In the fast-paced world of sales engineering, being efficient isn’t just a luxury – it’s a necessity. Sales engineers often find themselves juggling multiple tasks, from liaising with clients to collaborating with in-house teams and managing complex technical projects. Amidst these responsibilities, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and see productivity take a hit. But what if we told you there’s a way to revolutionise your workflow, elevate your efficiency, and give your performance as a sales engineer a significant boost?
In this article, we will delve into a transformative approach, demystifying how sales engineers can streamline their tasks and unlock unprecedented levels of productivity. With a blend of cutting-edge digital tools and smart strategies, we’ll demonstrate how to transform the conventional workflow of sales engineers into a high-efficiency powerhouse. You will discover insights gleaned from real-life experiences, backed by a tried-and-tested system that offers tangible results.
Stay with us as we embark on this enlightening journey, exploring new horizons in productivity and efficiency for sales engineers. After all, the future of sales engineering is digital, and it’s high time we embraced it. Welcome to the new era of optimised workflow for sales engineers.
The Importance of Productivity in Sales Engineering
In the realm of sales engineering, productivity isn’t just a buzzword – it’s the lifeline that underpins success. Each day, sales engineers grapple with a diverse range of tasks, from interpreting complex technical information for clients to crafting persuasive sales strategies. The ability to juggle these tasks effectively and maintain a high level of productivity isn’t just an advantage; it’s an absolute necessity.
Let’s take a moment to visualise a typical day in the life of a sales engineer. Picture yourself hopping between customer meetings, solving technical queries, and coordinating with the product development team. In this intricate dance, productivity is the rhythm that keeps you moving in sync, ensuring none of your responsibilities miss a beat.
Moreover, as a sales engineer, your productivity isn’t just about you – it directly impacts your team, your clients, and your organisation. A productive sales engineer can address customer concerns quickly, close deals efficiently, and contribute to the team’s overall performance. In essence, when you elevate your productivity, you don’t just improve your personal performance, but you also drive the success of your organisation.
Now, imagine a world where you could execute your tasks with greater efficiency, speed, and precision. A world where you feel less stressed, more in control, and confident in your ability to tackle the challenges that come your way. Sounds appealing, doesn’t it? This is the power of productivity in sales engineering. Embracing it not only bolsters your professional growth but also redefines your organisation’s trajectory towards success. It’s time to delve into the transformative journey towards amplified productivity in sales engineering.
The Downside of Traditional Methods
Let’s rewind the clock and revisit the era when sales engineers relied heavily on traditional, paper-based methods for their workflow. While it may evoke a sense of nostalgia, it’s also a stark reminder of the limitations and inefficiencies that plagued these old-school systems.
Imagine being in the thick of a hectic day, with stacks of paper piling up on your desk. Notes from client meetings, technical specifications, and sales reports – all scattered, all demanding your attention. Searching for a crucial piece of information became akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Despite your best efforts, documents were misplaced, valuable information was lost, and productivity suffered. This was the reality of the traditional methods in sales engineering.
Moreover, the physical constraints of paper-based systems meant that they lacked the flexibility and accessibility that modern sales engineers need. In today’s world, where remote working and on-the-go access to information are becoming the norm, these traditional methods fall short.
And then, there’s the environmental impact. The excessive use of paper contributes to deforestation, adding an unwelcome ecological cost to the already strained productivity.
It’s clear that while traditional methods served us well in the past, they simply can’t keep up with the dynamic, fast-paced demands of modern sales engineering. They lack the efficiency, agility, and eco-friendliness that the digital age requires.
As sales engineers, it’s our responsibility to adapt and evolve, to shed the inefficiencies of the past and embrace the possibilities of the future. It’s time to turn the page on traditional methods and welcome a more efficient, more productive era of sales engineering. The future is digital, and it’s high time we caught up.
Prior to the COVID pandemic, I was travelling extensively for my work. As a result, it wasn’t unusual for me to only see 2-3 customers every week, each in a different country within my territory. Taking notes the traditional way in a trusty journal meant I had everything at my fingertips without needing to be online. I had a system on paper where if something needed action I would simply draw a tick box in the margin, and when I had some time to kill (between flights, for instance) I would work through those outstanding items. This approach saw me going through a journal roughly every 18-24 months.
Once COVID hit and we were in lockdown, I found myself busier than ever! Instead of my work becoming harder due to not being able to visit customers, I realised that not needing to travel meant I could have 4 customer meetings in a day, rather than 2-3 each week. My old paper-based system started to show weaknesses, due to the sheer volume of notes I was taking. I was filling a journal in 3-4 months and was missing key tasks as they were scattered over a large number of pages. I also found it really challenging to go back to a meeting that I attended a few months earlier—I had to find the right journal to start with!
