The SaaS market continues to grow, introducing new experts to the field every day.
One such expert is a SaaS sales engineer. SaaS sales engineers can be valuable assets to any company with ambitious sales goals.
First, let’s define a SaaS sales engineer and their responsibilities. Once you know what to expect, you can decide if you want to go into the world of SaaS sales engineering or if you want to invest in one for your software company.
What is a SaaS Sales Engineer?
A SaaS (software as a service) sales engineer is part of the sales team. They combine marketing, sales, and engineering to sell software from a technical and human standpoint. A SaaS sales engineer’s ultimate goal is to get customers to use the software to its fullest and to fall in love with the entire product.
From the technical, engineering aspect of the sales engineering job, sales engineers understand software on a fundamental level. They can explain complex issues to customers in layman’s terms and showcase how the software will improve pain points.
On the other hand, they are still a salesperson. A SaaS sales engineer understands how to sell services, how to articulate complex ideas, and how to bring subscriptions home.
What are the Responsibilities of a SaaS Sales Engineer?
Because the SaaS sales engineer is both a salesperson and an engineer, their responsibilities are diverse.
Demo Scripting
SaaS sales engineers create scripts for product demos. They use their sales and engineering knowledge to create interactive demos that are geared toward the prospect’s pain points. Sales engineers know how to showcase software in a way that fulfills the customers’ needs.
Technical Customer Support
Next, the SaaS sales engineer provides customer support to maximize the customer experience. Their support is different from traditional customer support. Because they have a deep understanding of both software and people, they can simplify technical issues for prospects and existing clients.
Integration Development and Implementation
Sales engineers also work closely with the dev team. They provide feedback on software changes and help developers with the initial integrations.
They’ll also provide instruction to other members of the sales team who are not as technically versed, including how to do basic integrations and demos.
Sales Insights
Lastly, sales engineers have a deep understanding of the SaaS sales cycle. They are not just technical support.
They understand human sales psychology and the software they are selling. This knowledge is used to draw prospects in, to wow them with sales demos, and to lock them in with great software and support.
Do You Need a Qualification To Become a SaaS Sales Engineer?
In most cases, a relevant qualification, like a bachelor’s degree, is preferred when hiring a SaaS sales engineer. Because the work is highly technical and psychological, education in the finer details can be the difference between an okay and a great hire.
That being said, skills and experience are more important. If the sales engineer started at a lower level and worked their way into the sales engineer position, they likely have a great understanding of the work they do. Even without a degree, they’ll be a valuable asset to the team.
Skills SaaS Sales Engineers Need
Whether you’re hiring or looking to join the field, a SaaS sales engineer will need certain skills to do their job well.
Communication
SaaS sales engineers are constantly interacting with people. They’re interacting with employees behind the scenes, both developers and sales reps. They’re learning, educating, and providing feedback constantly.
The SaaS sales engineer needs to have good communication skills. They need to effectively communicate expectations and technical systems to the sales team. They also need to provide feedback to both technical and sales teams without being harsh or straining teamwork.
On the other hand, they’re interacting with prospects and trying to showcase the power of the software. Language is a big part of the process. The sales engineer needs to have a good grasp of positive, convincing, and confident language.
Critical Thinking
From crafting interactive product demos to helping a customer through a technical issue, SaaS sales engineers are constantly solving problems. They need to have great critical thinking skills to solve problems efficiently.
Honesty
SaaS sales engineers’ goals are the same as the company’s: find prospects, showcase how the software can improve their pain points, make them long-term customers, and increase brand reach.
However, promising software capabilities that aren’t available is dishonest and a quick way to ruin a brand’s reputation.
Sales engineers need to provide honest services to customers while still selling what the software can help them with. This means being honest and helping the prospect find what they need.
Technical Understanding
Lastly, SaaS sales engineers need to have coding and software knowledge. They are responsible for initial integrations and providing feedback to dev teams on software performance. They’re also doing initial integrations with customers and providing on-the-spot technical feedback.
An effective SaaS sales engineer needs to understand frontend and backend development, as well as the people they’re selling to.
Does Your Company Need a SaaS Sales Engineer?
The average SaaS sales engineer’s salary is nothing to sneeze at. It can be a big expense for any company, especially a new one.
However, a SaaS sales engineer is a must for companies with ambitious goals.
If your company wants to grow faster, if your software is complex, or if you’re failing to entice prospects with your current sales process, consider hiring a SaaS sales engineer.
Conclusion
A SaaS sales engineer combines two important parts of the software sales cycle: sales and engineering. Sales engineers have an in-depth understanding of humans, and the technical aspects of software and the sales process.
SaaS sales engineers use their communication, critical thinking, technical understanding, and honesty to provide feedback, sales support and insights, and effective and interactive demo scripting.
Empower your SaaS sales engineer and improve prospect engagement by optimizing your product demos. With Saleo, you can create captivating and interactive software demos. Request a demo today!
