Working with Sales Engineers
Treat the SE as a co-owner of the deal — share stakeholder context, prep them on the political map, and design demos that move the deal, not impress the room.
The is the most under-leveraged role on most accounts. AEs who treat the as a ' resource' get generic demos and lose technical credibility. AEs who treat the SE as a co-owner get deeper , sharper demos, faster security cycles, and a partner in deal strategy. The bar is high: the best SEs are scarce, and they reward the AEs who use them well.
Deep practical explanation
Brief the properly: who the are, what each one cares about, where the deal sits on the scorecard, and what specific outcome you want from the next interaction. A 10-minute pre-call brief is worth more than a 60-minute prep three days before.
Design demos around three to five named points captured in — not the standard product flow. Every screen earns its place by tying back to a 's stated goal. End every with the buyer recapping what they saw; if they cannot, the demo did not .
Use the strategically post-: they own the technical narrative for the , the architecture diagram for the InfoSec call, and the success criteria for any .
Real-world example
An running a competitive deal asked the to 'do the standard ' for the buyer's tech lead. The competitor had done a tailored demo two days earlier. The buyer ranked the competitor's demo 9/10 and ours 5/10 — same product, same tech lead, different preparation.
The rebuild: a 30-minute joint call with the , the , and the customer's tech lead, scoping exactly what the second would cover. The follow-up demo addressed three specific workflows the tech lead had described. The buyer ranked it 9/10. The deal moved into the same week.
Tactical steps
- Brief the on and , not just the .
- Co-author every against named points; cut every screen that does not to one.
- Make the present alongside you in meetings, not just technical ones.
- Co-design success criteria; never let the customer write them alone.
- Run a 10-minute post-call debrief with the ; capture changes to the score.
- Advocate for the inside your organization — they remember the AEs who do.