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| Work with your technical sales rep. It will pay off in ways you haven't imagined. |
Consider these contributions:
Product Knowledge:
Sales engineers, by the nature of their job, are current on new products, their capabilities and their proper application. Unlike information available on the Web, sales engineers get advanced notice of product obsolescence and replacement. Also, because they are exposed to so many different types of applications and situations, sales engineers are a wealth of tacit knowledge that they readily share with their customers.
Experience:
As a project engineer or leader, you may be treading on fresh ground with a refractometry requirement for your current assignment. You may not have a full grasp on how to handle a particular challenge presented by a project. If this is the case, call in the local technical sales representative - there can be real benefit in connecting to a source with past exposure to your current requirement.
Of course, sales engineers will be biased. Any solutions proposed are likely to be based upon the products sold by the representative. But the best sales people will share the virtues of their products openly and honestly, and even admit when they don’t have the right product. This is where the discussion, consideration and evaluation of several solutions become part of achieving the best project outcome.
Whatever your stake in an upcoming or ongoing project, it's highly recommended you develop a professional, mutually beneficial relationship with a technical sales expert, a problem solver. Look at a relationship with the local sales engineer as symbiotic. Their success, and your success, go hand-in-hand.
