The world of marketing and business tend to flow on the efforts of sales persons who help businesses and organizations meet their goals. This they do through the effective selling of products and services to prospective customers. In the same vein, the sales engineer is the sales person of the technological world. They are the brains behind the massive sales of technological products and services of organizations to customers. A sales engineer uses his technical skills to show a prospective customer the benefits of a product or service being rendered by an organization above that of her competitors. This ability to promote the business goals and image of organizations and businesses makes them highly invaluable in the IT world.
Like salespersons, the sales engineer is the one who makes the customer pick interest in the product or service of the company. They are the image of the company who people see before making decisions with regards to products offered by a company. The desire to meet consumer’s needs has led to healthy and in some cases, highly unhealthy competitions among businesses. This competitive factor makes the place of a sales engineer, highly important in any successful IT company. In this article, we will try to help you understand all you need to know to become a sales engineer and choose its career path.
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Why become a Sales Engineer?
The work of a sales engineer is quite task-demanding and require a lot of marketing and presentation skills. For most people who become sales engineer, the employment opportunities the field provides tends to be one of the reasons why they embark on this career path. Statistics show that the growth projection for the occupation of a sales engineer is as fast as the average for all occupations. The consistent increase in technological advancement and production of highly sophisticated product, makes the sales engineer highly invaluable to help sell products or services, closely related to the product.
The employment growth projection for a sales engineer projects a growth rate of about 6 percent over the next ten years. This is especially true for sales engineers selling computer software and hardware. In addition, the rise in computer systems design is also a major factor that will contribute to the employment growth rate for the occupation. This being said, the employment of sales engineer is computer systems design and related services will likely increase to about 24 percent over the next 10 years.
This stability in employment of sales engineers makes the occupation, a field one could explore as a chosen career path. This can again can be seen from statistics which show that sales engineers hold about 66,700 jobs. The largest employers of which are as follows:
Merchant wholesalers, durable goods ——- 25%
Manufacturing —— 20%
Computer systems design and related services —– 17%
Wholesale electronic markets and agents and brokers —– 7%
Telecommunications —– 5%
Another strong reason why people often would want to be sales engineers is the salary structure. The median annual wage( which is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less) for the occupation of a sales engineers is $103,900.The top 10 percent often earn more than $174,270, while the lowest 10 percent earn less than $59,180.
This high earning capacity of the occupation makes it passionately desired by most people who choose the career path.
What Does a Sales Engineer Do?
The work of a sales engineer tend to vary along a wide range of services. Like a sales person, the sales engineer uses his technical skills to ensure prospective customers understand the need of the product and also negotiates with them to complete the sale. Although they work to promote sales of products, they often team up with other salesperson, who focus on marketing and selling of the products, which allows them focus on the technical aspects of the job. Other aspects of their job also include:
Market research; the sales engineer often gets technical requirements from customers, with the aim of using them to modify and adjust the products to meet new trends in customer’s needs. Thus they work with research and development departments to help identify and develop products to suit customers need.
Prepare and deliver technical presentations explaining products or services to existing and prospective customers.
Talk with customers and engineers to assess equipment needs and to determine system requirements
Collaborate with sales teams to understand customer requirements and provide sales support
Secure and renew orders and arrange delivery.
Plan and modify products to meet customer needs
Help clients solve problems with installed equipment
Recommend improved materials or machinery to customers, showing how changes will lower costs or increase production
Help in researching and developing new products
How to Become a Sales Engineer
Sales engineers typically need a bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related field. Successful sales engineers combine technical knowledge of the products or services they are selling with strong interpersonal skills.
