CP Cases Ltd

In recent weeks we have gained a new member of the CP-team within the UK sales department; Fabien Vijenthiran has joined us from an engineering background, to support our UK sales with a more technical understanding of our product range. We feel that Fabien will bring a fresh perspective to our sales outreach and be able to tackle those technical questions on demand, whilst continuing our efforts to build on relationships new and old. Welcome to the team Fabien, our Graduate Commercial Design Engineer.

To understand more about what Fabien will bring to the team - a ‘commercial engineer’ or ‘pre-sales specialist’ brings credibility to the company, its products and to its solutions. ‘Pre-sale’ or ‘Commercial’ Engineers demonstrate the value of the product and its solutions while promoting advantages over competitors with the charisma of a sales team and the technical know-how of a design team. This, in turn, leads to constructive quality feedback from customers towards product development in a way that the design team can take on board.

With the industries, equipment and processes we work with, and a majority of the customers/ prospects that we deal with engineers (or at least with a procedural way of thinking), it makes good sense to have the front end of CP Cases technically savvy with an undercurrent of personability.

The top 5 rules of Commercial Engineering:

• ‘Commercial’ Engineers are a member of the sales team
• ‘Commercial’ Engineers are not a salesperson
• ‘Commercial’ Engineers must be business relevant
• ‘Commercial’ Engineers must be technically knowledgeable
• ‘Commercial’ Engineers know their audience(s)

It is good practice to remember these rules when thinking about the objectives of your role. It can be a bit of a transition from an engineering setting to a more sales heavy environment – the important thing to remember is the value of your technical skillset and how that can help draw in more sales.

Authenticity is a key contributor to a great commercial engineer. The person on the other end of the phone (or email) needs to have confidence in what you are saying. This will evidently grow with practice and a deep understanding of the companies’ products and solutions. It’s your job to make sure that the products and solutions you sell are relevant, effective, and the right fit for that particular customer (even more important as CP operates in different market spaces).

As the engineering side of the sales team, it’s your job to have the IDEA:

• Identify
• Design
• Evangelise
• Adjust

This means identifying the customers’ top requirements, understanding what environments it will be used in, the handling etc… so that the product design can emulate the solution for these requirements. Work closely with the design team to evangelise the product solution, and if need be, support with any adjustments that are needed to cater to the customers’ requirements.

Knowing your audience goes without saying; you have to be able to put yourself in the shoes of the prospect you are talking to, understand their challenges, their needs for the product and be able to liaise with them in a language they understand. This is a key skill for a ‘commercial engineer’ and boils down to doing your homework and being applicable. Ensure you’ve thoroughly researched your customer, their requirements, and their environment as much as possible.

This applies especially in customer meetings. Knowing their interests and pain points before walking into a meeting is important. As projects progress, customers provide more information, discover more challenges, so it is important to modify your information to accommodate this on the fly. Any technical conversation should be a fluid entity, ebbing and flowing with the customer's feedback.

Like any other art form, ‘commercial engineering’ must be practised. Study your company’s products deeply and understand how they can provide solutions to their customers. Presentation skills and personability are a must, whilst constantly working on enhancing your communication skills. It is good practice to build your own style of working that works best for you and presents natural and comfortable. The more fluent you become, the more values you can bring to your team, company and also customers.