With ever changing business requirements and trends in IT and non-IT industries, new roles and positions are coming up in the technology sector. 

Are you new to this Technical Market? Wondering what is a Sales Engineer and Pre-Sales Engineer? Though these terms are used synonymously, they have different meanings and roles. 

Do you want to know the difference between a sales engineer and pre-sales engineer? then you are in the right place. In this article, you will learn about it. Without further ado let’s get started. 

What is a Sales Engineer?

To understand this first, you should know how the products or software solutions are sold in B2B, that’s between software companies. In general, a Software company will create a solution for other businesses, and the sales engineer will sell them to the purchasing engineer of the client company. 

The Sales Engineer is called by different names in different companies, some of them are – Solution Engineer, Sales Architect, Sales Consultant, etc…

• A sales Engineer will have enough technical knowledge about the software solution or product. 
• The technical knowledge of the Sales engineer includes the installation process, machining phases, Product components and different dimensions, Test results, and other basic technical parameters. 
• He/She communicates with different clients and makes the sale to the client companies that need the solution.
• His/Her Engineering Knowledge will help in convincing the client to purchase.
• He should have clear knowledge about the product and make a contract with customers with a clear notice on Post sales support. 

What is a Pre-Sales Engineer?

The previous Sales Engineer and the opposite Purchase Engineer are just Salespeople with technical knowledge of the product. However, the technical knowledge or understanding of the product is limited (mostly 30%). 

In this case, the Pre-sales Engineer, who is also known as a technical support Engineer gets involved.

• As one of the contributors in Software development, he/she will have deep and thorough knowledge about the solution.
• A pre-sales engineer will make a demonstration of the software to the client (or multiple clients).  
• A Pre-sales Engineer doesn’t get involved in the sales or purchase process, he/she simply demonstrates and illustrates the benefits to the clients. Then the sales engineer will communicate with interested clients and make the sale. 
• The opposite of the Pre-sales Engineer is the technical Oriented Engineer, who checks the company infrastructure and sets clear standards for choosing the sellers or solutions. Sometimes they are also called Pre-purchase engineers. 

What is a Post-Sales Engineer?

Other than these two positions, there is also a post-sales Engineer, who provides support and guidance to the customers or clients after the sale. As the sale is made, now the Post-sales engineer can run the solution in the client system and give recommendations and support for further improvement. 

However post-sales engineers are part of after-sales services and most of the organization provide these services only to the recurring clients. Only the large one provides this service to every client. 

Difference between the Sales Engineer and Pre-Sales Engineer 

Here are the differences between the Sales Engineer and the Pre-Sales Engineer-

PARAMETER	SALES ENGINEER	PRE-SALES ENGINEER
Scope of work	Sells the technical products to other business houses.	Demonstrate the technical products to the customers to let them know the potential of the product.
Also known as	Solutions engineer, solution architect, sales consultant, etc…	Technical support, technical consultant, etc…
Performance	Partially dependent on the Pre-Sales Engineer	Dependent on Sales Engineer.
Technical Knowledge	A sales Engineer only has the basic(30%) technical knowledge about the product which is needed to sell a product.	A pre-sales engineer has deep knowledge and can demonstrate the various functions of the software in detail.
Salary	The average salary of the Sales Engineer is ₹4,34,254.	The average salary of the Pre-sales engineer is ₹3,12,354.

Download the comparison table: Sales vs Pre-Sales Engineer

Conclusion

In short, the terms pre-sales engineer, sales engineer, and post-sales engineer just refer to the salesperson with an engineering degree who sells technical products between businesses. Many IT companies only have a Sales Engineer who supports all three job duties. 

If you have any further questions or thoughts please leave them in the comment section below. 

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