We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers #301 Pre-Sales Became The Swiss Army Knife of the Business World
Jan 22, 2024
Faraz Hussain, a principal solutions consultant with a rich background in various industries, shares his fascinating journey as a sales engineer. He cleverly describes himself as the 'Swiss Army knife' of sales, leveraging transferable skills to thrive in diverse roles. Faraz emphasizes the importance of understanding real customer pain points over mere features and offers time management tactics for solo SEs. He advocates for adaptability across industries and highlights a love for variety in his work, recommending Adam Grant's 'Think Again' as a must-read.
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From Guidance Systems To Hotel IT
- Faraz started in communications engineering but built embedded guidance systems and later joined his father's hospitality startup handling IT and hotel conversions.
- That hands-on cross-functional work taught him stakeholder management across C-suite to janitorial staff.
Translate Tech Into Business Value
- Learn to communicate with stakeholders at every level and translate technical details into business ROI.
- Tailor your message to each audience instead of using the same technical pitch for everyone.
Hazmat Suit To SaaS Feature Requests
- Faraz sold petrochemical test instrumentation and once trained in Chicago wearing hazmat gear to handle jet fuel.
- He then switched to working with software teams to add Arabic localization for Middle East deployments.
