S T R AT E G I C S TA F F I N G F O R E N T E R P R I S E
T E C H N I C A L S A L E S
October 2011
by Douglas W. Allen
Business Unit Executive, International Business Machines Corporation
T E C H N I C A L S A L E S D R I V E S B U S I N E S S VA L U E
The recruitment and staffing of customer-facing technical sales representatives (aka pre-sales
systems engineers, etc.) for enterprise-class information technology providers is key to driving both
revenue for providers and long term business value for customers. These professionals are
responsible for working with customers and teammates in a complex sales environment to
understand the customers’ business and technology requirements, gain support amongst the
customer stakeholders & project sponsors, and eliminate technical barriers that may be inhibiting
the sale. Despite the occasionally maligned and often parodied nature of the sales profession as a
whole, enterprise-class IT providers and their customers recognize the true value and innovation
that trusted partnerships bring to each others’ business. This guide provides a technique for sales
management teams to recruit and hire the best qualified candidates for these dynamic roles.
The following graphic outlines the primary common and unique responsibilities of sales and
technical sales professionals in an enterprise-class customer environment during a typical
opportunity sales cycle.
Progressing from left to right, both sales and technical sales professionals are responsible for the
foundational aspects of customer relations and business development. This includes understanding
the customers’ business and IT environment, prospecting by looking for opportunities to contribute
to the customers’ success, and building relationships. Ensuring that customers are successful with
their existing investment in the provider’s solutions is critical as well.
As specific opportunities begin to develop, a split occurs in which the responsibilities for the
sales professional focus on ensuring that the business requirements that are driving the customers’
investment in the technology are being met. This occurs by working with customers to determine
the business value of the investment via a deeper exploration of the business needs and ensuring
that the project stakeholders are in agreement. Similarly, the technical sales professional is focused
on ensuring that customers are comfortable with the technical aspects of the solution. This occurs
by working with customers to determine how the solution meets their technical requirements, that
they are prepared to implement the solution, and that it integrates seamlessly within their existing
IT environment.
As the opportunity cycle approaches conclusion, the responsibilities converge once again to
ensure that the appropriate proposals are developed and delivered to the customer, progression
activities are reported back to the sales management team, and the opportunity is closed. During
implementation, both roles are then responsible for ensuring that the customer is successful and,
once again, the business value of their investment is constantly being realized. This customer-
focused model of shared responsibilities and teamwork ensures optimal effectiveness of the sales
organization and the satisfaction of customers.
B U S I N E S S & H U M A N R E S O U R C E S S T R AT E G I E S
The competitive business strategies of enterprise IT providers typically focus on differentiation.
By offering a variety of business technology solutions to customers, these professional organizations
engage directly with their customers as both strategic trusted business advisors as well as industry
leaders. Business value is provided via a breadth of products as well as knowledge of how the
technology is applied to customers’ businesses.
To align with their competitive business strategy, the human resources strategy for enterprise IT
providers must focus on the recruitment and retention of the “committed expert”. Enterprise
technology sales opportunities are by their very definition complex, which requires the sort of
employee that can adapt to many types of often challenging customer situations. They involve
selling advanced technology to address core business requirements into customer environments
that typically already include substantial information technology investments. Sales cycles are often
measured in multiple quarters and post-sale implementation is often challenging. Therefore, the
company requires adaptable employees who can dedicate themselves to the rigors of working in a
rapidly changing technology field while also keeping up with changes in their customers’ business.
These long-term employees develop long-term, profitable, symbiotic relationships with customers
that lead to future sales and trusted expertise to drive value for the customer’s business. Low and
non-performing employees are typically removed from the business after relatively short periods in
order to avoid any long-term damage to customer relationships and to constantly encourage and
reward high performance by all.
J O B A N A LY S I S
The technical sales representative uses consultative tools and techniques to assist current and
prospective customers in the design and deployment of enterprise-class business solutions based
on the company’s hardware, software, and/or consulting offerings. This mission consists of three
primary responsibilities:
1) Influence technical and business stakeholders and sponsors at customers in favor of purchasing offered solutions and technology.
2) Own personal relationships at customers in order to become a trusted advisor regarding how customers use the technology to run their business.
