S T R AT E G I C S TA F F I N G F O R E N T E R P R I S E

T E C H N I C A L S A L E S

October 2011

by Douglas W. Allen

Business Unit Executive, International Business Machines Corporation

douglaswallen@us.ibm.com

T E C H N I C A L S A L E S D R I V E S B U S I N E S S VA L U E

The recruitment and staffing of customer-facing technical sales representatives (aka pre-sales

systems engineers, etc.) for enterprise-class information technology providers is key to driving both

revenue for providers and long term business value for customers. These professionals are

responsible for working with customers and teammates in a complex sales environment to

understand the customers’ business and technology requirements, gain support amongst the

customer stakeholders & project sponsors, and eliminate technical barriers that may be inhibiting

the sale. Despite the occasionally maligned and often parodied nature of the sales profession as a

whole, enterprise-class IT providers and their customers recognize the true value and innovation

that trusted partnerships bring to each others’ business. This guide provides a technique for sales

management teams to recruit and hire the best qualified candidates for these dynamic roles.

The following graphic outlines the primary common and unique responsibilities of sales and

technical sales professionals in an enterprise-class customer environment during a typical

opportunity sales cycle.

Progressing from left to right, both sales and technical sales professionals are responsible for the

foundational aspects of customer relations and business development. This includes understanding

the customers’ business and IT environment, prospecting by looking for opportunities to contribute

to the customers’ success, and building relationships. Ensuring that customers are successful with

their existing investment in the provider’s solutions is critical as well.

As specific opportunities begin to develop, a split occurs in which the responsibilities for the

sales professional focus on ensuring that the business requirements that are driving the customers’

investment in the technology are being met. This occurs by working with customers to determine

the business value of the investment via a deeper exploration of the business needs and ensuring

that the project stakeholders are in agreement. Similarly, the technical sales professional is focused

on ensuring that customers are comfortable with the technical aspects of the solution. This occurs

by working with customers to determine how the solution meets their technical requirements, that

they are prepared to implement the solution, and that it integrates seamlessly within their existing

IT environment.

As the opportunity cycle approaches conclusion, the responsibilities converge once again to

ensure that the appropriate proposals are developed and delivered to the customer, progression

activities are reported back to the sales management team, and the opportunity is closed. During

implementation, both roles are then responsible for ensuring that the customer is successful and,

once again, the business value of their investment is constantly being realized. This customer-

focused model of shared responsibilities and teamwork ensures optimal effectiveness of the sales

organization and the satisfaction of customers.

B U S I N E S S & H U M A N R E S O U R C E S S T R AT E G I E S

The competitive business strategies of enterprise IT providers typically focus on differentiation.

By offering a variety of business technology solutions to customers, these professional organizations

engage directly with their customers as both strategic trusted business advisors as well as industry

leaders. Business value is provided via a breadth of products as well as knowledge of how the

technology is applied to customers’ businesses.

To align with their competitive business strategy, the human resources strategy for enterprise IT

providers must focus on the recruitment and retention of the “committed expert”. Enterprise

technology sales opportunities are by their very definition complex, which requires the sort of

employee that can adapt to many types of often challenging customer situations. They involve

selling advanced technology to address core business requirements into customer environments

that typically already include substantial information technology investments. Sales cycles are often

measured in multiple quarters and post-sale implementation is often challenging. Therefore, the

company requires adaptable employees who can dedicate themselves to the rigors of working in a

rapidly changing technology field while also keeping up with changes in their customers’ business.

These long-term employees develop long-term, profitable, symbiotic relationships with customers

that lead to future sales and trusted expertise to drive value for the customer’s business. Low and

non-performing employees are typically removed from the business after relatively short periods in

order to avoid any long-term damage to customer relationships and to constantly encourage and

reward high performance by all.

J O B A N A LY S I S

The technical sales representative uses consultative tools and techniques to assist current and

prospective customers in the design and deployment of enterprise-class business solutions based

on the company’s hardware, software, and/or consulting offerings. This mission consists of three

primary responsibilities:

1) Influence technical and business stakeholders and sponsors at customers in favor of purchasing offered solutions and technology.

2) Own personal relationships at customers in order to become a trusted advisor regarding how customers use the technology to run their business.

