Main Responsibilities and Required Skills for Pre-Sales Engineer
A Pre-Sales Engineer is a technical professional who builds and conducts product demonstrations and solution workshops with customers to demonstrate the capabilities and benefits of a company's products or services. They help clients understand how the company's solutions can meet their needs and provide technical support during the sales process. In this blog post we describe the primary responsibilities and the most in-demand hard and soft skills for Pre-Sales Engineers.
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Main Responsibilities of Pre-Sales Engineer
The following list describes the typical responsibilities of a Pre-Sales Engineer:
Accelerate
Accelerate opportunities through the funnel by proving solutions through the presales process.
Acquire
Acquire end user feedback and product ideas for feedback on product development.
Address
Address and respond to prospect requests and product enhancements as needed.
Analyze
Analyze market segment and generate recommendations for product roadmaps.
Answer
Answer technical queries regarding the product design, solution, architecture, security and teams.
Architect
Architect solutions to meet customer requirements within industry and technology best practices.
Assess
Assess customer met and unmet needs and recommend optimum solution,.
Assess the functional and technical requirements related to integration projects.
Assess the technical feasibility and economic viability of the solutions proposed to customers.
Assist in
Assist Account Manager or Partner to close opportunities.
Assist in sales opportunities as an EHS Matter Expert.
Assist in sales training to heighten sales team knowledge of product capabilities.
Assist marketing team with product & solution collaterals, market needs, and competitive analysis.
Assist sales in customer meetings to answer technical questions.
Assist sales in technical components of tender and bidding process.
Assist sales qualification and own the technical architecture design.
Assist sales team members in organizing and developing RFP / RFI responses.
Assist sales teams writing proposals and delivering presentations.
Assist Territory Sales Managers with pre-sales and post-sales support.
Attend
Attend and / or prepare technology presentation sessions / workshops for targeted customers.
Build
Build and conduct product demonstrations, solution workshops, due diligence studies with customers.
Build rapport up, down, and across the organization.
Build solutions, provide technical guidance and educate the customer throughout.
Collaborate
Collaborate with internal stakeholders around customer solutions for sales enablement.
Collaborate with our sales teams and partners with high-touch pre-sales technical activity.
Collaborate with product managers and engineers to help shape the product roadmap.
Collaborate with Professional Services on solution design and delivery.
Collaborate with sales team members on competitive sales strategies / tactics.
Collaborate with the sales team to create the required documentation (Design Documents, SOWs etc.).
Communicate
Communicate effectively the needs of the clients to our internal developers.
Complete
Complete complex network designs for customer application of CIENA networking products.
Conduct
Conduct product demos and product related Q&A sessions.
Conduct research and analysis of business requirements.
Consult
Consult with a range of partners and industry leaders, from C-level executives through to developers.
Consult with clients to understand and analyse their needs, challenges and requirements.
Contribute
Contribute to achievement of AOV / MRR targets.
Contribute to development of technical sales strategy.
Contribute to outstanding Client satisfaction acting as a point of escalation where appropriate.
Create
Create and deliver product demonstrations in support of the sales process.
Create and maintain documentation of the proposed technical solutions.
Create and maintain Presales content and technical artifacts.
Create an environment in which prospects become customers and customers become evangelists.
Create BOMs for Cisco / Silver Peak / HP technology stack.
Create, build and manage proposals and customer facing activities.
Create, present and document moderately complex technical solutions.
Create Security Assessment Reports for end-users post-POV evaluation.
Create solutions that creatively address customer value chain and business requirement.
Deliver
Deliver custom product demonstrations that focus on the customers key business drivers.
Deliver technical presentations and demos with a focus on the business requirements of the customer.
Deliver the right message to prospects, in a clear, professional and synthetic way.
Develop
Develop alternative solutions.
Develop and manage pilot, and proof of concept.
Develop and support sales revenues ensuring both short and long-term objectives are met.
Develop long-term relationships with clients, through managing and interpreting their requirements.
Develop network of professional contacts.
Develop technical roadmap for the overall solution including high level design, SoW, BoM.
Display
Display empathy and tolerate diverse viewpoints.
Document
Document client meetings in CRM.
Drive
Drive coordination of technical resources as needed to close prospective opportunities.
Educate
Educate the sales team on product solutions proposed to clients.
Engage with
Engage Professional Services in opportunities after forming a clear solution plan.
Engage with customers / prospects in understanding their business goals, solution objectives etc..
Engage with customer to develop trusted technology advisor relationships with key decision makers.
Ensure
Ensure customers and partners participate in Customer Satisfaction activities.
