Answer, ‘No’.

‘Do you have a list of the people you have worked for before?’ Same response.

‘Any business directories?’ Uh, uh.

So I headed for the local library, found a copy of Dun and Bradstreet, made some photocopies and returned to the office. That week I called 43 companies; it went like this. ‘Good morning, my name is Robert Seviour, I’m calling from the XXXXXX group. I need to ask someone in your company a question about EDM. Who would be the best person to talk to?’

With an opener like that, the receptionist hastily passed me on to someone, anyone, who might be suitable, principally to get rid of me. So I get to speak to a pers

Why would engineers need sales training?

Because, generally, they are not naturally suited for sales and this wastes lots of business opportunities for their companies.

If you look at psychometric tests for job-fit, you will find that the traits which are appropriate for an engineer differ strongly from those of a salesperson.

Engineers tend to be detail oriented, cautious and reserved; good salespeople are interested in results, success and enjoy interaction with people.

Imagine that you have a competent engineering practice and you would like to acquire more good clients. What would be a logical way of finding them?

How about you call all the companies that you have done work for previously and ask them if they have any more projects you can help with? That’s a pretty obvious start, isn’t it?

Once you have completed that exercise, there is a whole universe of work awaiting you if you just replicate what you have just done with similar organisations that you have not yet worked for. Nothing very difficult about that either. You get a directory, make a call to find out who you should be speaking to. Then you ask for that person and say, ‘We do XXXXXX kind of work, is that something that your company uses?’

What happens when you do this? Only three basic outcomes:

1) ‘No we never need that kind of work done’.

2) ‘We don’t need it now, but send me some details’.

3) ‘By coincidence, that is exactly what we are looking for at the moment’.

Engineers have no difficulty understanding this process, BUT ask them to make a few calls of this type and watch how creative they are at finding excuses for not doing it.

The main one; ‘Too busy with my project’, another, ‘That doesn’t work’.

Try asking anyone with a good sales record whether this approach is effective and what you’ll hear is, ‘It’s not exactly fun, but it definitely gets business’.

Here’s an example; I was engaged by a major British Electronics / Defence corporation to examine the viability of a new project that they were considering. The product was Electronic Documentation Management (EDM). The idea was that complex maintenance manuals for aircraft, submarines etc could be digitized, cross-referenced with parts manuals and the whole thing installed on a laptop computer so that technicians could carry out maintenance and repairs more efficiently.

Since this was a new idea for my client, it was worth investing some money in focused market research to get feedback from likely future users. We agreed a price for the job and I got started.

‘Have you got a list of potential customers?’ I asked my client. Answer, ‘No’.

‘Do you have a list of the people you have worked for before?’ Same response.

‘Any business directories?’ Uh, uh.

So I headed for the local library, found a copy of Dun and Bradstreet, made some photocopies and returned to the office. That week I called 43 companies; it went like this. ‘Good morning, my name is Robert Seviour, I’m calling from the XXXXXX group. I need to ask someone in your company a question about EDM. Who would be the best person to talk to?’

With an opener like that, the receptionist hastily passed me on to someone, anyone, who might be suitable, principally to get rid of me. So I get to speak to a perso

l all the companies that you have done work for previously and ask them if they have any more projects you can help with? That’s a pretty obvious start, isn’t it?

Once you have completed that exercise, there is a whole universe of work awaiting you if you just replicate what you have just done with similar organisations that you have not yet worked for. Nothing very difficult about that either. You get a directory, make a call to find out who you should be speaking to. Then you ask for that person and say, ‘We do XXXXXX kind of work, is that something that your company uses?’

What happens when you do this? Only three basic outcomes:

1) ‘No we never need that kind of work done’.

2) ‘We don’t need it now, but send me some details’.

3) ‘By coincidence, that is exactly what we are looking for at the moment’.

Engineers have no difficulty understanding this process, BUT ask them to make a few calls of this type and watch how creative they are at finding excuses for not doing it.

The main one; ‘Too busy with my project’, another, ‘That doesn’t work’.

Try asking anyone with a good sales record whether this approach is effective and what you’ll hear is, ‘It’s not exactly fun, but it definitely gets business’.

Here’s an example; I was engaged by a major British Electronics / Defence corporation to examine the viability of a new project that they were considering. The product was Electronic Documentation Management (EDM). The idea was that complex maintenance manuals for aircraft, submarines etc could be digitized, cross-referenced with parts manuals and the whole thing installed on a laptop computer so that technicians could carry out maintenance and repairs more efficiently.

Since this was a new idea for my client, it was worth investing some money in focused market research to get feedback from likely future users. We agreed a price for the job and I got started.