3) Ensure that customers have all of the information required for them to take responsibility for the successful implementation of the solutions and the realization of value for their business.

The Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other attributes (KSAOs) required for candidates for this

position fall into several broad categories. Example categories, as well as the specific KSAOs for

the technical sales role, are listed in the table below:

KSAO Categories KSAOs

Technical Skills •Experience with multiple types of enterprise-class technology solutions and products•Understanding of Fortune 500 customers’ information technology environments and deployment practices•Understanding of new developments in the role’s targeted business technology domain (business analytics & optimization, business process management, cloud computing, etc.)

Business Skills •Understanding of business models, customer practices, and industry trends in specific business and industry segments•Understanding of Fortune 500 customer buying behaviors•Ability to tie customer investment in technology to customer business outcomes (make money, save money, mitigate risk)

Interpersonal Skills •Ability to lead and/or influence a sales team in the planning and execution of opportunity pursuits•Ability to effectively engage with customer senior business & technology leadership as well as rank and file information technology professionals•Ability to effectively work with product development teams to improve offerings based on customer requirements and real world usage scenarios

Lifestyle •Ability to travel by air or auto, often at short notice, up to 50% of a typical work week•Ability to put in the required effort outside normal working hours to take responsibility for business results

Although often requiring coordination and teamwork in pursuit of sales opportunities, this

position is largely based on the concept of pooled interdependence. This is to say that the

qualified candidate must be internally motivated as an individual performer and not reliant on

others to contribute substantially to his or her success. Incentive compensation is heavily based on

the individual’s specific contributions in the form of customer technical deliverables, customer

implementation readiness assessments & advice, key customer relationships, opportunity

prospecting, and active participation in driving revenue for the company.

R E C R U I T I N G M E T H O D S

The focused recruiting of candidates is accomplished via both official (“centralized”) and

unofficial (“decentralized”) mechanisms. The centralized, corporate human resources led methods

should incorporate the corporate web site, recruiters retained by the company, and the internal

job posting web site. The decentralized methods used by the hiring manager(s) should include

professional networking sites such as LinkedIn, the managers’ network of technology sales

professionals both within and outside the company, and the seeking of contacts and

recommendations from customers. Combining these two recruiting methods will provide the

broadest coverage and ensure the deepest pool of candidates.

The centralized methods mentioned above enable the gathering of candidates who are not

already known by the hiring managers or the managers’ network. These methods are occasionally

effective, but often exclude very qualified (and sometimes preferred) candidates because, although

the recruiters are provided with the KSAOs for the role, their evaluation of the candidates may be

limited to resume searches for key terms. The fact that the recruiters are not directly involved in

the business for which they are recruiting makes it challenging for them to discern truly qualified

candidates. This is common at large organizations and underscores the need for well-constructed

job descriptions based on KSAOs. However, experience has shown that the decentralized method

is much more effective in not only getting qualified candidates in a more timely fashion, but getting

candidates who are the right fit for the organization.

A recommended best practice for any manager in a distributed, matrix managed organization is

to always maintain a pool of contacts and candidates in the event positions come available. This is

often referred to as the “flow” method of recruiting. This is particularly true in the enterprise

technology sales business, where the most qualified candidates typically come from former

colleagues, customers, and “friends of friends”. Business social networking tools such as LinkedIn

have been proven effective in augmenting managers’ relationships with colleagues, customers, and

competitors. These relationships enable the hiring manager to always have a few candidates in

mind who understand the business and who may be looking to make a move. Customers are also

great sources of candidates and, if asked, will often provide names of individuals from competitors

whom they enjoy working with and trust. In many cases, particularly with more technical positions,

they will even recommend some of their current and former employees. In a focused,

decentralized recruiting environment, the more trusted sources the hiring manager has for

candidates, the better the candidate pool.

