You reframe what selling actually is. You’re not selling, you’re helping people buy. Engineers resist ‘sales’ because it conflicts with how they proudly see themselves. They’re smart problem solvers. Not annoying pushy, self-serving talkers. So when they realise that they can learn to help customers think valuable decisions through, using their expertise, they tend to be interested. Because they can remain engineers, but engineers who can ‘sell’.
Key facts
- The word ‘sales’ scares a lot of engineers off. Learning to intelligently help someone buy is of interest.
- When the engineer learns what value is to the buyer, then leads them towards it, they feel it’s almost an act of generosity.
- It’s learnable. Providing they want to learn it. They can even learn more comfortable ways to do it.
- We helped a technical engineer at Vinci Energies to use a paint-by-numbers approach to turn a casual nuclear-sector account into a multi-million-pound strategic partner, all without him feeling at all ‘salesy’.
- Engineers can learn simple tweaks to their approach that can pave the way towards a ‘yes’ from the buyer.
- A free 3-minute starting point is our Revenue Generator Score diagnostic, which reveals where your sales approach is breaking down and the single area to fix first.
Why do engineers resist the idea of selling?
Engineers don’t see themselves as salespeople. They see themselves as smart, intelligent engineers who get things right. Sales is a very different field, and the resistance comes from mindset. But the switch can be flipped. The word ‘sales’ alone scares a lot of engineers off. The idea of ‘sales training’ can put some off too, as the threat to actually ‘sell’ looms over them. But to learn how to consultatively engage clients and involve them in problem solving a buying process appeals a lot more. It’s a case of reinforcing an engineers proud self-identity, then helping them leverage it towards helping buyers buy.
What’s the reframe that gets engineers past their resistance?
You’re not selling, you’re helping people buy. Engineers like to solve problems. They like to be helpful, efficient, and to make things work. When they understand that selling, properly done, is exactly that, plus listening hard to what the buyer actually values, they engage. Helping a customer make the right buying decision is a problem-solving conversation. That’s an engineering job. When you’ve helped the customer in front of you understand what value really is and how your solution fits, are you really going to stop them buying it from you? That question gets engineers past their resistance fast.
What does winning more business look like without ‘selling’ in the old sense?
It looks like better-prepared, better-listened-to conversations with clients who already know your team. It looks like asking questions that switch on the buying drivers, instead of pitching technical features. It looks like becoming the trusted advisor inside an account, then expanding from there. A technical engineer at Vinci Energies was given a paint-by-numbers approach to opening up commercial conversations and connecting more value with a client. He turned a casual nuclear-sector account into a multi-million-pound strategic partner. Director Andrew Hunter, described it as Mark from HelpPeopleBuy.com ‘adding sales skills by stealth’. The engineers didn’t think they were doing sales. They thought they were having better srtuctured and more valuable conversations with clients.
How fast can this realistically happen?
An engineer making an instant single change in their conversation could make the difference between a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ from a customer to keep talking or not. The change can happen extremely fast, providing that the engineer is getting the right specialist support that helps them align their approach with buyers. But our full transformational programmes from helppeoplebuy.com usually involve working with clients on 6-12 month programmes that provide a steady incremental increase to sales. One off sales training doesn’t work because it’s like going to the gym just once and expecting to build muscle. Consistent support to keep the wind blowing behind the sales of your team is directly proportional to the results the team can expect to create.
What’s the first move a sales leader should make?
Take a serious look at the system first, not just the people. Most underperformance is caused by a less-than-efficient sales ‘machine’ – which includes the team, your processes, your strategy, your culture, your shared learning and intel, your use of technology and AI, and whether your team are ‘led’ to continuously improve measurably, or just left to get on with it. An unclear ICP (ideal customer profile), a missing buyer-journey map, leadership stuck in management mode, and the entire commercial agenda dumped on one or two individuals are all problematic. Start with a diagnosis. Look at fit and value across your customer base. See where your team is already creating and keeping customers on repeat, then build a radar to spot and create more similar opportunities. We can help you do all this, but the starting point we suggest is to get your “Revenue Generator Score” by taking our 3-minute diagnostic tool, and getting a free tailored report showing the blockages in your pipeline.
Do engineers need to become ‘salesy’ to win business?
Definitely not – that’s damaging. Their customers want value, clarity ideas for application that’ll benefit them, and not to be ‘sold to’ but to be helped into thinking their situation and options through. Something that engineers can help them do methodically, whilst also building appropriate ethical ‘buying tension’ that leads to a ‘yes’. They can learn this in a paint by numbers approach. The only question is are they willing to learn how?
Three signals your engineers need commercial support
First, they’re losing deals to your competitors. If your technical solution is superior but you’re not winning, the gap is commercial, not technical. Second, they’re waiting for RFPs instead of proactively connecting and creating buying tension earlier in the process. Third, they’re uncomfortable with commercial conversations and default to feature-dumping or just blindly pitching in hope, or just answering buyer questions and wondering why the buyer walks away and doesn’t come back.