Learning Sales (as a Cloud Architect)
dont want to sell? too bad
youre in the room with a big table surrounded by your tech leads and VPs. “why are we using this pattern instead of a pub/sub?” At some point in your career as a cloud architect you will be forced to learn sales. Why? simple, life is sales. But when you become Staff level or above you will have to market or pitch (sales) your solutions to other tech leads or management.
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Understanding the basics of sales
III. Enhancing your sales skills as a cloud architect
IV. Conclusion
Learning Sales for Engineers
I. Introduction
The importance of sales skills for cloud architects
Part of your job as a cloud architect is to get the buy in of others in your design. Most of the time problems can be solved with various solutions and architectures. You want YOUR work to be the winner. That means you need to sell it to the decision makers. that simple. At the end of the day, they need to BUY IN to your architecture, design, solution w/e. which is no different that purchasing a SaaS product.
The need for cloud architects to expand their skill sets and stay competitive in today's market
the bar sales skills as an engineer is pretty low. most of us are slightly or fully autistic with serious lack of social skills (yes, me). that means most people’s guards are down when talking to engineers because they think you are logical and smart. not charismatic and persuasive. if you cant sell, even if your design is technically better, you will often find yourself losing to the person who can sell their ideas better.
II. Understanding the basics of sales
Key components of the sales process, including lead generation, qualification, presentation, and closing
Anything sales related there are already fantastic cartoons that have taught me more than i could teach any of you. Follow
and @BowTiedCacoon for everything sales. Just because youre an engineer doesnt mean you dont need to sell.Understanding customer needs and preferences
This is SIGNIFICANTLY easier since you are on the inside. you understand your companies pain points and issues. and if you dont, just message a decision maker or key stakeholders and they will answer you. they want you to fix their problems and help them pump their stock RSUs.
Since you are play the political game, and know what is important to each decision makers (or whoever you key audience member is) you know what pain points or key factors to hone in on in your presentation (sales pitch). Example I know a VP who LOVES when any kind of automation can be initiated from Slack. Easy enough i throw in a Slack integration and he approves every time.
Building relationships with customers and stakeholders
Political capital. So important. Just because you are an engineer or a IC does NOT mean you can just ignore politics and relationships. You want to find important people and have a good grasp of what advances their career. could be an integration with their application, or a feature aimed for their team. you want people that will vouch for your work or put in work greasing another decision maker if needed. If you are well-liked people are more likely to approve or fund your ideas. Put in political work. There’s an old WSP post on this:
you should be doing that.
III. Enhancing your sales skills as a cloud architect
Subscribe to BTSG and Cocoon
seriously, these guys know what theyre talking about. do not waste your time with the scammy sales books out there.
Reading industry publications and attending trade shows to stay up-to-date on trends and best practices
most upper level management spend a decent amount of time consuming high level tech content. they become familiar with buzzwords and what other people in the industry say. You stay up to date with these buzzwords or trends and throw them in your designs and patterns and theyre more likely to say yes. The big example these days is AI and machine learning (ML). you say youre architecture has AI in it, theyll probably just write a blank check. barely anyone understands, but everyone wants the cool new flashy current buzzword.
Practicing sales techniques
you have to make a point to apply whatever you learn from BTSG and Cocoon. could be a code review, systems design review, anything. you practice the sales techniques.
Seeking feedback and continuous improvement
you wont be a sales prodigy when you begin implementing these techniques. it will take time and refinement to master the craft. then once you do, unstoppable.
IV. Conclusion
The benefits of expanding your sales skills as a cloud architect
when you sell your ideas better they get approved more or whatever your success metric is. This can lead to increased visibility, revenue generation, savings, w/e. all of those ultimately lead to promotions and checks. When youre better at sales you can also work less and focus more on your side businesses. You focus less on the technical because you know even if its not a perfect solution you can sell it better than any other eng can sell their solutions.
Sales is a fundamental skill
sales is the most fundamental skill. learning this will make every aspect of your life better. Many engineers have some disdain for sales people because theyre illogical or annoying. Break this idea. you want to be a master sales person. also no software would ever sell without those teams, so no bags for engs with no sales.
Quick free read today, now go get better at sales.
-celt