The Shift to Digital: Introducing the Tools
As we’ve navigated the limitations of traditional methods, it’s clear that the future of sales engineering lies in embracing digital tools. These cutting-edge technologies offer us the opportunity to revolutionise our workflows, streamline our tasks, and redefine our productivity. In this section, we’re going to delve into these transformative tools, unmasking the features that make them a game-changer for modern sales engineers. So, prepare to embark on this digital voyage, as we introduce the tools that are set to revolutionise your productivity as a sales engineer.
Evernote: Your Digital Notebook
Evernote steps into the spotlight as an invaluable tool for sales engineers, effectively functioning as your digital notebook. It facilitates the seamless organisation and retrieval of information, ensuring that every crucial detail is just a click away. Evernote stands out with its robust note-taking capabilities, intuitive interface, and powerful search functions. From jotting down meeting minutes to saving crucial client information, this platform turns note management into a breeze. It’s a tool designed to declutter your digital workspace, making it easier than ever to capture, organise, and find your most important information.
I’ve been an Evernote user for many years, but it had only ever been a place to store information that I might need to access at some point. I started using it as my primary note-taking tool instead of my trusty paper journal. After all, Evernote now had the ability to download my notes to my various devices, and then work offline. I created a template that I would use whenever I had a first meeting with a new prospect. This had space at the top for me to record the details of who attended the meeting (which I would add to as we had more meetings), and then I would add my notes beneath. Whenever we had a new meeting, I would add that at the top of the note, so the most recent was always first. It was also really handy to have these notes captured electronically, as it made adding them into Salesforce a simple copy-and-paste exercise.
This approach was definitely an improvement—epsecially when it came to referring back to previous meetings—but tasks were still getting lost. I toyed with Evernote tasks, but they didn’t seem to fit my workflow, as the tasks were only related to notes that I’d created, and were missing other, more general tasks that I needed to achieve.
Todoist: Your Task Management Ally
Next up is Todoist, a task management tool that has been a game-changer for countless sales engineers. Todoist brings simplicity and efficiency to your to-do list, allowing you to keep track of tasks, deadlines, and projects with ease. Whether it’s following up with a client, preparing for a presentation, or coordinating with your team, Todoist ensures nothing slips through the cracks. Its intuitive design, coupled with features like priority levels and reminders, transforms task management into a streamlined, stress-free process. With Todoist, you’re always on top of your game, ready to tackle each day with confidence and efficiency.
My approach was to use Todoist as my primary to-do list, adding everything in there that I needed to get done, and then adding individual tasks that came up during meetings in the appropriate Todoist project. Now I had a single tool to manage my productivity across everything work-related, as well as my personal items and additional side projects that I was working on. Since Todoist only does one thing (and does it really well!) it suited my workflow really well. My only challenge was making the switch from Evernote to Todoist seamlessly in the middle of a sales call, without losing my train of thought or missing key revelations from the prospect.
Unifying the Tools: My Personal Productivity System
Having introduced the digital tools that have transformed the landscape of sales engineering, it’s now time to explore the magic that happens when we unify them. This section delves into my personal productivity system, where Todoist, Evernote, and other tools come together in a harmonious blend, creating a seamless and efficient workflow. This isn’t just about using digital tools – it’s about integrating them intelligently to maximise their potential. So, let’s embark on this journey of discovery, as we delve into the inner workings of a productivity system that’s transforming the world of sales engineering.
Pleexy: The Ultimate Synchronisation Solution
Enter Pleexy, a tool designed to bring harmony to your digital workspace by seamlessly integrating your task management and note-taking tools. Pleexy acts as a bridge, ensuring that your tasks in Todoist and notes in Evernote are perfectly synchronised. With its intuitive interface and customisable settings, Pleexy takes the hassle out of juggling multiple platforms. It keeps your information in sync, reduces manual input, and maximises the efficiency of your workflow. Pleexy is the connective tissue in your productivity system, bringing all your tools together into one cohesive, efficient whole.
This works by monitoring a specified notebook in Evernote for any notes that contain “Checklists” (note that it doesn’t use Evernote’s “Tasks”), which it assumes are your Todo items, so creates a matching note in a specified project inTodoist. This happens automatically and continuously, meaning you can stay in Evernote where you’re taking your meeting notes, and any time you need to add a task, simply enter it as a “checklist”, and Pleexy will kindly add it to Todoist for you. I then had a daily reminder to review those items, which were automatically tagged with ‘evernote’, meaning I could find them all using a saved search. Checking the item as complete in Todoist would then trigger the item to be marked as ‘done’ in Evernote, thanks to Pleexy.
