Zach Lawryk: The Ultimate Guide to Sales Engineering | E980

Zach Lawryk is Head of Solutions Consulting @ Rippling, what is solutions consulting? They are the product expert in the solution that ties a business value to help support the sales rep in the execution of their quota. And there is no one better than Zach, prior to leading the solutions consulting team at Rippling, Zach was VP of Solutions Consulting at Slack where he scaled the SE team from 10 to 200. Before Slack, Zach was Head of Solutions Engineering @ Optimizely and before that was Director of Sales Engineering at Box. ------------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:33 Who is Zach Lawryk? 2:29 Sales Engineers vs Sales Consultants 3:56 Tips for Hiring Sales 5:01 What is broken in Sales today? 7:55 Is outbound dead? 9:09 The Blurring of Sales & Marketing 11:28 Why Technical Founders Make PMF Hard 14:27 The Challenge of Multiple Buyers 16:06 Biggest Mistake Founders Make 17:38 Why We Need Solutions Consultants 19:27 The Transition to “Customer Success” 21:03 How to Structure Comp for a Sales Engineer 22:20 When to Hire Your First Sales Engineer 23:29 Hiring Tips for Sales Engineers 33:03 How to Onboard a Sales Engineer 34:32 ACV Experience vs Industry Experience 35:39 How to Close a Deal with a Sales Engineer 36:33 How to Measure Success 37:47 Red Flags for Sales Engineers 38:51 Quick-fire Round ------------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Zach Lawryk We Discuss: 1. ) WTF is Solutions Engineering: What is Solutions engineering and why is it important? How does a software developer turned lawyer become one of the OGs of Solutions Engineering? What is the single biggest piece of advice Zach gives to graduates entering the workforce today? 2.) When and Who: Building the Foundations: When is the right time to hire your first solutions engineer? Should this be a senior hire or a more junior hire? What experience is ideal? Would Zach rather have someone who has sold to the same customer segment or sold to the same deal size? What are the challenges with each? 3.) Making the First Hire: The Process: What is the right hiring process for solutions engineers? Which members of your existing team should be involved in the process? What are some of Zach’s favourite questions on the candidates past to determine quality? What are the best case studies and tests to give potential hires to test their aptitude? What are the biggest red flags in the hiring process for solutions engineers? 4.) Integrating into the Team: Making it Work: What is the optimal onboarding process for solutions engineers? Why does Zach think it is important they spend time with customer success in their first month? What is the right way to measure the effectiveness of SE’s? How should the entrance of SE’s impact the close rate and comp structure for AE’s? How can sales leaders prevent division and friction between AEs and SEs? ------------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Zach Lawryk on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zlawryk Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vc_reels Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com ------------------------------------------------- #ZachLawryk #Rippling #HarryStebbings #20vc #solutionsengineering #salesengineer