C A N D I D AT E “ T E S T I N G ”

Once a qualified pool of candidates has been gathered, the first test that will be administered

to further qualify them for the position focuses on the Technical, Business, and Interpersonal KSAO

Categories for the role. Candidates will be required to give a presentation that demonstrates a

technical solution to a customer business problem. The presentation will be given to to the hiring

manager and selected members of the management team. This will create a simulation that will

enable an estimate of on-the-job performance as well as a demonstration of the candidate’s

experience in a selling environment. Preferably, the candidate would be discussing a solution within

the target domain that the position is charged with selling, but if the candidate has an extensive

background in other business technology domains, they could present from those as well. The

management team will be expected to ask questions typical of enterprise technology customers.

Although admittedly very subjective, the candidates will be graded by the management team on a

three point scale in the areas of:

✴ Business Applicability - what business problem was the customer trying to solve? How is

the technical solution going to help them make money, save money, or mitigate risk for their

business? Is there a particular industry-specific trend addressed by the solution?

✴ Technical Clarity - what products, components, and technologies are utilized in the solution?

How do these elements interact with each other? How do they integrate and/or fit into

the customer’s existing information technology environment? What does the customer

need to do in order to take responsibility for the successful implementation of the solution?

✴ Audience Engagement - how well did the candidate engage the audience in the discussion?

Were they able to expand the solution to include additional technologies (and therefore

increase the size of the sales opportunity) in response to questions from the audience?

Many of the answers to the previous two criteria will come from questions and issues that

the candidate may have explored with the audience.

✴ Overall Presentation Style - candidate appearance, speaking ability, professional mannerisms.

✴ Would You Buy This Solution (or anything) From This Candidate? - likely the ultimate

question that provides a simple yes/no answer to the audience’s evaluation of the four

previously mentioned criteria.

An “audition” of this nature is a reliable and valid method for determining the most qualified

candidates for positions in a sales organization. The pressure of performing a significant part of the

role for which they are interviewing for their potential management team will create an

environment similar to what the candidate will face when interacting with customers.

A second test for candidates interested in this position will be management’s simple evaluation

of some form of technical writing or customer deliverable quality document developed by the

candidate. Again, although somewhat subjective, this test will at minimum establish whether the

candidate has any experience communicating the business merits and technical specifications of a

solution.

A third, optional, test for candidates interested in this position involves the construction of a

personality profile such as DiSC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DiSC). The candidate’s DiSC profile

will help the hiring managers make a better assessment of the candidate’s Interpersonal and, to

some extent, Lifestyle KSAO Categories. Such personality testing has proven to be reliable across

languages and cultures. For this particular leadership-oriented position in a sales organization, an

individual with strengths in the Dominance and Influence quadrants has the most potential for

success. These strengths are typically exhibited by those with extroverted personalities who are

driven to emerge as visible leaders and are more responsive to incentives. This is exactly what is

needed for this position.

T H E P E R S O N A L I N T E RV I E W

Candidates will participate in a personal interview with the hiring manager (likely prior to the

aforementioned “audition” test) during which the hiring manager will attempt to better ascertain

the candidate’s qualifications and fit for the role. The following table lists interview questions, what

those questions are seeking to measure, and the ideal or preferred essence of their answers. Many

of the questions do not necessarily measure specific KSAOs for the position, but rather provide

insight into the candidate’s personality, experiences, motivation, and how well they will fit into the

organization.

Question Measure Preferred Answer

What is your greatest strength and how will you use it to benefit this organization?

Gives the candidate permission to sell themselves and their best attributes. Also enables the interviewer to get a better understanding of how much research the candidate has done into our company, organization, etc.; Interpersonal Skills KSAOs.

Specific examples of what they are good at and how that applies to selling our solutions, including some specific knowledge of those solutions.

What brings you the most professional joy? Name a specific instance and why.

Understanding what motivates and drives the candidate to be successful. Lifestyle KSAOs.

Specific examples pertaining to the candidate taking responsibility for closing new business (driving revenue) or successfully solving customer business problems.

What was your favorite job and what did you like about it? Describe a good day at one of your previous positions.

Understanding the candidate’s perception of “work” and the sort of tasks that they enjoy the most.

Examples of the candidate engaging in activities that drive business results with customers as opposed to less difficult and/or solitary “desk executed” activities. Demonstration of the candidate’s control over the type of day they had.

Question Measure Preferred Answer

What brings you the most professional frustration and how do you get through it? Name a specific instance and how.

