Saving Customers Time and Headaches as a Sales Engineer

As a Sales Engineer for Unistrut Midwest, I consider myself to have two sets of customers: internal and external. I serve both sets of customers through my work with our drafting partners to ensure that all of our drawings and designs are accurate for the end user. Whether that's the fab shop team in our warehouse or the end customer on the job site, it is crucial that they receive accurate drawings that make their job easier.  

Serving Internal Customers as a Sales Engineer

The teams that I consider my internal customers are the Unistrut Midwest fab shop and sales teams.  

When we receive drawings from our drafting partners, I review the documents and put together bills of material for the fab shop to work from, taking that step off of their plate so that they can focus on moving customer orders forward. I must ensure that both the bill of material and the drawings are accurate for the fab shop team. If there are any mistakes or confusion with the documents, then the fab shop team has to spend their valuable time problem-solving instead of completing customer jobs. We on the engineering team do our best to make those hiccups our problem and not the fab shop's as a way to support them and protect their time. 

I also work closely with the sales team. When a customer comes to our sales team in search of a solution, the sales team turns to us for additional information to complete the quote. Securing the customer's trust comes down to timing and accuracy, so it is my job to be readily available to help close a deal.  

Each of these roles relies heavily on my eye for detail and dedication to accuracy. Without meticulously reviewed documentation, my internal customers would encounter confusion and frustration in their work, ultimately leaving less time to commit to customer needs.  

Serving External Customers as a Sales Engineer

I use those same skills to help serve external customers as well. Our external customers receive drawings alongside their material delivery, and the drawings contain descriptions and directions for how to handle the material. Whether we are shipping raw material that needs to be cut or kitted pieces that need to be assembled, those directions and drawings need to be detailed and accurate so the customer can keep their project moving forward.  

My goal is to verify that everything on a drawing is accurate and that the customer can complete their next steps without any additional information. I work to ensure that our clients never have to guess if what they are doing is correct.  

Double-checking material lengths, drawing specifications, and assembly instructions can help save the end customer time and frustration when they receive their order. This added layer of review can sometimes be time-consuming, but we would rather take our time to guarantee accuracy for our customers than have them spend time on unnecessary problem-solving. This focus is just another way that we serve as an excellent partner to our customers.  

Do you have an upcoming project that could use the help of a reliable, detail-oriented partner? Contact our team today. 

About the Author:

Joe Bosley brings over 10 years of structural steel design and detailing experience to his role as a Sales Engineer for Unistrut Midwest.

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