I have no idea what I am doing!

So I get my first opportunity to shine and start working as a technical sales consultant first then as an account manager. Oh boy, did I feel like this dog on this picture. I would come back home from work excited, but confused and amazed by all the new things I was learning. I suddenly found interest in watching business related movies to try to imitate how salesmen close deals like celebrities and schmooze with clients.
Though I did have a sales manager to provide guidance, I had some difficulties interacting in this new world of non-technical humans compared to my old world of engineers (trust me, there is a difference)!

Take a conversation, for example. If I have to agree to everything an engineer has to say, we're never going to finish that discussion. As engineers, we are straightforward and to the point. We are terse. That is why I enjoy speaking with engineering managers, because we can be rational beings.

Non-technical salespeople, however, they will do anything to make their clients seem intelligent, though the latter might be saying a bunch of nonsense! See this funny video that better describes some of the situations sales people get into! Believe it or not, when I was trying to sell a technical product which was not in my field of expertise, I actually behaved like the salesman in that video.  My poor technical expert tried explaining the problem to me. Thank God we did not have that argument in front of the client. But really, this video is not as fictional as it seems!

There is a rule of thumb that sales people must adhere to in order to succeed. It is simple: always make the client seem intelligent by answering any question with the word "Absolutely".

"Can tool x integrate with the competitive tool y?...ABSOLUTELY!"

"Can it reduce my operation costs?...ABSOLUTELY!"

"Can it make me an Irish double cream hazelnut coffee with candy and deliver it to my office?...ABSOLUTELY!"  (well sort of, if money is not an issue...)

I learned that lesson with one of my first clients.  I got my first experience of a client not liking me! That felt terrible ! It turned out that I was too frank with him as he tried asking for features that were impossible to provide...

Shoot...I forgot about another rule of thumb (sales people have many thumbs).

I just remembered, I am not supposed to say "impossible"...

Ok, so let's say there were unreasonable demands from the client. I told the client who was amongst his peers around a table, in a frank tone, that I was just the account manager and that I was presenting them the product that fits the original set of requirements. The client did not like that "attitude" at all and called my boss about this incident. And this is how I learned about how to make your client look intelligent no matter what! I should have started my answer to my client's question with the word "absolutely" and explained different alternatives to what he was asking for that would make more sense. (I will talk about how to answer tough questions in a future post).

No matter how much sales people sometimes look like the dog in the picture above, their tone of voice and the way they poise themselves have to radiate confidence. This is the only way to sell.  As soon as you manifest uncertainty, there is a good chance that the sale is lost and that someone in the room is wasting someone else's time. So do your homework, and make sure you are 100% you understand your client's pain and be genuine in your proposal.

In conclusion, engineers have the advantage of being taken more seriously, so use that to your advantage and hold on to your integrity, and you will be successful.