Please be advised: the information contained on this page is a general overview of the course. As course information is subject to change from one semester to another, please check DukeHub for the most accurate and up-to-date information about EGRMGMT courses.
At a Glance
- Instructor(s): John Allessio
- Semester(s) typically taught: Fall
- Units: 3.0
- Grading scale: Graded (A-F)
- Required or elective for MEM degree? Elective
- If elective, applicable elective track(s): Sales Engineering
- Pre-requisites: n/a
- Recommended previous courses: n/a
Course Description/Synopsis (from DukeHub)
Software companies are where technology is envisioned, developed, incorporated into solutions for their clients, and deployed into production. There are several key technical roles that exist in every software company including software engineers, product managers, support engineers, testing engineers, architects, services consultants, and sales engineers.
The sales engineers are part of the go-to-market organization that includes sales executives, sales engineers, customer success managers, and marketing professionals.
Sales Engineering exists in every software company, however, there are large number of titles that are used for this role across the software industry. Some titles include sales engineer, solution consultant, solution architect, software architect, value consultant, and pre-sales engineer, to name just a few.
A Sales Engineer is a sales professional responsible for selling complex, technical, and scientific products via a consultative sales process. Sales engineers are a critical sales team member in many companies and industries around the world. They are more than just technical experts in their respective industries. Highly successful sales engineers must build and maintain parallel expertise in “soft skill” disciplines such as business acumen, presentation skills, building customer relationships, developing an engagement strategy, and having a thorough understanding of the targeted industry. Many companies have difficulty finding people who possess these qualities, plus have extensive technical knowledge.
The Sales Engineering role exists to secure the “technical win”. Securing the technical win includes several areas including solution design, removing technical sales inhibitors, ensuring the technical feasibility of the solution, developing an initial success plan with the necessary services and support, and ensuring a smooth hand-off to the post-sales structure.
This course will focus on understanding the key skills, activities, role, key performance indicators, career path, and success factors for software engineers in a typical business-to-business software company. The course will include practical knowledge of this role in the software industry and include case studies and role plays to reinforce the key concepts.
Course Syllabus
Syllabus – Sales Engineering Fall 2024
Word from the Faculty
