3 Steps to Train Your Sales Engineers to Do Better Discovery

Although saying “it depends” can work in philosophy and physics, these words can be detrimental if used too often in the sales industry. Instead, Sales Engineers and Solutions Engineers need to succinctly and effectively provide answers to prospects.

For example, a prospect asks, "How do you recommend we integrate your solution with our back-end systems?" Oftentimes, Sales Engineers will answer with the classic "It depends", and explain all the options to show flexibility. Now, it's hard to blame the sales engineer for saying, "It Depends" because, in most cases, it does. However, by providing options, the sales engineer has created risk for the prospect, ultimately leading to more questions, indecisions, and delays in the deal.

So here are some tactical steps that you can take to get your prospect what they want (a solution) without saying, "It Depends."

‍

Step 1: Understand the Audience

Now, this first step may sound obvious, but before answering a question, ensure you understand who you are talking to. This doesn't just mean your prospect's name but also their role in the company.

Revisiting the above example, where a prospect asked, “How do you recommend we integrate your solution with our back-end systems?” depending on who is asking that question, you have a lot of options for how to answer it.

3 example audiences for this situation: 

1. Enterprise Architects - if an EA asks you this question, they are probably trying to understand your integration protocols and best practices. But maybe not. They may just be interested in how you integrate with their ERP (Oracle).
2. Developers - if a developer asks you this question, they may just want to know if you support modern web services so that they don’t have to do a ton of extra work.
3. Business Users - if a business user asks you this question, they may just want to know that they don’t have to log in to another system to do their work. 

As you can see, the same question can have completely different answers based on the audience asking it. Understanding the audience is an important first step, but it won’t solve all your problems, and it won’t stop you from saying, “it depends.” 

‍

Step 2: Understand the Question

After you understand the audience, you need to understand the question itself. For example, someone might ask, “How do you recommend we integrate your solution with our back-end systems?” But they might mean, “Does this integrate with Oracle?” Notice the difference? The answer to the first question is “it depends” and will probably involve another 5-minute explanation about API protocols. Whereas the answer to the second question is simply, “yes.”

You can save yourself and your prospect a lot of time and confusion if you figure out what is really being asked before answering their question.

‍

Step 3: Check Yourself Before Saying “It Depends”

 Every time you feel the urge to say, “it depends” stop yourself. In almost every situation, you can stop saying “it depends” by simply asking a clarifying question. This option not only prevents a 30-minute explanation but also shows your prospect that you want to give them the best answer possible. One of the easiest clarifying questions you can ask, is “that’s a good question, why do you ask?” This response works in almost every situation and can help you understand the thought process behind the question.

‍

An Example:

Now that we know how to more effectively answer questions let's put all of these tips into an example:

Prospect asks:

“How do you recommend we integrate your solution with our back-end systems?”

Sales Engineer asks:

“That’s a good question, why do you ask?”

Prospect asks:

“Well we’re moving from Oracle to SAP and I want to make sure that this is okay for both”

Sales Engineer answers:

“Got it. Well, we have connectors for both Oracle and SAP so you won’t even have to worry about it.”

And there you have it. With just one question, you were able to learn more about your prospect, avoid confusing your prospect, and give your prospect the confidence to move forward.

‍

What if your sales engineers could be both Subject Matter Experts and Sales Experts?"

Most presales training teaches sales engineers to be Consultants. But most Consultants talk too much and give the customer too many options which confuses them and delays their solution. Not to mention, most people don’t like “Consultants” that say "it depends" all the time. Book a call with Alpha Presales and teach your sales engineers how to stop "consulting" and how to start helping clients make better decisions, faster.

‍