Ensure customer technical issues are resolved without delay.
Ensure end-to-end management of the proofs of concept (POC).
Ensure end-to-end management of the trials.
Escalate
Escalate and resolve reseller / end customer issues when appropriate.
Establish
Establish and maintain a high level of trust and confidence as a subject matter expert.
Establish collaborative relationships to achieve objectives.
Evaluate
Evaluate, validate, create diagram, and present the design of technical solutions to customers.
Evangelize
Evangelize all of the wonderful technological attributes with prospects, customers, and partners.
Execute
Execute on established plans to prevent post-sales issues that can impact time to revenue.
Facilitate
Facilitate and lead technical meetings with existing and potential customers.
Focus on
Focus on providing superior customer service.
Focus on upselling while acting as a technical advisor to customers.
Gather
Gather and analyzes information skillfully.
Gather, understand, and develop customer requirements for API Gateway & Management platform.
Give
Give product demonstrations.
Guide
Guide and advise Technical Account Management team on implementing designed solutions.
Help
Help create concise technical documents, including proposals and RFP responses.
Help develop proposals and RFPs to win business for the sales teams.
Help win business through compelling software demonstrations.
Hold
Hold product demonstrations with enterprise leaders.
Identify
Identify and develop new opportunities within accounts.
Identify and report on competitive trends (products, promotions, etc.) in territory.
Identify any custom technical requirements and coordinate as necessary with the product team.
Identify areas for product improvement and collect customer feedback for Product Team.
Identify, create, update use cases and acceptance criteria, and provide functional specifications.
Identify gaps in the customer environment that need to be resolved.
Increase
Increase brand reputation and market awareness establishing legitimacy of engineering talent.
Increase propensity of strategic buyers.
Influence
Influence buyers on product offering new / improved products / innovation within the industry.
Keep abreast of
Keep abreast of competition, competitive issues and products.
Lead
Lead and grow the Sales Engineering function.
Lead by example and with uncompromising ethics.
Lead technical aspects of all POCs including demo, configuration, and integrations.
Lead the creation / execution of specific demonstrations and proof of concepts.
Lead the Technical Engineering Sales team.
Leverage
Leverage creative solutions in a fast-paced environment.
Liaise with
Liaise with the sales team on a regular basis to ensure growth.
Maintain
Maintain and manage a sales pipeline and forecasts against regional goals.
Maintain and upgrade the demo environments to best demonstrate the power and value of the product.
Maintain awareness and general knowledge of AWS services, offerings, and strategy.
Maintain broad and up-to-date knowledge of product portfolio and solutions offered by MAYA.
Maintain consistency between client needs and the proposed technical solutions.
Maintain reseller account information (technical contact / profile information, etc.).
Maintain sufficient subject matter expertise in Cisco Product Portfolio.
Maintain sufficient subject matter expertise in Microsoft / Zoom / Cisco Product Portfolio.
Make
Make functional and technical suggestions to R&D team for product roadmap.
Manage
Manage account and partner responsibilities for assigned accounts.
Manage and lead technical aspects of a sales initiative.
Manage and prioritize sales opportunities.
Manage the organization of POCs, in collaboration with the sales team.
Manage vendor partners to help drive business and deliver demand generation events.
Map
Map customer requirements to our product stack.
Map customer requirements with product fit and map customer journeys.
Meet
Meet pre-sales targets and provide necessary reporting to track progress.
Monitor
Monitor and report on market and competitor's activities.
Monitor pre-sales budget, per account / opportunity.
Optimize
Optimize current processes and ensure ongoing process improvement.
Own
Own all technical aspects of the sales process including customer relationships.
Own and build the sales engineering team.
Own and drive the RFI / RFP responses with an Account Exec and respond to technical assessments.
Own and drive the technical requirements of RFI / RFP responses.
Participate in
Participate in the open source community and contribute to the projects.
Participate in trade shows by representing Combat and sharing information on products and services.
Partnership with
Partnership with Sales on negotiation and deal closing.
Perform
Perform a career level of technical presentations for customers, partners, and potential prospects.
Performance
Performance and quality monitoring.
Perform
Perform client needs assessments.
Perform network and applications engineering for multiple CIENA products.
Plan
Plan and prioritize opportunities for utmost productivity and efficiency.
Plan, direct, and execute education and continuing enablement of the Sales Engineer Team.
Prepare
Prepare and conduct technical / product presentations and demonstrations.
Prepare and Deliver targeted technical presentations and Proof of concepts for customers.
Prepare technical bidding and tendering documents.
