A friend recently complained about how inefficient his employer is. Processes are poor, communication is bad. He then said a competitor company had its act together. I asked him how he knew that – he’s never worked there and has never been inside the company. Fair, he said. It just seems that way from the outside.

But almost everything looks better from the outside. I guarantee workers at the competitor find flaws in the way their company operates, because they know about their company what my friend knows about his: how the sausage is made. All the messy personalities and difficult decisions that you only see when you’re inside, in the trenches. “All businesses are loosely functioning disasters” Brent Beshore says. But it’s like an iceberg, only a fraction is visible.

– Harder Than It Looks, Not As Fun as It Seems, Collaborative Fund

I’m not a Sales Engineer but I occasionally play one on Zoom calls.

I’ve written about the differences in assessing sales vs engineering performance.

There’s a similar dichotomy for feedback, especially critical feedback that pertains to relational dynamics. The culture must be strongly cultivated in engineering organizations. It seems to come much easier in sales.

I enjoy the blunt feedback and rigorous analysis of interactions from sales professionals.

I’ve hopped off calls and had Account Executives with 15 years selling ask me:

What did you think?
What was strong?
Where did I suck?

They then go on to self-criticize before giving me unsolicited feedback on what to change.

One great piece of feedback I received was about “owning it.”

Our product had a particular weakness in comparison to our competitors. When I discussed our approach, I’d often caveat my explanation with, “This is how we approach this…for now.” I’d hesitate.

After hearing me do this on a few of their calls, one of the Account Executives I worked with said:

Drop the hesitancy.
Tell the prospect what we do and why.
They don’t know and don’t need to know this is a point of internal discussion.
The solution works; it’s just different.
Own it.