3) Ensure that customers have all of the information required for them to take responsibility for the successful implementation of the solutions and the realization of value for their business.
The Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other attributes (KSAOs) required for candidates for this
position fall into several broad categories. Example categories, as well as the specific KSAOs for
the technical sales role, are listed in the table below:
KSAO Categories KSAOs
Technical Skills •Experience with multiple types of enterprise-class technology solutions and products•Understanding of Fortune 500 customers’ information technology environments and deployment practices•Understanding of new developments in the role’s targeted business technology domain (business analytics & optimization, business process management, cloud computing, etc.)
Business Skills •Understanding of business models, customer practices, and industry trends in specific business and industry segments•Understanding of Fortune 500 customer buying behaviors•Ability to tie customer investment in technology to customer business outcomes (make money, save money, mitigate risk)
Interpersonal Skills •Ability to lead and/or influence a sales team in the planning and execution of opportunity pursuits•Ability to effectively engage with customer senior business & technology leadership as well as rank and file information technology professionals•Ability to effectively work with product development teams to improve offerings based on customer requirements and real world usage scenarios
Lifestyle •Ability to travel by air or auto, often at short notice, up to 50% of a typical work week•Ability to put in the required effort outside normal working hours to take responsibility for business results
Although often requiring coordination and teamwork in pursuit of sales opportunities, this
position is largely based on the concept of pooled interdependence. This is to say that the
qualified candidate must be internally motivated as an individual performer and not reliant on
others to contribute substantially to his or her success. Incentive compensation is heavily based on
the individual’s specific contributions in the form of customer technical deliverables, customer
implementation readiness assessments & advice, key customer relationships, opportunity
prospecting, and active participation in driving revenue for the company.
R E C R U I T I N G M E T H O D S
The focused recruiting of candidates is accomplished via both official (“centralized”) and
unofficial (“decentralized”) mechanisms. The centralized, corporate human resources led methods
should incorporate the corporate web site, recruiters retained by the company, and the internal
job posting web site. The decentralized methods used by the hiring manager(s) should include
professional networking sites such as LinkedIn, the managers’ network of technology sales
professionals both within and outside the company, and the seeking of contacts and
recommendations from customers. Combining these two recruiting methods will provide the
broadest coverage and ensure the deepest pool of candidates.
The centralized methods mentioned above enable the gathering of candidates who are not
already known by the hiring managers or the managers’ network. These methods are occasionally
effective, but often exclude very qualified (and sometimes preferred) candidates because, although
the recruiters are provided with the KSAOs for the role, their evaluation of the candidates may be
limited to resume searches for key terms. The fact that the recruiters are not directly involved in
the business for which they are recruiting makes it challenging for them to discern truly qualified
candidates. This is common at large organizations and underscores the need for well-constructed
job descriptions based on KSAOs. However, experience has shown that the decentralized method
is much more effective in not only getting qualified candidates in a more timely fashion, but getting
candidates who are the right fit for the organization.
A recommended best practice for any manager in a distributed, matrix managed organization is
to always maintain a pool of contacts and candidates in the event positions come available. This is
often referred to as the “flow” method of recruiting. This is particularly true in the enterprise
technology sales business, where the most qualified candidates typically come from former
colleagues, customers, and “friends of friends”. Business social networking tools such as LinkedIn
have been proven effective in augmenting managers’ relationships with colleagues, customers, and
competitors. These relationships enable the hiring manager to always have a few candidates in
mind who understand the business and who may be looking to make a move. Customers are also
great sources of candidates and, if asked, will often provide names of individuals from competitors
whom they enjoy working with and trust. In many cases, particularly with more technical positions,
they will even recommend some of their current and former employees. In a focused,
decentralized recruiting environment, the more trusted sources the hiring manager has for
candidates, the better the candidate pool.