Present
Present and advise on established digital transformation best practices.
Present and demo solutions in marketing activities in the region.
Present technical presentations at industry conferences and serve as a subject matter expert.
Produce
Produce technical documentation for client integration requests for client sign-off.
Prospect
Prospect maturity assessment and solution development.
Provide
Provide advanced solution selling support to the sales & account management team.
Provide an effective bridge between end users and our engineering team.
Provide consultative support to key internal / external stakeholders in assigned territory.
Provide detailed reviews of ways of working, key deliverables, timelines and operational issues.
Provide email and telephone based pre and post sales, technical support for our software products.
Provide feedback to marketing and product management teams for future product enhancements.
Provide input to the product roadmap based on market needs.
Provide insights into competitors, sales tactics, and sales techniques.
Provide pre-sales technical assistance and product education at high level of support to customers.
Provide pre-sales technical support to prospective customers.
Provide product demonstrations.
Provide technical assistance to customers during software evaluation.
Provide technical presales support to the account management team, and partners in the region.
Provide technical sales training for branch and regional sales team.
Provide the optimum combination of hardware, software, and services to meet complex customer needs.
Provide training and technical updates for Account Executives and Partners.
Provide training to sales team on new products and services.
Provide updates on the execution and status of customer engagements.
Recommend
Recommend appropriate implementation options – on premise, SaaS, NCR as a Service.
Relay
Relay customer's issues to support field engineering team.
Represent
Represent the company as a technical expert and at key conferences or other marketing events.
Research
Research various suppliers, evaluate new products and make recommendations on end-to-end solutions.
Respond to
Respond to RFP / RFIs on conpany products.
Run
Run standard demonstrations, build small ad hoc integration for specific use cases.
Select
Select and uses appropriate communication methods.
Sell
Sell and position solutions at all levels of the customer organization – know your audience.
Setup
Setup, configure and maintain an AQUARIUS software suite demonstration site in the cloud.
Share
Share your knowledge with other Solution Architects and your Sales team.
Specify
Specify the deliverables of services projects by developing detailed project scopes of work (SOWs).
Support
Support creation of commercial proposals.
Support his own list of accounts and opportunities as requested by the Go To Market organization.
Support POC's and assist throughout a customer's evaluation process.
Support the creation of marketing and sales collateral.
Support the sales effort in answering RFPs, solution demonstration and delivering POCs.
Support West Coast, US business hours preferred.
Take
Take an active part in the execution of the sales cycle (RFPs, POCs.).
Take an insightful, consultative, and strategic approach.
Take learning from the field and feed them back to improve our products, solutions and sales process.
Take pride in building best-in-class, aggressive sales engineering teams.
Travel
Travel regularly to meet with existing and potential customers.
Understand
Understand and communicate solution technical dependencies.
Understand business needs and the challenges of the industry.
Understand event sourcing architecture for microservices (Apache Kafka a plus).
Understand, improve and roll-out opportunity validation process with the Business Support team.
Understand large-scale complex systems from a reliability perspective.
Understand the customer's business goals and partner with them to achieve those.
Understand the requests from stakeholders and managing expectations between all parties involved.
Use
Use multiple skills to train and demonstrate for partner and customer.
Use negotiation skills to resolve conflicts.
Validate
Validate software, hardware and services pricing and margins based on the scope of work.
Work with
Work closely with regional sales team to provide specific input to the customers.
Work closely with the customer to identify key customer business and technical challenges.
Work collaboratively with the Sales, Implementation, Channel, Product Management and Marketing teams.
Work with customers to define architectures relevant to their environment.
Work with customers to discover and gather technical and business requirements.
Work with internal groups to facilitate and validate their complex designs.
Work with Product Managers on pre-build for the solutions portfolio of gateway projects.
Work with Sales Engineer team to address the technical needs of customers and close new business.
Work with the sales team to meet and exceed team sales quotas.
Write
Write blogs and perform talks on leading industry topics.
Write technical documents and to answer RFP / RFQ.
Write technical system design and system solutions.
Most In-demand Hard Skills
The following list describes the most required technical skills of a Pre-Sales Engineer:
Networking
Presales
Computer Engineering
Customer-Facing
Most In-demand Soft Skills
The following list describes the most required soft skills of a Pre-Sales Engineer:
Written and oral communication skills
Presentation
Organizational capacity
Time-management
Self-motivated
Team player
Achieve organizational objectives through effective planning
Coordination
Decision-making
Clear focus on high quality
Interpersonal skills
Punctuality
Reliable
Analytical ability
