I was once in an on-site customer meeting where a senior level SE was flown in to give a twenty-minute overview of our company and then lead a whiteboard discussion that would help us understand the customer's technical requirements. Based on that understanding she would then present high level architecture options to meet those needs. The customer allotted us two hours for this meeting. We were competing against two other technology vendors; each also had two hours to present, one earlier in the week and one later.
Over the course of her presentation I paid special attention to the customers in the room. During the first five minutes all were focused. Over the course of the next ten minutes they began to mentally drift off, checking their email, answering messages, and in one case booking a hotel in Key West. By thirty minutes in two of them had quietly left the room, other tasks apparently a better use of their time. The remainder were only paying cursory attention to the SE.
At the forty minute mark she was abruptly interrupted by the account manager, asked to skip the remainder of her slides, and told to move on to the whiteboard session (which was the more important portion of the meeting). She said ok, then continued to cover two more slides, saying "these last two slides I think are really great."
What did she do wrong? This supposedly senior SE stood at the front of the room facing the projector screen with her back to those gathered around the table. Over the course of her forty-minute presentation she never turned to the room once. She didn't ask a single question. She didn't solicit any input. She may as well have recorded her remarks and sent them via email.
Presenting as a Sales Engineer is a performance. Much like a comedian or a musician in a club, you have to actively read the room throughout. Understand what is happening there, and adjust accordingly. "Reading the room" requires active listening and paying attention to body language and facial expressions. It is a social skill that involves understanding the dynamics of a situation and adjusting your behavior, comments, or message to fit. Reading a room generally consists of four stages:
- Observe: Take note of the mood, tone, members, and energy of the group or situation.
- Listen: Listen actively and pay attention to body language and facial expressions.
- Consider context: Messages don't always come across literally, so consider the context.
- Adapt: Adjust your behavior based on what you've observed.
Some people are naturally gifted at reading a room. Many of these people end up in sales roles. Others have to learn the skill.
When it came time to have a meaningful conversation about the customer's technology and business goals, because of this SEs failure to even engage with the room, the customer had already lost interest in the conversation and lost faith in us. It cost us the deal. Failure to read the room and respond appropriately signals to an audience, at a subconscious level, that you don't understand them, don't care about them, that you're not like them, and that they can't trust you. If they don't feel that you understand them, that you empathize with their needs, circumstances, situation, goals, etc. then they won't open up to you. If they won't open up, they won't buy. I've seen customers knowingly buy an inferior quality product because they felt like that product's sales team really understood them.
Theodore Roosevelt is quoted as saying, “People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care”. Sales is a people sport. As a Sales Engineering you have to understand that. All the technical background, details, and proof in the world won't help you close a deal of you neglect the people aspect of it. As an SE you already have an advantage because you have something in common with them: the industry that both you and the customer come from. You're fifty percent of the way there. Learning to read the room, to convey empathy, and then to use your intuition to say and do things that reinforce this subconscious feeling that "we know each other, we understand each other" will get you the rest of the way.
