You’re not selling, you’re helping people buy. Train engineers to understand buying psychology, and what value to customers really looks like (beyond the obvious). Then help them design intelligent questions that probe for that value, or expose it and amplify it. Then train them to listen and guide buyers through the decision procerss. Call it ‘value-building conversations’ or ‘trusted-advisor approach’, not sales. Engineers respect methodical, ethical processes that buyers appreciate too.
Key facts
- The word ‘sales’ alone scares engineers off because they see themselves as smart, intelligent problem-solvers, not pushy pitch-merchants – the resistance is from cognitive dissonance rather than capability.
- Engineers who turn casual accounts into multi-million-pound partnerships do it by learning how to add sales skills by stealth: better conversations that don’t feel like selling to them but produce commercial results for the business.
- Most sales training fails technical teams because it’s ill-fitting, conflicting in styles, or because it’s forgotten quickly. Engineers need an intelligent, sensible, proven approach to building the right skills, knowledge and mindsets over time, whilst enjoying the compunding effects of doing so.
- The trusted-advisor approach works: go in not as the smartest person in the room, but as the empty vessel who’s about to learn and fill up on everything important to the customer. Then align your value accordingly. There’s a methodical and fast way to learn this.
- A free 3-minute starting point is the Revenue Generator Score diagnostic tool on our site, which reveals where your sales approach is breaking down and the single area to fix first.
What does ‘salesy’ actually mean to engineers?
Pushy. Tricky. Manipulative. Talking too much. Hyped-up language. The stereotypical old-school salesperson who fakes rapport and pretends to listen while waiting to pitch. Engineers hate that, and so do their buyers. Smart buyers can sniff it a mile off. When engineers think ‘sales training’, they picture themselves becoming that person. No wonder they resist. The words ‘sales training’ are the bridge to doing something they really don’t want to do. They’d rather lose deals than compromise their integrity. But, support to engage customers intelligently and effectively in a way that helps them buy is of interest to most engineers.
What’s the alternative they can actually live with?
The trusted-advisor approach. Go in as the empty vessel. Seek to understand the buyer’s situation, what’s important to them, how they like to buy. You listen your way to a sale, rather than telling and pitching your way to one. It’s intelligent, methodical, ethical. Engineers respect it. So do the buyers they’re talking to. You’re identifying who would genuinely be better off with what you provide, and helping them buy in the way that they want to buy. Discovery is about the buyer discovering compelling reasons to buy from you. You’re not selling to your buyer, you’re selling with your buyer.
How do I teach my engineers conversational skills without making them feel like they’re ‘doing sales’?
Teach them how to run a value-building conversation, then call it that. Teach them how to ask the questions that switch on the buying drivers. Teach them conversational jiu-jitsu, the framing that lets them say anything, even something awkward, and have the buyer respect them more for it. None of that feels salesy. All of it sells. At Vinci Energies, a technical engineer turned a casual nuclear-sector account into a multi-million-pound strategic partner. His Director, Andrew Hunter described it as ‘adding sales skills by stealth’. The engineers didn’t think they were doing sales. They thought they were having better more valuable conversations with a client.
What about the engineers who really, really don’t want to do this?
Two questions for them. One: when you’ve helped the customer in front of you understand their situation and how your solution fits, and that they’ll be better off with it than they would be by holding on to their investment, are you really going to stop them buying? Two: how much of what you want in your career, your work, your life, depends on someone saying yes to you at some point? Once those land, the resistance is mostly an information problem, not a values one. Engineers don’t see themselves as salespeople. They see themselves as smart, intelligent engineers who get things right. Well that describes the approach that they can learn in order to get more ‘yeses’ and help the rght buyers buy.
How do I tell if my team is selling well, or just pushing harder?
Listen to a few of their conversations, or read their proposals. If the conversations are them talking, demonstrating, pitching benefits, and pushing for next steps, that’s pushing. It’s hard to get a square peg into a round hole. If the conversations are them asking, listening, summarising the buyer’s words back, surfacing genuine fit, and inviting decisions, that’s selling well. Good conversations create buying tension by helping buyers discover their own compelling reasons to act. Poor conversations try to manufacture urgency through pressure. Value is in the eye of the beholder. Your engineers should be helping buyers see that value, not forcing it on them.
Do engineers need to become ‘salespeople’ to win business?
No. Engineers who try to become traditional salespeople usually fail because it conflicts with everything they believe about being professional and ethical. The far majority of sales training doesn’t work because it’s generic training, and delivered as a one-off – that’s like going to the gym just once and expecting to build muscle. Engineers need to stay engineers and add commercial skills that fit how they think. They need to become trusted advisors who help people buy, not pitch-merchants who pressure people into buying. The gap between what it feels like to the team and what it produces in the business is what clients keep reflecting back. Smart but didn’t sign up to sell.
Three signs your engineers are pushing instead of selling
First: they’re doing most of the talking in client meetings. Engineers love to explain and demonstrate, but buyers need space to share their situation and concerns. Second: they’re leading with features and capabilities rather than understanding the buyer’s problem first. Technical people naturally want to show what they can do, but buyers want to know you understand what they need. Third: they’re uncomfortable when buyers raise concerns or objections. Pushing salespeople see objections as obstacles. Engineers who help people buy see them as requests for more information.The ultimate test is to look at your pipeline: are the right opportunities flowing in, moving along, and closing seamlessly? If they are, your engineers aren’t pushing. There’s FIT and VALUE. If not, then they’re likely pushing at various points in the process. You need to talk to us at helppeoplebuy.com.