If you become a technical sales engineer, you’ll get to use your technical knowledge combined with sales skills to provide guidance and support for a wide range of products, for which a certain level of expertise is required. The market for technical sales engineers is growing rapidly, as a result of an increasing number of companies are in search of employees with the right characteristics of technical sales engineers and also having product knowledge. Technical sales engineers serve as a key point of contact for the client-side and provide both pre and after-sales assistance. This blog is your source of information about the skills and steps that are required to become a Sales Engineer.
Employment Areas | Aeronautical, Automotive, Electronic, Biomedical, Agricultural, Chemical, Electrical, Manufacturing, Telecommunications |
Average Salary | INR 20 Lakhs per Year |
This Blog Includes:
What Does a Sales Engineer do?
As a technical sales engineer, you’ll be required to perform the following tasks as your day to day activities:
- You will be required to search for new clients who will potentially be benefitting from the company’s products and services and you will have to maximize client potential in your designated region.
- You will be responsible for developing long-term relationships with your clients, by managing and interpreting their requirements regularly.
- You will need to persuade your clients that a certain product or service is best for their needs in terms of the quality, price, and delivery of the product.
- You will need to negotiate contract terms and conditions between the client and the company.
- You will also be required to calculate client quotations and administer client-related accounts.
- You will have to provide pre-sales technical assistance and product education to the clients.
- You will be responsible for arranging and carrying out product training.
- Analysis of costs and sales will be on your part
Skills Required to Become a Sales Engineer
Any job requires a certain skill set that you need to master in order to be successful at that particular job and moreover companies give preference to candidates having an edge over other candidates with their skillset list. Some of the important skills that you should consider mastering if you really want to ace your chances of grabbing a job opportunity:
- Sales skills (most important)
- Persuasive skills
- Good Communication skills
- A solid technical background
- Sound judgment and good business sense
- Teamwork ability and leadership skills
- Ability to build relationships quickly and effectively
- Organizational skills
- Analytical and problem-solving skills
- Independence and self-reliance
- Resilience
Steps to Become a Sales Engineer
Step 1: Take a relevant course
Enrolling yourself in a degree course is usually the first step toward becoming a sales engineer. This job role requires you to have technical knowledge, you will have to choose a course within a relevant science-related or engineering field mostly depending on the industry you would like to join in the future.
Step 2: Opt for a Specialty course
After you are done with your bachelor’s degree, it is advisable that you specialize in the industry you want to work in the future. Some of the industries you should consider working for include:
-Architectural design
-Computer hardware equipment
-Automated machinery
-Manufacturing
-Computer systems design
-Telecommunications
Step 3: Start with baby steps
To begin with, you should look for a sales training internship, especially when you are freshly graduated. This will help to equip you with the necessary skills that will add up to your technical knowledge.
Step 4: Get some work Experience
You’ll have to work to do to master what you are doing or want to do in the future. The more number sales you’re able to drive for the company, the more of an asset you’ll become for the company and it will also help with your personal growth as a sales engineer.
Eligibility
Entry requirements and eligibility to enrol in a course vary depending on the type of employer and the kind of products or services they endorse. For example, if a technical sales engineer is selling complex electronic avionic systems specialized for aircraft is expected to have an electronic engineering graduate degree, on the other hand, if someone is selling electronic alarm systems may have acquired in-depth technical knowledge of the product by working in the industry but that person may not have a proper degree.
But if you are specifically looking to make a career in Sales Engineering, the following degrees and subjects may increase your chances of becoming one:
- Applied science
- Mathematics
- Engineering
- Physics.
Admission Process
The specifications might vary from one University to the other, students must checklist the following common steps to apply to a Sales Engineering course:
Step-1: Shortlist a University
When planning to apply to a foreign university for a Sales Engineering course, the first step is to select a suitable University. Also, you must ensure that you meet the eligibility requirements set by the University to which you are applying.
Step-2: Gather the Documents Required
Once you have shortlisted a University, the next step is to compile all the necessary documents.
Step-3: Get Started with Your Online Application
After compiling the necessary documents, you can begin your online application by filling in the required details including your Personal, Academic, and Professional background.
Average Salary and Career Prospects
The salary depends upon the kind of organization and the job location of the organization. It also depends on an individual’s personal skills as it is a skill-oriented profession. Sales engineers start with salaries ranging between £20,000 to £30,000(INR 19.92 lakh to INR 29.88 lakhs per year). With further work experience and after working at a middle-management level, the salary ranges from £30,000 to £45,000 (INR 29.88 lakhs to INR 44.82 lakhs per year). After reaching a senior management position, sales engineers can expect a pay between £50,000 to £70,000 (INR 49.81 to INR 69.73 lakhs per year).
Typically the employers of sales engineers include organizations that usually provide technical or industrial products and services. Companies such as multinationals employ a large number of staff in a wide range of departments, and also micro and small scale specialized organizations with only a handful of staff employed.
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FAQs
Sales engineers have a very strategised and competitive compensation. Skills that are required for a technical sales job are hard to find in people and sales engineers often make more money than product managers, engineers, or scientists. It is a zestful job where you tend to meet a lot of clients frequently and get good exposure to the market.
Sales engineers tend to make a good amount of money. If you are a successful sales engineer you will have some great career options if you are willing to change your role. Sales engineers have the potential to become great product managers. They can also bag good-paying opportunities in big consulting organizations.
Sales Engineers get the chance of choosing to grow into leading a Sales Engineering team, they can also move into Customer Success to work with customers in the longer term, and they can broaden their future scope by moving into Product Management, or any other related field such as engineering or management roles.
One of the obvious basic differences between a sale representative and a sales engineer is that the sales representatives present the larger value proposition and manages the customer service, while a sales engineer provides technical inputs about the deployment and implementation which puts the value proposition into practice.
If you are aspiring to become a Sales Engineer and want to study at a premium University abroad you can reach out to our Leverage Edu experts and they will assist you in finding a suitable course and university for Sales Engineering courses that can provide you with the necessary knowledge and skills to kickstart a successful career in this field! Just call 1800572000 and sign up for an e-meeting today!