What do you do if your understanding of customer needs and preferences as a Sales Engineer is limited?

As a Sales Engineer, if I find my understanding of a customer's needs and preferences limited, I take proactive steps to deepen my knowledge. This includes asking targeted, open-ended questions during interactions to gather more insights, conducting thorough research on their industry and specific challenges, and engaging with my team for diverse perspectives. I also leverage any available customer data and feedback to tailor my approach. Continuous learning and adaptation are key, ensuring that my solutions align closely with customer requirements for more impactful, informed engagements.

Rarely is there one person who can accurately describe the need. I like to engage different functional levels, and then recap with the key decision maker. And before delivery, make sure there is agreement of what is being delivered.

Sales Engineering is always about helping customers successfully implement, sustain, and advance their mission (government) or business (commercial). Strive to establish partnerships with customers. If you lack customer knowledge, ask questions like "Where are you having success?" and "Where are you experiencing challenges?" Engage in the conversation by seeking first to understand and then to share where your company can assist. Be clear, and never try to oversell. And if there isn't a fit, be honest and make an offer to revisit if/when your company's offerings expand or the customer's requirements change. Fostering trustworthy relationships will serve you better than a "square peg in a round hole sale" throughout your career.

Ask Questions, engage with customers and ask open-ended questions to gather information about their needs, challenges, and preferences. Listen actively to their responses and take notes to ensure you understand their requirements. Know your target market, conduct thorough research on your target market, industry trends, and competitors. Understand the common pain points and challenges your customers face, as well as the solutions they may be seeking.

If your understanding of customer needs and preferences is limited as a sales engineer, capitalize on excellent listening skills. A good network and entourage are crucial. Identify the technical experts in your circle for support on the next technical level!

As a Sales Engineer, to pitch your solution to a customer, you really need to understand the client. Listening and then making sure to gather the right info from experts in the field and then trying to research on your own as well, not only helps you to win over a client, but improves your knowledge and confidence.

This depends on the time I have for prep, ideally I would like the time to clarify pain points with the customer during discovery, if that is not possible than taking the time to investigate the customers business and even going through the buying process if possible. The more you know about what the customer does the better. In some cases I rely on my AEs to provide this information if it is a type of customer that might be slightly different than normal. The point is that it is part of the SE role to gather as much information as possible so that when it's time to present your solution you can tailor it best to fit the customers desires and needs.

Don't consult just experts, talk to normal people. Experts often complicate things, and may have a biased view by seeing things too deeply or by their previous experience, and may lack imagination. Try to explain and consult someone unbiased, completely outside the field. He can use his common sense and unbiased perspective, which will help you to don't overthink the problems. It will help you clear your thoughts, focus on important points and understand the customer. Only when you can explain a problem or a product to your grandmother, it means that you really understand it.

A technical expert is a professional with specialized knowledge and skills to troubleshoot issues and engage in in-depth conversations. They possess in-depth understanding of the company's offerings and can effectively match them with specific needs. It is crucial for businesses to ensure that the correct products and services are recommended to customers for optimal results.

Actively listen to customers during interactions. Ask open-ended questions to uncover their specific needs, challenges, and preferences.

Feedback plays a crucial role in the technical sales process, presenting an opportunity for development and enhancement. Client feedback indicates their active involvement and interest in the success of your product or service.

Feedback is the breakfast of the champions. Establish a feedback loop with customers to gather insights on their satisfaction levels, areas for improvement, and new requirements. Actively seek feedback through follow-up calls, and meetings to continuously refine your understanding of customer needs.

Conducting a competitive analysis allows businesses to pinpoint their strengths, weaknesses, and unique selling points compared to their competitors. Armed with this valuable insight, organizations can strategize on how to effectively position themselves in the market to increase sales and implement successful tactics.

I embrace curiosity over arrogance to refine my sales pitch with limited knowledge of customer needs. I ask open-ended questions to understand their frustrations, desired outcomes, and challenges. I focus on the value proposition rather than features, translating them into benefits that address the customer’s pain points. For instance, I’d say, “Our software lets you make data-driven decisions to increase sales,” instead of listing technical features. By being curious, asking the right questions, and focusing on value, I refine my sales pitch and better meet customer needs

A good tactic is to be able to adjust your pitch post discovery and not just stick to a script 100%. Here's why: ⇨ Personalization: Tailored solutions speak volumes, showing you've listened and understood their specific pain points. ⇨Credibility: A pitch reflecting discovery earns trust, positioning you as a consultative partner, not just a vendor. ⇨Efficiency: Focused pitches reduce back-and-forth, making the sales cycle smoother and more productive. ⇨Adaptability: Demonstrates your ability to evolve solutions as customer needs and market dynamics change

The only thing I “pitch” is a baseball to my son— and I do that quite poorly thank you. If you are pitching anything to your client, odds are they know it’s a pitch and sense a lack of genuineness in the dialogue. Your desire is always to be showcasing value— be it through your products/solutions, regardless of where you may be in the sales cycle. You want to always be listening and looking out for the little cues or subtle hints given. This can happen in casual conversations or often evident with body language. As you take in the information you are learning more and more significant information about your client— use this additional information as you incorporate your value add to the customer.

Something I'm experimenting with is getting up to speed on certain prospects by using Large Language Models (LLMs) like Claude to help me review edited call transcripts with Claude acting as a persona of my prospect. Based on how I define the persona in Claude, I can ask it to give me very detailed answers to my questions on why a specific type of prospect might/might not like my offering or ideas on how to message it better in a way that would resonate. This isn't to replace interviews with actual humans, more of a way to get some ideas in a short amount of time, test them out on similar prospects, and keep refining my demos/messaging to align with what prospects are looking for.

To avoid this, it is critical in the early stages of the sales process (researching the opportunity) to understand how the customer/client does business. What do they need your product/solution to do to accomplish their business goal / objective. It amazes me how many times I have witnessed providers offering proposals based on features and function rather than how it fits the client's goal.

If you don't have what you need from your customer to deliver something of value to them, whether it be a custom demo, a presentation, or something in that vein, simply ask for more time with the customer. A good customer should understand that their time investment will pay off in dividends because you're output will be better informed. I know it can be daunting to ask for more time but the worse case scenario is they say no. You don't really have much to lose and a whole lot to gain if you get the time. Now make sure you craft a compelling note so the customer understands the ROI with this additional time they give you vs some generic email.

Proactively engage in the calls made by other people, particularly those who are experienced and have a track record of success. To do this, seek out your seasoned colleagues and respectfully request their permission to join their calls as an 'observer'. This role doesn't involve active participation, but rather, it allows you to carefully watch and learn from the sidelines. Pay close attention to their actions, the way they present their points, their negotiation skills, and the strategies they employ to win over clients or stakeholders. This is an invaluable opportunity to learn from the best in your field, gaining insights into their successful practices and potentially incorporating these tactics into your own professional behavior.

One approach is make a variety of plausible assumptions and present a solution with those assumptions clearly identified. That will at least generate a discussion with the customer. The last thing one should do is simply make something up…

You can't know everything you want to about a customer before the first meeting. Accept that. How do I prepare? Review their Website and Reports: I focus on their strategic initiatives by checking their website and annual reports. Form Opinions: I consider how the person I'm meeting might be involved in these strategic initiatives. Research Case Studies: I look for case studies or develop potential solutions that might interest them. Share Insights: I present these insights by explaining what others in similar situations have done. Then, I ask about their current situation. Everyone is interested in knowing what their peers are doing. I make sure to add value before asking questions.