On the Basis of the Sales Engineering Competences and Education

Abstract

Sales engineers (SE) sell technical products and services to companies. They consult the professional customer and suggest technically and economically feasible solutions with maximum utility for both the customer and their own company. They combine technical knowledge with commercial skills. They are best trained to understand the requirements of the industry. Nowadays there is no clear definition of the profession of a sales engineer. Sales engineering is a profession which includes at least as much skills than knowledge. This unique profession is a mixture of technical, sales, business, management and soft skills, internationalization included. Therefore traditional division between engineering, economics, management and other education does not seem to fit for sales engineering education and its needs. Since there is no definition for SE curricula, the state-of-the-art of the education has never been studied before. This article reveals the need for the sales engineers, introduces methods for the definition of the sales engineering education, and presents a state-of-the-art education from European perspective. Study proposes boundary limits for sales engineering education and gives a basic definition for sales engineers´ education. Future research actions and needs are addressed at the end of the article.