Productive sales aerobics for engineers provides you with an eagle’s eye view of your customer base. This perspective also helps you shed habits which make your interactions with others less-than-engaging and therefore, less sought-after.
It’s not about the folks you work with “getting it.” It’s about your getting it! With an eagle’s eye view, you “get” what these folks need from you… quickly, succinctly.
This is not about explaining in painfully specific technical language what your job entails or what it’s like to be an engineer, or how complicated the situation is.
It’s about listening with four ears: simultaneously putting yourself in the shoes of the individual asking the question and then offering a refreshing and enlightening exchange of ideas, options, direction… Not discrete solutions for discrete problems.
There are no discrete problems if you listen and ask questions. That’s contrary to your mindset and how you’ve been taught to see the world. Take a 50,000 ft. eagle’s eye view of the situation. Imagine the perspective you gain by encompassing the perspectives of the different disciplines seated around the table, and drawing out these differences in a productive and meaningful way.
Demonstrate that you:
- understand their challenges, from a strategic level;
- identify specific areas requiring tactical solutions;
- possess the skill sets or network to achieve specific tactical solutions to meet their strategic objectives over a specific amount of time; and
- are a cost-effective solution to the multiple business issues on the table.
You just may find folks become comfortable communicating with you. And they may identify a few more problems that need your help to resolve…… over time….as a productive, innovative, communicative engineering resource.
You may just become a sought-after collaborative resource. All as a result developing a productive and profitable eagle’s eye view of your customer base.
Babette Ten Haken is a catalyst, corporate strategist and facilitator. She writes, speaks, consults and coaches about how cross-functional team collaboration revolutionizes the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) value chain for customer loyalty, customer success and customer retention. Her One Millimeter Mindset™ programs draw from her background as a scientist, sales professional, enterprise-level facilitator, Six Sigma Green Belt and certified DFSS Voice of the Customer practitioner. Babette’s playbook of technical / non-technical collaboration hacks, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon. Image source: Getty images
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