Sales Engineering: Building Your Technical Roadmap
By Matt Sandvold
Director of Sales Engineering
Read time: 4 minutes
Your business is going places. We see it, even if you don’t… yet.
As Director of Sales Engineering at Midco, my team has an extensive background in telecommunication, engineering and technical services. We use this knowledge to solve complex problems for business customers – from small and medium businesses to large-scale wholesale partners – and plan for the future at the same time.
How your technology is set up today will prepare you for tomorrow’s business needs – and it’s important to keep thinking five steps ahead. Our technical ears are always listening to create a five-, ten-, even twenty-year plan to evolve your business to meet growing needs.
The phrase sales engineer might sound like an oxymoron.
Why? It’s two ends of the personality spectrum. The sales stereotype is outgoing, well-spoken and personable. The engineering assumption is quiet, nerdy and behind-the-scenes. But, somehow, sales engineers exist somewhere in the middle.
Sales engineers play an important part in the overall business sales process – often bridging the gap between product development and the sales team. With complex technical services like hosted VoIP and private networking, describing equipment routing and setup in great detail is critical to matching the service to the need.
Day to day, we find ourselves in and out of customer meetings, with downtime to put our pencil to paper to map out solutions. We’re professional problem solvers.
- How will a desk phone route to a cordless phone?
- Which tower can we use to run backhaul to our fiber network?
- How will we ensure a school district’s needs are fully supported?
From responding to proposal requests to developing technical specifications, we have an extremely tight relationship with Midco’s account executives and many other departments, including Client Fulfillment and even our Network Operations Center. We’re able to use those connections to bring real technical expertise to the table – and even create custom solutions.
Sales engineers thrive on making a difference. At the end of the day, we want to not only complete tasks, but do the right thing for the customer and the company. We do this by:
Breaking down complex information.
Explaining the intricacies of WAN, LAN and PON isn’t for the faint of heart. Sales engineers turn complicated technical specifications into easy-to-understand blueprints.
Possessing both technical and soft skills.
Remember what I said about being both outgoing and nerdy? The ability to confidently present technical information is, without a doubt, required.
Working incredibly close with Midco’s sales team.
Sometimes (oftentimes) business needs are complex. Two heads are better than one – and that’s where we come in to work very closely with your account executive or representative to understand your business requirements. That way, too, you’re not explaining things multiple times.
Solving problems in and out of the box.
We push the boundaries at Midco. We’re not afraid of challenging technical problem – and will often take (calculated) business risks to meet customer requirements.
Adapting quickly in changing situations.
You never know what the day will bring – so keeping an open mind and pivoting quickly keeps us moving forward.
Building Your Technical Roadmap
Each customer’s future is different from the next – and the answers to your complex questions will determine what the future holds. We’ll work together with your account executive to build out solutions that work now – and down the road.
Matt Sandvold is Director of Sales Engineering at Midco. In this role, he leads a group of sales engineers who specialize in managing the pre-sales technology evaluation process – and then use this evaluation to create solutions for customers. Sandvold and team partner closely with Midco’s Sales team to see opportunities from all angles to provide the best possible solutions for Midco customers. He has more than three decades of experience in technology leadership, with more than 12 years of experience managing sales engineers. Sandvold holds a BSEET from DeVry Institute of Technology in Kansas City.
Matt Sandvold is Director of Sales Engineering at Midco. In this role, he leads a group of sales engineers who specialize in managing the pre-sales technology evaluation process – and then use this evaluation to create solutions for customers. Sandvold and team partner closely with Midco’s Sales team to see opportunities from all angles to provide the best possible solutions for Midco customers. He has more than three decades of experience in technology leadership, with more than 12 years of experience managing sales engineers. Sandvold holds a BSEET from DeVry Institute of Technology in Kansas City.