‘Have you got a list of potential customers?’ I asked my client. Answer, ‘No’.

‘Do you have a list of the people you have worked for before?’ Same response.

‘Any business directories?’ Uh, uh.

So I headed for the local library, found a copy of Dun and Bradstreet, made some photocopies and returned to the office. That week I called 43 companies; it went like this. ‘Good morning, my name is Robert Seviour, I’m calling from the XXXXXX group. I need to ask someone in your company a question about EDM. Who would be the best person to talk to?’

With an opener like that, the receptionist hastily passed me on to someone, anyone, who might be suitable, principally to get rid of me. So I get to speak to a pers

r need that kind of work done’.

2) ‘We don’t need it now, but send me some details’.

3) ‘By coincidence, that is exactly what we are looking for at the moment’.

Engineers have no difficulty understanding this process, BUT ask them to make a few calls of this type and watch how creative they are at finding excuses for not doing it.

The main one; ‘Too busy with my project’, another, ‘That doesn’t work’.

Try asking anyone with a good sales record whether this approach is effective and what you’ll hear is, ‘It’s not exactly fun, but it definitely gets business’.

Here’s an example; I was engaged by a major British Electronics / Defence corporation to examine the viability of a new project that they were considering. The product was Electronic Documentation Management (EDM). The idea was that complex maintenance manuals for aircraft, submarines etc could be digitized, cross-referenced with parts manuals and the whole thing installed on a laptop computer so that technicians could carry out maintenance and repairs more efficiently.

Since this was a new idea for my client, it was worth investing some money in focused market research to get feedback from likely future users. We agreed a price for the job and I got started.

‘Have you got a list of potential customers?’ I asked my client. Answer, ‘No’.

‘Do you have a list of the people you have worked for before?’ Same response.

‘Any business directories?’ Uh, uh.

So I headed for the local library, found a copy of Dun and Bradstreet, made some photocopies and returned to the office. That week I called 43 companies; it went like this. ‘Good morning, my name is Robert Seviour, I’m calling from the XXXXXX group. I need to ask someone in your company a question about EDM. Who would be the best person to talk to?’

With an opener like that, the receptionist hastily passed me on to someone, anyone, who might be suitable, principally to get rid of me. So I get to speak to a pers

ce corporation to examine the viability of a new project that they were considering. The product was Electronic Documentation Management (EDM). The idea was that complex maintenance manuals for aircraft, submarines etc could be digitized, cross-referenced with parts manuals and the whole thing installed on a laptop computer so that technicians could carry out maintenance and repairs more efficiently.

Since this was a new idea for my client, it was worth investing some money in focused market research to get feedback from likely future users. We agreed a price for the job and I got started.

‘Have you got a list of potential customers?’ I asked my client. Answer, ‘No’.

‘Do you have a list of the people you have worked for before?’ Same response.

‘Any business directories?’ Uh, uh.

So I headed for the local library, found a copy of Dun and Bradstreet, made some photocopies and returned to the office. That week I called 43 companies; it went like this. ‘Good morning, my name is Robert Seviour, I’m calling from the XXXXXX group. I need to ask someone in your company a question about EDM. Who would be the best person to talk to?’

With an opener like that, the receptionist hastily passed me on to someone, anyone, who might be suitable, principally to get rid of me. So I get to speak to a pers

Answer, ‘No’.

‘Do you have a list of the people you have worked for before?’ Same response.

‘Any business directories?’ Uh, uh.

So I headed for the local library, found a copy of Dun and Bradstreet, made some photocopies and returned to the office. That week I called 43 companies; it went like this. ‘Good morning, my name is Robert Seviour, I’m calling from the XXXXXX group. I need to ask someone in your company a question about EDM. Who would be the best person to talk to?’

With an opener like that, the receptionist hastily passed me on to someone, anyone, who might be suitable, principally to get rid of me. So I get to speak to a person somewhere in the prospect organisation and say, ‘I’d like to ask someone appropriate in your company a question about EDM, would that be you or would you suggest someone else, please?’ Usually it didn’t take long to reach an suitable person.

So then I would tell them that the XXXXX corporation was thinking of entering the market for EDM, and explain what that meant.

The outcome of my week’s work: 9 companies said, ‘Sounds interesting, send me details when you have them’. 4 said, ‘I’d like you to come and see me, it’s something we have been talking about doing’.

What’s the potential sales value which could be derived from these prospects?

Definitely in the hundreds of thousands range, could be much more. And all that began with a simple (and interesting) week’s work.

Understanding the importance of sales and prospecting is something everybody in a business should be aware of – no exception for engineers.