C A N D I D AT E “ T E S T I N G ”
Once a qualified pool of candidates has been gathered, the first test that will be administered
to further qualify them for the position focuses on the Technical, Business, and Interpersonal KSAO
Categories for the role. Candidates will be required to give a presentation that demonstrates a
technical solution to a customer business problem. The presentation will be given to to the hiring
manager and selected members of the management team. This will create a simulation that will
enable an estimate of on-the-job performance as well as a demonstration of the candidate’s
experience in a selling environment. Preferably, the candidate would be discussing a solution within
the target domain that the position is charged with selling, but if the candidate has an extensive
background in other business technology domains, they could present from those as well. The
management team will be expected to ask questions typical of enterprise technology customers.
Although admittedly very subjective, the candidates will be graded by the management team on a
three point scale in the areas of:
✴ Business Applicability - what business problem was the customer trying to solve? How is
the technical solution going to help them make money, save money, or mitigate risk for their
business? Is there a particular industry-specific trend addressed by the solution?
✴ Technical Clarity - what products, components, and technologies are utilized in the solution?
How do these elements interact with each other? How do they integrate and/or fit into
the customer’s existing information technology environment? What does the customer
need to do in order to take responsibility for the successful implementation of the solution?
✴ Audience Engagement - how well did the candidate engage the audience in the discussion?
Were they able to expand the solution to include additional technologies (and therefore
increase the size of the sales opportunity) in response to questions from the audience?
Many of the answers to the previous two criteria will come from questions and issues that
the candidate may have explored with the audience.
✴ Overall Presentation Style - candidate appearance, speaking ability, professional mannerisms.
✴ Would You Buy This Solution (or anything) From This Candidate? - likely the ultimate
question that provides a simple yes/no answer to the audience’s evaluation of the four
previously mentioned criteria.
An “audition” of this nature is a reliable and valid method for determining the most qualified
candidates for positions in a sales organization. The pressure of performing a significant part of the
role for which they are interviewing for their potential management team will create an
environment similar to what the candidate will face when interacting with customers.
A second test for candidates interested in this position will be management’s simple evaluation
of some form of technical writing or customer deliverable quality document developed by the
candidate. Again, although somewhat subjective, this test will at minimum establish whether the
candidate has any experience communicating the business merits and technical specifications of a
solution.
A third, optional, test for candidates interested in this position involves the construction of a
personality profile such as DiSC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DiSC). The candidate’s DiSC profile
will help the hiring managers make a better assessment of the candidate’s Interpersonal and, to
some extent, Lifestyle KSAO Categories. Such personality testing has proven to be reliable across
languages and cultures. For this particular leadership-oriented position in a sales organization, an
individual with strengths in the Dominance and Influence quadrants has the most potential for
success. These strengths are typically exhibited by those with extroverted personalities who are
driven to emerge as visible leaders and are more responsive to incentives. This is exactly what is
needed for this position.
T H E P E R S O N A L I N T E RV I E W
Candidates will participate in a personal interview with the hiring manager (likely prior to the
aforementioned “audition” test) during which the hiring manager will attempt to better ascertain
the candidate’s qualifications and fit for the role. The following table lists interview questions, what
those questions are seeking to measure, and the ideal or preferred essence of their answers. Many
of the questions do not necessarily measure specific KSAOs for the position, but rather provide
insight into the candidate’s personality, experiences, motivation, and how well they will fit into the
organization.
Question Measure Preferred Answer
What is your greatest strength and how will you use it to benefit this organization?
Gives the candidate permission to sell themselves and their best attributes. Also enables the interviewer to get a better understanding of how much research the candidate has done into our company, organization, etc.; Interpersonal Skills KSAOs.
Specific examples of what they are good at and how that applies to selling our solutions, including some specific knowledge of those solutions.
What brings you the most professional joy? Name a specific instance and why.
Understanding what motivates and drives the candidate to be successful. Lifestyle KSAOs.
Specific examples pertaining to the candidate taking responsibility for closing new business (driving revenue) or successfully solving customer business problems.
What was your favorite job and what did you like about it? Describe a good day at one of your previous positions.
Understanding the candidate’s perception of “work” and the sort of tasks that they enjoy the most.
Examples of the candidate engaging in activities that drive business results with customers as opposed to less difficult and/or solitary “desk executed” activities. Demonstration of the candidate’s control over the type of day they had.
Question Measure Preferred Answer
What brings you the most professional frustration and how do you get through it? Name a specific instance and how.
