With the help of some friends (Sean Culen, Mike Lohr and Jim Sargent) out there in SE-land I look at the costs, the direct and indirect benefits of an SE. Mix that in with a sneak peek at my ROPE (Return On Presales Effort) methodology and you get a pretty good idea on the return for making your next hire - as well as some compelling soft benefits for the SE org that most HR/Finance folks never think of.
By using a mix of potential revenue, pipeline, utilization, revenue/head and winrate across the dimensions of geography, solution and actual activity you begin to see a different view of the economics of the SE.
The ultimate answer is - unless your sales are in the tank - there is usually a compelling economic case for one more hire.
John, as a first-time manager of a growing SE organization, I found this post to be a fantastic help. Thanks again for putting in time to share with the SE community.
ReplyDelete