Sales Reps and Sales Engineers often come from very different personality types. The rep is responsible for finding the leads, frequently getting told “no” multiple times before finally getting a meeting setup. They handle the relationship building, negotiations and keeping things on track. (Yes, SEs build relationships, but it isn’t their key goal.) Where the reps are typically outgoing and (possibly overly) confident, the SEs are often a little introverted and more into technology. I know this is generalizing, but I’ve seen it a dozen times when the two teams go out for social events. They are often each cut from very different cloth.

For this reason I think that the sales side of the house doesn’t always realize what they can do to help their SE. A few minor items can help the SE be more effective.  This in turn can help the Sales Rep make (and later beat) their number!

1. Provide details – we all know that there will be meetings completely cold. But if you extra information provide it! If I know the full names of the participants (and have enough notice) I’ll look them up on LinkedIn. This will help me in how I cover certain topics. I’ll adapt my examples to the audience, set the technical level accordingly. I might even leverage a story from my experience that lines up better with the audience.
2. If you know early, share early – I’ve lost track of how many times I learned about the use case for the call on the call.  The AE didn’t feel it was important to prep me on it.  But if they had I could have created a custom demo to show that problem being solved.
3. Plan ahead – let the SE know how you want to run the meeting. Is it discovery? Or a demo? Or are we helping them with an active problem?
4. Set goals – let the SE know the ultimate goal of the meeting. Do you hope to get the next meeting onsite? Line up a proof of concept? Or close a deal? If the SE knows, they can help guide things in the right direction. (And as another point – once you attain this goal wrap the call up! You got what you wanted, discuss next steps and get off the line. At this point you can only hurt things.)
5. Be direct with criticism – if the SE doesn’t do something right or makes a misstep, discuss it directly with them. This helps to build trust. And hopefully they will be comfortable providing feedback your way as well. (If this gets you nowhere you’ll have to escalate, but try direct first.)
6. Send praise up the chain – when SEs do something exceptional on a call, let their boss know. A short e-mail just highlighting the good work goes a long ways to build a professional team. And if by some slim chance you’ve spent time with direct criticism of an SE without any success you’ll get more traction with their boss when the time comes to complain.
7. Leverage chat apps properly – often the SE and AE are remote during meetings.  If you have an app like Slack, MS Teams, Mattermost or Rocket.Chat make sure everyone internally is on the same channel.  Turn off the audio alerts so they don’t distraft others.  If you are sharing your screen, at least have the app up on your mobile.  This can be a big help to keep everyone on the same path and make the effort sound more cohesive.

I’m sure there are other items that are important for SE/AE relations and teamwork.  These are the ones that come to mind for me.  If you have others, let me know!

Editor’s note: This is a reprint/update of one of my blog posts from July of 2015.