Earlier this week I asked for opinions on what makes a good technical sales person.  Now, I’d like to share mine.

I’ve been lucky in my career. I’ve worked with terrific sales people, and had very few occasions where they made a promise we couldn’t deliver on.  Here are the things I think they’ve done well:

1. They communicate with Implementation (and possibly Support) during the sales process.  This is particularly important if they are new to the company, or the product.  If there is something they are unsure about, they should always check with Implementation/Support before agreeing it can be done.  This also includes handing over any information they may have already discovered.  Customers hate being asked for the same information twice.
2. They set customer expectations.  This really just boils down to the fact that they don’t make promises the delivery team can’t deliver on.  They give of an overview of the implementation process as well as the philosophy behind it.  This lets the customer know exactly what to expect at kickoff.
3. They aren’t afraid to say “no”.  This goes back to setting expectations, and not promising something that can’t be delivered on.

I also want to add one more thing that isn’t really a quality of the person.  As Rod pointed out in his comments, a technical sales person should report to services rather than sales.  This keeps his/her interests aligned with services, and thus, helps ensure they strive for sales that lead to successful implementations.

Are there other things to add to this list, or maybe some things you don’t think are as important?  Please leave any feedback in the comments.

I posted last week about how POCs can make life difficult on the engineer responsible for implementing a solution.  This got me thinking not just about POCs, but also about the person who makes the sale.  I started wondering, “What makes a good technical sales person?”.  I want to look at this through the perspective of services, rather than from the typical revenue perspective.

Obviously you need people who can close deals and bring revenue to the company.  Any technical sales person should have technical aptitude, and be honest and personable.  What other qualities should they have?

Please leave your thoughts in the comments.  I’ll post my opinion later this week.

My friend Ashraf Motiwala brought up a topic I’m very familiar with when he explained Why (most) Identity Management POCs Suck.

To give a brief overview, a POC (Proof of Concept), at least in my experience, basically consists of a sales guy, and a sales engineer.  They spend a couple of days with a client, and build a solution to prove they can integrate with the customer’s technology.  Ash came up with 3 major complaints:

1. A typical POC is just a glorified demo.
2. The success of the post-POC demo is highly dependent on 2 individuals on the vendor team: the Sales Engineer (the guy who duck-taped together the POC) and the POC-demo-guy
3. A POC is typical technology focused. Most IdM deployments are business process centric.

I have a 4th and major complaint, coming from the point of view of a integrator who must implement the solution after the deal has been sold:

POCs typically stretch the system to its technical limits, and are able to do so because they are built in a very controlled environment.  When it comes time to scale, the demoed solution won’t work. This leads to unreasonable expectations.

This can create a lot of problems for the consultant/engineer implementing the final solution.  I consider one of my most important jobs to be managing the customer’s expectations.   A typical overly elaborate POC make this job extremely difficult.

The sales folks may not realize it, but the customer remembers more about the POC than you think.  They remember how pretty the screens were.  They remember how seamlessly all the pieces fit together, and how quickly each task executes.  What they don’t realize is that all of the data is massaged and simplified.  Of course the POC could do these things!  It has 3 users with 4 roles to choose from, and doesn’t include any of the “exceptions” often found in the customer’s environment.  When it comes time to actually implement this feature with 30,000 users things can (and do) get quite a bit more complex.

Has anyone else had bad experiences due to a POC?  If so, let us know by leaving a comment.

It’s time to really launch this site and get blogging about Identity Management.  To get things started, I’m trying to come up with a good elevator pitch for Identity Management.  Too often I have to explain both what I do, and the industry I’m in.  No matter what I say, as soon as I’ve uttered the words “Identity Management”, folks assume I work for a company that helps prevent Identity Theft.

Any thoughts on a good pitch?  Put it in the comments.  I’ll post what I come up with on Friday (and I might even “borrow” from some of your comments).