Understanding how the candidate deals with the frustrations that will inevitably arise. Paying extra attention to any shift in attitude, as it provides insight into professional maturity of the candidate.

Any activities related to the execution of a previous role that, although challenging, are necessary in order for the organization to perform its function. Candidate must demonstrate an understanding of the business necessity of the activity.

Tell me about a business technology solution that you implemented? What was its business purpose? What tasks did you perform?

The Technical and Business Skills KSAOs associated with the role.

Demonstrated understanding of the business reason for investing in the solution (make money, save money, mitigate risk) and the technical solution that was implemented. Including a graphic representation of the solution (whiteboard, napkin, etc.).

What decision do you wish you could do over? Name something that you really messed up and how did you rectify it?

Professional maturity and introspection. Willingness to evaluate their own performance and adjust.

Specific examples of both the negative outcome of the decision and the specific actions that the candidate would perform differently. A professional decision do-over, rather than a personal one, is preferred.

What do you think people like about you? Why? Can you provide examples of others’ feedback regarding these traits?

Self-awareness, ability to interpret other’s perceptions, the Interpersonal Skills KSAOs

Personality traits that are most applicable to success in the sales organization that serves our customers. Examples include outgoing, courteous, interested in others, knowledgeable, charitable, etc.

Question Measure Preferred Answer

When have you ever disagreed with your management and how did you handle it?

Professional maturity, Business & Interpersonal Skills KSAOs

Example of an incident related to the operation of the business and specific actions on the part of the candidate. Demonstration either of the acceptance and understanding of management’s position or if/how the candidate was able to influence change to the practice, policy, opinion, etc. in question.

If you joined our organization and it works out, where do you see yourself going from there?

Career aspirations, professional maturity, Lifestyle KSAOs

Anything that would lead the interviewer to believe that the candidate has spent time thinking about their professional future and why they are interested in a particular path.

What business or management book are you reading right now? What business or management magazine or newspaper do you read most often?

Business Skills & Lifestyle KSAOs. Anyone involved in the sale of enterprise-class business technology solutions to large customers needs a firm grasp on the business climate, industry-specific issues, etc.

Any specific examples will do. Follow up with additional questions about content, authors, columnists, recent articles, etc.

What do you think are the key components are to the enterprise business technology solution sales process?

Business Skills KSAOs. Provides some insight into the candidate’s understanding of a typical enterprise sales process and what it takes to move through the cycle.

Components such as validating the realities of the opportunity and key business drivers; developing a plan for working the opportunity; leading the team in engaging with the customer; determining the steps to closure; communicating them to the team and customer; and engagement.

Question Measure Preferred Answer

How would you respond if one of your customers said in your first meeting "I hate your company"?

Professional maturity, Business & Interpersonal Skills KSAOs

Inquiring the customer about specific experiences that have colored the customer’s opinion. Asking the customer what the ideal relationship would look like.

Give an example of how you were able to develop relationship at senior levels of an organization and what was the result?

Business & Interpersonal Skills KSAOs

Description of specific networking activities that the candidate has performed, how they found common ground, how they developed the relationship and how it was mutually beneficial.

S U M M A RY A N D D E C I S I O N

This comprehensive staffing plan provides hiring managers with all that is needed to define the

role, attract, and acquire the most attractive and best fitting technical sales candidates. It creates a

balance between what is required by human resources departments in large enterprises and what

is most effective for the individual manager by covering both the centralized and decentralized

approaches to recruiting.

Upon completion of the recruiting cycle, the hiring manager will make a simple evaluation of

the candidates’ responses to the interview questions and determine how many were most similar

to the preferred answer. These results, combined with the candidate’s DiSC profile and feedback

from peer managers on the candidates’ presentations (i.e. “auditions”) will enable the hiring

manager to determine the most preferred candidate and begin the process of making an offer.

Douglas W. Allen is a husband and father from Des Moines, IA. As an IBM Business Unit Executive, he works with a global team of technical professionals whose mission is to help customers in the design and deployment of IBM hardware and software solutions for their business. He has recently enjoyed Tom Clancy’s return to publishing and is enjoying new albums from Coldplay, Rush, and Kelly Clarkson. He can be reached at douglaswallen@us.ibm.com.