The Impact: How My Productivity Skyrocketed
We’ve navigated the path from traditional methods to digital tools and witnessed how unifying these tools can create a powerful productivity system. But what does this transformation really mean for a sales engineer? What tangible impact does it have on our daily workflow, our job performance, and ultimately, our professional growth?
In this section, we’re going to delve into the heart of this transformation. We’ll explore the real-world impact that this shift to digital and the unification of tools had on my productivity as a sales engineer. From increased efficiency to improved task management and enhanced client relations, we’ll uncover the myriad ways in which this system revolutionised my work.
So, buckle up and prepare to be inspired by the power of digital tools and smart strategies. As we delve into this journey, you’ll witness the transformation that’s possible when you embrace the future of sales engineering. Welcome to a world where productivity doesn’t just improve; it skyrockets.
Let’s take a moment to remind ourselves where we started:
- Paper-based “old school” system
- Tasks could get lost or overlooked
- Meeting notes were hard to find
As Sales Engineers, being able to accurately follow through on tasks we’ve committed to a prospect or customer are key to building the levels of trust that we need to close deals. My old system gave me nothing to support the efficiency that I needed in this post-COVID world.
Contrast that with my current system:
- All notes are stored in a single place
- All notes available at all times across all of my devices
- All notes are fully searchable
- Tasks are automatically created in my task management system of choice
- I have a process to keep me focused on any outstanding tasks and a single place to find those tasks
- Completed tasks are automatically checked off back in Evernote
Reaping the Benefits of the Productivity System
The introduction of this productivity system ushered in a transformation that was nothing short of remarkable. It was as if a switch had been flipped, illuminating a pathway to improved efficiency, better time management, and enhanced job performance.
One of the most noticeable impacts was the significant reduction in time spent managing tasks and information. With Evernote acting as a central repository for notes and Todoist seamlessly managing tasks, the days of sifting through stacks of papers became a distant memory. Pleexy ensured that both these tools stayed in perfect sync, further streamlining the workflow. As a result, I was able to devote more time to core responsibilities, such as client interactions and technical problem-solving.
Additionally, this system introduced an unparalleled level of organisation into my routine. Every task, every note had its rightful place, and locating them was just a click away. This not only reduced stress but also bolstered confidence, as I knew I had everything under control.
Lastly, this productivity system boosted my performance as a sales engineer. With tasks well-managed and information easily accessible, I was able to respond to clients more quickly, solve problems more efficiently, and close deals more effectively. The result? A remarkable increase in productivity, better client relationships, and a significant contribution to my team’s overall performance.
Embracing the Future of Productivity
As we reach the end of this enlightening journey, we can’t help but marvel at the transformation that the world of sales engineering has undergone. From the humble days of paper-based systems to the revolutionary impact of digital tools, the evolution has been significant. More importantly, it’s an evolution that’s opened the door to a future of unparalleled productivity and efficiency.
In this age of information and digitalisation, the traditional methods of managing tasks and information no longer hold sway. The future belongs to tools like Todoist, Evernote, and Pleexy – tools that simplify our tasks, streamline our workflows, and make us more efficient. The future belongs to the sales engineers who embrace these tools, unifying them into a productivity system that transcends the limitations of the past.
But it’s not just about embracing digital tools. It’s about understanding how these tools can work together, how they can be synchronised to create a system that’s greater than the sum of its parts. It’s about realising that productivity isn’t just a measure of how much we do, but how efficiently we do it.
As sales engineers, it’s time we embraced this future of productivity. It’s time we shed the inefficiencies of the past and stepped into a world where tasks are managed with ease, information is at our fingertips, and productivity is not just a goal, but a reality.
So, here’s to the sales engineers who are ready to embark on this journey, who are ready to embrace the future of productivity. The road may be challenging, but the rewards are worth it. After all, in the fast-paced world of sales engineering, being productive isn’t just a luxury – it’s a necessity. And with these digital tools and systems, that necessity is well within our reach.
In the words of productivity guru David Allen, “You can do anything, but not everything.” But with the right tools and the right system, you can certainly do more than you ever thought possible. Here’s to the future of productivity in sales engineering.
Learn more about becoming a Powerhouse Sales Engineering Leader in my book, Powerhouse Sales Engineering. Get a free chapter here.
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