As I am sitting in the plane heading to Toronto, I started thinking what make someone a great sales engineer?  I believe it can be summed up in one word: passion.  I am reflecting back on the amount of traveling I have been done within the last couple weeks and wonder, why am I traveling so much?  To give you context, last week was the Pluralsight Sales Kickoff off in Orlando, FL where I spent five days learning about the exciting innovations and direction of the company. This week I had three customer trips (Boston, Pittsburgh and Toronto).  So why did I choose a profession where I travel so often and spend so much of my time in the field and with customers?  I do this because I am truly passionate about the company’s mission, the product that I help sell and the sales team that I support.  Don’t get me wrong, this passion comes with occasional sacrifices to my family and my time but finding a balance in my life is much easier because I love what I do.

I think the best sales engineers share this trait with me.  They are passionate in the product they are selling and will go the extra mile to share that passion with others.  They will make something that seems impossible to a customer or rep, be possible, because they believe in their product.  To be clear, I’m NOT saying to lie to reps or customers about your product’s ability just to close a deal. What I AM saying is that this passion helps you have the vision and creativity to think outside the box about what your product can do to help guide what will ultimately make the customer successful.

Now you might be thinking that you are a passionate sales engineer, but let me ask you this.  If you were ask to travel every day to speak with different customers, while putting out fire drills with current customers, and interviewing candidates in between, would you still be excited to get up and do your job?

I’m curious to know from you, how do you show your passion?