New Years Resolutions For The Sales Engineer

Every year I publish a list of New Year's Resolutions for the Pre-Sales Engineer. Since one of my resolutions for 2010 is to use this blog way more than I did in 2009 I figured I would get an early start. So .. here for your enjoyment .. is a list of do's and don'ts for 2010.

New Years Resolutions For The Pre-Sales Engineer

The Bull Is Back

An example of branding and what happens when you mess with it.

Overheard at the local Starbucks this morning - two financial advisors from Merrill Lynch, bouncing up and down like six year olds (or maybe as if the Dow was up 500pts). The reason?

After Bank of America "rescued" Merrill they decided to put the ML bull out to pasture as part of a cultural remake. The most recognized icon in US finance was being killed. ML brokers whine, complain and bitch for months (so maybe they are six year olds). This week, BofA management relents and allows the brokers to place the bull on the back of their business cards.

The morale - even though what got got you here won't get you there, what got you here will stop you being dragged back to the there you were before. Crystal clear.

Really - it's protect the brand. So in your personal quest to be the best possible SE, which usually means learning new technologies and new markets - still keep up some of the old skills for a while to act as a bridge. Just in case.

You Know You're in Pre-Sales When ..

Someone gave me the idea to use this at the end of a recent speech, so .. with apologies to David Letterman - here are the Top Ten Reasons You Know You're in Pre-sales When ..


10: Everyone in the room waits for you to nod your head after the sales rep finishes speaking.

9: You have more email addresses than pairs of shoes.

8: The custom demo you worked on all week wasn’t the product the customer was expecting to see.

7: You spend more time changing the settings on your laptop than using it.

6: The only people who call you after 3pm on a Friday are sales reps who need something urgently by 9am on Monday.

5: Every deal you are working on is going to be HUGE!! I promise!!

4: Your sales rep thinks “RFP” means Really Fast Paperwork

3: You have to use the showers in the customer’s gym to freshen up before that 9am presentation of the POC results.

2: You have more servers in your basement than your customer has in their data center.

1: Not a single deal will be signed in 2010 without the involvement and expertise of everyone in the Pre-Sales Engineering Team!