Sales Engineers: 10 Mistakes to Avoid and 7 Tips to Maximize Sales Win Rates

One of the most important components of a sales engineer's (SEs) job is to fire up the sales engine (needs based demo) with a sales qualified opportunity (SQL) and then use their ears to fine tune it to maximize performance, horsepower, and mileage. 

Adept SEs are invaluable assets to sales leadership and are in many ways like talented musicians. They take their audience through a masterful concert experience that is engaging and unforgettable, that leaves the audience captivated and eagerly wanting to see the band again. Weaker SEs are more like late night karaoke singers who are off key and stumble through the song, leaving the audience with no desire to hear them perform ever again. Therefore, it is crucial to invest in the development of your SEs and their relationships across sales and implementation teams.

Sales Engineers: 10 Mistakes to Avoid

There are 10 common mistakes that can have a detrimental impact on sales win rates. SEs must avoid these mistakes to build trust with SQLs during the sales process.

1. Don’t Overload the Customer with Technical Details

SEs often have deep technical expertise, but not every customer wants or needs a deep dive into every feature. Focusing too much on specifications rather than business value can overwhelm or bore prospects.

2. Not Understanding the Customer’s Business Needs

Jumping into a demo or technical discussion without first understanding the customer’s pain points and needs can discount the whole sales process leading up to the demo. Effective SEs ask clarifying questions, listen attentively, and then tailor their presentations accordingly to address the very specific needs of the prospect.

3. Not Spending the Time to Sync with the Sales Lead

A lack of coordination between SEs and account executives (AEs) can lead to inconsistent messaging, redundant conversations, or even contradicting information. SEs should work closely with sales reps and teams to ensure alignment on strategy and objectives, roles during the demo process, and follow up steps.

4. Talking Too Much Instead of Asking

It is common for SEs to spend too much time explaining features, not enough time engaging the customer in conversation, and not asking questions regularly to create a two-way dialogue. Asking thoughtful questions can uncover valuable insights that help position the solution more effectively and build trust.

5. Delivering a "One-Size-Fits-All" Demo

A generic, canned demo that doesn’t address the prospect’s specific challenges can be a turnoff to the prospect and also cause an internal issue within the sales organization. The best SEs customize their presentations to highlight the most relevant features, address specific use cases, and share relevant ROI data from real customers as appropriate.

6. Overpromising on Capabilities

In an effort to win deals, SEs sometimes will exaggerate what a product can do or perhaps downplay its limitations. This can lead to trust issues, implementation problems, and customer dissatisfaction down the line.

7. Poor Handling of Objections

SEs can get defensive or overly technical when faced with objections, rather than addressing concerns in a clear and confident manner, or letting the sales lead handle the objection. The best SEs and their sales teams anticipate general objections and specific objections of the prospect, then respond with solutions, not just explanations.

8. Ignoring the Competition

Failing to research, acknowledge, or even address competitor strengths and weaknesses can make it difficult to differentiate the solution. SEs should understand competitive advantages and be prepared to clearly articulate how their offering outperforms its rivals.

9. Weak Post-Demo Follow-Up

Even the best demo won’t close a deal on its own. SEs or the sales leads, who don’t follow up on questions, provide additional resources, deliver proof of concepts, or define next steps risk losing momentum.

10. Not Keeping Up with Industry Trends

Customers expect SEs to be thought leaders. Falling behind on new technologies, industry developments, or market trends can make an SE less credible. It should always be the goal of every sales team member to be better than everyone else they are competing against. How do you really know if you are better prepared than your competitors or if you are falling behind?  That is not easy to measure, however one thing is an absolute - do nothing and you can assure you are falling behind.

Sales Engineers: 7 Tips to Maximize Sales Win Rates

Coaching SEs to avoid the above potential pitfalls requires a combination of structured training, real-world practice, and ongoing sales mentorship and talent development. Here are some key areas of focus to help SEs to maximize their teams sales win rates.

1. Develop A Customer Need Focused Mindset

• - Provide SEs with structured discovery training to teach them how to ask open-ended, value-driven questions before diving into solutions.
• - Conduct mock sales discovery calls where SEs practice uncovering pain points rather than jumping into technical details.
• - Encourage SEs, especially new ones, to sit in on customer success calls to understand real-world challenges and outcomes that current customers are facing.

2. Improve Sales & SE Collaboration

• - Have SEs and AEs align before meetings to clarify goals, key customer pain points, and demo strategies, as all the discovery details should be clearly included in the CRM system of record.
• - Encourage SEs to discuss what went well, their perception of the level of interest and buy signals or lack thereof,  and what could be improved after each customer interaction.
• - Align SE goals with sales objectives (e.g., win rates, deal velocity) to foster teamwork.

3. Master the Art of the Demo

• - Teach SEs and sales executives to ask clarifying discovery questions upfront and adapt demos to specific customer needs.
• - Abide by the 90/10 Rule: 90% of a demo should be about solving customer problems; only 10% should be technical deep dives.
• - Encourage SEs to focus on 2-3 key differentiators instead of a full product tour and to be keenly aware of the time to ensure they never run over the allotted block of time and that there is a clear agreement by both parties on the next steps.

4. Build Credibility Without Overpromising

• - Ensure SEs understand competitors strengths and weaknesses and how to position company strengths honestly.
• - Train SEs to respond with “Tell me more about why that’s important” rather than an 
• automatic yes at the appropriate times.
• - Teach SEs when to escalate technical limitations and how to set realistic expectations.

5. Strengthen Objection Handling

• - Develop a library of common objections and the best and most appropriate responses.
• - Run objection-handling workshops where SEs practice responding under pressure.
• - Teach SEs to acknowledge concerns before answering, e.g., “Thank you for highlighting the importance of your concern. Let’s walk through how we address that.”

6. Foster Continuous Learning

• - Have SEs follow industry blogs, attend conferences, and share insights internally.
• - Let new SEs shadow experienced SEs in action to learn best practices and hear feedback directly from potential new customers.
• - Regularly review recorded demos or sales calls and provide constructive feedback.

7. Post-Demo Follow-Up Best Practices

• - Create structured follow-up emails with key takeaways and next steps to be shared appropriately as defined in the sales process.
• - Teach SEs when and how to engage if and when a proof of concept is required to win a deal.  
• - Encourage SEs to strategize with the sales leads to connect and develop relationships with multiple stakeholders post-demo to drive alignment, trust, and confidence.

As Brian Burns articulates perfectly on this Brutal Truth About Sales Podcast titled Do You Have Demos All Wrong!!!, “The objective is to have a transfer of ownership to see how their life will change with your product”. These tips will help your team to optimize your sales process, improve your sales win rates, and set your onboarding team up for success.

For additional sales tips, sales insights, and revenue growth best practices, visit Justellus’ Sales Growth Blog.