Sales Engineers
Sales Engineers is the O*NET name for people who sell business goods or services, the selling of which requires a technical background equivalent to a baccalaureate degree in engineering. The skills rated most useful are speaking, persuasion, and social perceptiveness. You may also need to develop, present, or respond to proposals for specific customer requirements, including request for proposal responses and industry-specific solutions. Interest ratings put Enterprising on top at 5.8 out of 7 and Conventional second, so the code is ECI and the day leans toward leading, persuading and making business decisions. Getting in usually takes a bachelor’s degree plus a period of work experience, a level O*NET calls considerable preparation. If you want leading, persuading and making business decisions, keep it on your list. If you need creative work with room for original expression, it may feel thin.
What they do
Sell business goods or services, the selling of which requires a technical background equivalent to a baccalaureate degree in engineering.
Main tasks
- Develop, present, or respond to proposals for specific customer requirements, including request for proposal responses and industry-specific solutions.
- Collaborate with sales teams to understand customer requirements, to promote the sale of company products, and to provide sales support.
- Create sales or service contracts for products or services.
- Visit prospective buyers at commercial, industrial, or other establishments to show samples or catalogs, and to inform them about product pricing, availability, and advantages.
- Keep informed on industry news and trends, products, services, competitors, relevant information about legacy, existing, and emerging technologies, and the latest product-line developments.
- Identify resale opportunities and support them to achieve sales plans.
Skills
- Speaking
- Persuasion
- Social Perceptiveness
- Reading Comprehension
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Critical Thinking
Who this career fits
May suit you if
- You like taking the lead and making the call.
- You like clear rules and getting the details right.
- You are ready to spend around four years on a degree, then build experience.
- You are comfortable relying on speaking and persuasion.
May not suit you if
- You would rather not persuade, sell or manage other people.
- You need creative expression to be a big part of your day. Artistic rates 1.8 out of 7 here.
- You want to avoid a four-year degree or its equivalent.
Interest profile
O*NET rates each occupation from 1 to 7 on six interest types. The code ECI takes the three highest, and Enterprising comes first here.
Preparation
Considerable preparation. Most jobs here ask for a bachelor’s degree, and employers usually expect a few years of related experience as well.
Most-reported requirement in the O*NET survey: Bachelor's Degree. This reflects what workers reported most often and is not a legal minimum. Licensing rules can differ by state or industry, so confirm what applies where you plan to work.
Also called
- Business Development Engineer
- Inside Sales Engineer
- Product Sales Engineer
- Sales Applications Engineer
- Sales Engineer
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This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.