtube because you can't literally light anything on fire in an office building. Of course this being a SE meetup, the "fire" was a 5 hour clip of Darth Vader's armor being burned from Star Wars Episode VI instead of some festive logs crackling in a fireplace... but that's to be expected for this crowd.

The content was excellent, and there were some extremely relevant recurring themes that I wanted to highlight.

The first, that Jesse from Talkdesk pointed out, is the importance of having an opinion. The context for this comment was "how to nail an interview", but it definitely extends beyond that. As SEs, we must be opinionated about our products and services. The AE is always going to sell it like it's the second coming, but sometimes I feel like SEs think they need to be perfectly objective all the time. In my experience, this is not the case. And it's DEFINITELY not the case if you have aspirations of moving up in your role.

As SEs, we kind of fall in this purgatory in between the completely objective post-sales/support side, and the massively opinionated sales side of the house. We're left wondering... "how hard should I push?", "Should I push at all?" The answer is yes, and here's why.

As professionals, we all have decisions to make on the organizations we work for. It's VERY IMPORTANT that the company you choose represents YOUR personal brand. It's never going to be perfectly aligned, but at the very least you need to join a company where you believe in message of the team you're working with and the value of the product you're selling. When both of these pieces line up, it's easy to be opinionated. Why would a customer go with a company when the people selling it don't believe in it? You wouldn't buy a car from someone who told you "yeah, it's kind of shitty but it may work for you... I just don't like it that much." Plus, what AE is going to want you on their enterprise call if you're milktoast when it comes to talking up the product?

That brings me to another challenge that was shared by most folks there... the relationship between you and your AE. Having worked with hundreds of different AEs from all different skill levels and walks of life over the past 10 years, this topic probably warrants a post all to itself, but here's a few thoughts on it in the interim:

SEs are chameleons that can adapt to nearly any situation. A colleague of mine once said "a great SE is someone who can talk sports with a sales guy at the bar one minute, then talk shop with his engineer the next." That's not to say you should ever alter your actual personality to adjust to situations necessarily, but you need the full range of content to be effective. The same goes for your relationship with your AE. When I start working with a new AE, I treat them like a prospective customer. What are they excelling at? Where do they fall short? What are their interests? What drives them to be successful? What do they do on the weekends? How did they end up in this place in their lives?

Always pregame with your AE to discuss the best next steps with the customer (also will most likely be another post). Also pay attention to how they speak to prospective customers on the phone and in person. Even if their approach doesn't jive exactly with yours (and it probably won't), remember the customer was on a call with your AE so... chances are that customer was responsive to your AE's methods. Because of this, it will behoove you to perpetuate a united message throughout, or at the very least keep a positive image of your AE when speaking to customers.

The last and most important piece on the topic of the AE/SE relationship... don't talk shit about your AE to the customer. If you have a problem with the AE, talk to their manager about it... NOT the customer. Remember, if the customer is going to buy, they need to know your AE's intentions are as good as yours. Even if the customer thinks you're the greatest SE in the world, they won't buy unless they trust your AE as well.

I would highly recommend going to one of these meetups if you get a chance, it's a great way to gain perspective and meet like-minded folks. Check it here:

http://www.meetup.com/Sales-Engineering/