Understanding how the candidate deals with the frustrations that will inevitably arise. Paying extra attention to any shift in attitude, as it provides insight into professional maturity of the candidate.
Any activities related to the execution of a previous role that, although challenging, are necessary in order for the organization to perform its function. Candidate must demonstrate an understanding of the business necessity of the activity.
Tell me about a business technology solution that you implemented? What was its business purpose? What tasks did you perform?
The Technical and Business Skills KSAOs associated with the role.
Demonstrated understanding of the business reason for investing in the solution (make money, save money, mitigate risk) and the technical solution that was implemented. Including a graphic representation of the solution (whiteboard, napkin, etc.).
What decision do you wish you could do over? Name something that you really messed up and how did you rectify it?
Professional maturity and introspection. Willingness to evaluate their own performance and adjust.
Specific examples of both the negative outcome of the decision and the specific actions that the candidate would perform differently. A professional decision do-over, rather than a personal one, is preferred.
What do you think people like about you? Why? Can you provide examples of others’ feedback regarding these traits?
Self-awareness, ability to interpret other’s perceptions, the Interpersonal Skills KSAOs
Personality traits that are most applicable to success in the sales organization that serves our customers. Examples include outgoing, courteous, interested in others, knowledgeable, charitable, etc.
Question Measure Preferred Answer
When have you ever disagreed with your management and how did you handle it?
Professional maturity, Business & Interpersonal Skills KSAOs
Example of an incident related to the operation of the business and specific actions on the part of the candidate. Demonstration either of the acceptance and understanding of management’s position or if/how the candidate was able to influence change to the practice, policy, opinion, etc. in question.
If you joined our organization and it works out, where do you see yourself going from there?
Career aspirations, professional maturity, Lifestyle KSAOs
Anything that would lead the interviewer to believe that the candidate has spent time thinking about their professional future and why they are interested in a particular path.
What business or management book are you reading right now? What business or management magazine or newspaper do you read most often?
Business Skills & Lifestyle KSAOs. Anyone involved in the sale of enterprise-class business technology solutions to large customers needs a firm grasp on the business climate, industry-specific issues, etc.
Any specific examples will do. Follow up with additional questions about content, authors, columnists, recent articles, etc.
What do you think are the key components are to the enterprise business technology solution sales process?
Business Skills KSAOs. Provides some insight into the candidate’s understanding of a typical enterprise sales process and what it takes to move through the cycle.
Components such as validating the realities of the opportunity and key business drivers; developing a plan for working the opportunity; leading the team in engaging with the customer; determining the steps to closure; communicating them to the team and customer; and engagement.
Question Measure Preferred Answer
How would you respond if one of your customers said in your first meeting "I hate your company"?
Professional maturity, Business & Interpersonal Skills KSAOs
Inquiring the customer about specific experiences that have colored the customer’s opinion. Asking the customer what the ideal relationship would look like.
Give an example of how you were able to develop relationship at senior levels of an organization and what was the result?
Business & Interpersonal Skills KSAOs
Description of specific networking activities that the candidate has performed, how they found common ground, how they developed the relationship and how it was mutually beneficial.
S U M M A RY A N D D E C I S I O N
This comprehensive staffing plan provides hiring managers with all that is needed to define the
role, attract, and acquire the most attractive and best fitting technical sales candidates. It creates a
balance between what is required by human resources departments in large enterprises and what
is most effective for the individual manager by covering both the centralized and decentralized
approaches to recruiting.
Upon completion of the recruiting cycle, the hiring manager will make a simple evaluation of
the candidates’ responses to the interview questions and determine how many were most similar
to the preferred answer. These results, combined with the candidate’s DiSC profile and feedback
from peer managers on the candidates’ presentations (i.e. “auditions”) will enable the hiring
manager to determine the most preferred candidate and begin the process of making an offer.
Douglas W. Allen is a husband and father from Des Moines, IA. As an IBM Business Unit Executive, he works with a global team of technical professionals whose mission is to help customers in the design and deployment of IBM hardware and software solutions for their business. He has recently enjoyed Tom Clancy’s return to publishing and is enjoying new albums from Coldplay, Rush, and Kelly Clarkson. He can be reached at [email protected].
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