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Contents vii

Summary 40
Appendix 4A 41

5 Needs Analysis and Discovery 43

Overview 44
Why Discovery Is Critical 44
The Seven-Step Needs Analysis Approach 45
Step 1: Identify Needed Information 45
Step 2: Build the Perfect Pitch 47
Step 3: Explain the Needs Analysis Process 49
Step 4: Interview Key Customers 51
Step 5: Observe Current Processes—Get to Know the End User 53
Step 6: Synthesize Information 54
Step 7: Prepare and Present Summary 54
Wrap-Up 55
Customizing the Discovery Process 56
Adapt Your Questions to Your Audience 56
Summary 58

6 Business Value Discovery 61

The Three Behavioral Crimes of Discovery 62
Tell 62
Accept 63
Guess 63
The Business Switchback 63
The Heart of the Process 65
Get a Full List 65
Verify It Is Complete 66
Add and Challenge 67
Prioritize 67
Evidence and Impact 67
What Happens If We Cannot Get Any Data? 69
A Final Checkpoint—The Cost/Impact Comparison 70
Summary 70

7 Successful Customer Engagement 73

First Contact 74
Remember What They Want from You 74
Dissecting Project Dynamics 75
Back the Strongest Faction 76
Identify the People You Need to Know 77
Use Your Intuition 77
viii Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook

But Don’t Forget to Use Your Brain 77

Covering the Whole Team, Including the Minor Players 77
Coaches 78
Where to Find Coaches 79
What If There Are No Obvious Options? 79
How to Get to Potential Coaches 80
Developing the Coach 80
The Unconscious Coach 81
Maintaining the Relationship 81
Credibility 82
Maintaining Credibility 82
Losing Credibility 82
Trying to Regain Credibility 83
Know What You Don’t Know 83
Summary 83

8 The Perfect Pitch 85

Paying Attention to the Attention Curve 86
Developing a Focused Message 88
Start with the Structure: S = RM + 3KP 88
Do a Data Dump to Identify Solution and Proof Points 89
Organize the Ideas 90
Focus the Message 90
Transfer to PowerPoint 90
Nonverbal Delivery Skills 91
Verbal Delivery Skills 94
Strategize the Start 96
Special Situations 96
Very Large Audiences 96
Presenting via Teleconference 97
Around the Conference Room Table 97
Feature and Function Presentations 98
Using Nervous Energy to Your Advantage 98
Finish Strong 100
Summary 100

9 The Dash to Demo 103

Some Philosophy and a History Lesson 103
Why Does the Dash to Demo Occur? 105
“The Product” Becomes “the Solution” 105
Risk Mitigation 106
Contents ix

Failing to Plan Is Planning to Fail 106

Logistical Implications 108
The Agenda 110
Preparing the Way 110
The Audience 111
Segment the Audience 113
Dealing with Mixed Audiences 113
Checkpoint Charlie 114
Summary 115
Appendix 9A: Sample Agenda 116
Agenda
Tuesday May 27th
Vendor Presentation for New System 116

10 Snap Demos 119

Scoping the Snap Demo 120
Structuring the Snap Demo 121
Sample Snap Demo Structure 121
Keep the Demo Snappy 122
Wrapping the Snap Demo (Tell Them What They Saw) 123
Snap Demo for Executive Audiences 123
Closing the Demo and Establishing Next Steps 123
Snap Demo Considerations 124
Summary 124

11 Remote Demonstrations and Webcasts 127

The Basic Premise 127

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Remote Demonstration 128
Best Practices in Preparing for a Webcast 130
The First Three Minutes Are Critical 132
Effectively Constructing and Delivering PowerPoint for a Webcast 133
Some Really Bad Habits to Avoid 134
Engaging the Audience 135
Engaging Yourself 136
Prime Time for Webcasts 137
x Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook

The Wrap-Up 137

Summary 138

12 Whiteboarding and Visual Selling 141

The Advantages of Whiteboarding 141
The Drawbacks of Whiteboarding 143
The Sales Cycle Fit 143
Getting Started 144
Whiteboarding Mechanics 101 144
Stance 145
Introducing the Chunk 146
Cadence and Rhythm 146
Speed and Handwriting 147
Artistic Ability and Iconization 147
The Implications of Color 148
Some Cheats from Our Customers 149
The Electronic Whiteboard 150
Using the Whiteboard as a Closing Tool 151
Summary 151

13 Evaluation Strategies 153

Developing the Strategy 154
Conducting an Evaluation: How Did We Get Here? 154
Negotiating Engagement in a Trial 154
How Do You Define Success? 155
How to Win: Determining the Success Criteria 155
How to Ensure Success: Evaluating the Success Criteria 157
Intellectually Closing the Deal 157
Working Backward from the Definition of Success 158
Running a Trial 158
Trial Phases 158
Basic Trial Organization 162
Training 164
Documentation 165
Equipment 165
Networking and Access 166
Anticipate and Outdeliver Your Competitor 166
Avoiding a Trial 167
Contents xi

Does the Customer Do Trials? 168

Are They Paying for the Pilot? 168
Using References 169
Summary 169

14 Sanity After the Sale 171

Developing the Transition Plan 172
Ongoing Engagement Plan 172
Customer Meetings: Project Kickoff 173
During Deployment 173
After Rollout 174
Leveraging the Sales Team 175
The Inside Sales Team 175
Executives 175
Having a Fallback Strategy 175
Personal Benefits of Postsales Support 176
Personal References 176
Maintain Relationships for Add-On Sales 177
Keep Your Reservoir of Customer Stories Full 177
Potential for Customer Satisfaction Objectives 178
Good Way to Build Skills 178
Benefit to the Customer: Free Consulting 178
Justifying Engagement with Your Management 178
Where to Draw the Line 179
Troubleshooting the Handoff 179
Major Accounts Have Special Requirements 179
Customer Skimps on Training 180
Customer Tries to Do It Themselves 181
Working with SIs 181
Refreshing the “Project Goals” Document 182
Summary 182
Appendix 14A: Record-Keeping Forms for Postsales Information 184

15 Getting Started 187

The Ramp Process 187
Setting Goals with Your Manager 188
Find Out What You Need to Know to Succeed 188
Boot Camp 189
Why Use Benchmarking? 190
Develop a 30-/90-/180-Day Plan 191
Example Plan 1 192
Example Plan 2 192
xii Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook

The 30-/90-/180-Day Structure 193

Qualities of a Good Plan 194
Ready to Go 194
Tips on Making the First Six Months a Success 195
Find a Mentor 195
Read the Manual—Really! 195
Watch the Video! 196
Master the Technology 196
Master the Product 196
Boot Camp Training Contacts 196
Work in the Factory 197
Face Time and Relationships 197
Practice, Practice, Practice 197
Learn About Key Customers and How They Actually Use Your Product 197
Read Everything About Your Industry and Competitors 198
Understand the Financials of Your Value Proposition 198
Learn the Math; Don’t Just Memorize the Answers 199
Understand Content, But Don’t Feel Overwhelmed 199
If You Can Use Your Product in Everyday Life, Do So 199
Get Feedback—From Everyone 199
Review Your Plan Weekly 200
Summary 200

16 Managing Questions 201

Managing Questions or Handling Objections 201
Before You Start 202
Categorizing the Question 202
A Valid Question 202
A Competitive Question 203
The Seymour Question 204
The Coaching Question 205
The Hostile Question 206
The Generic Question 208
The Nonquestion 208
Basic Techniques of Managing Questions 209
Basic Technique 1: Listen 209
Basic Technique 2: Coordinate 209
Basic Technique 3: Clarify 210
Basic Technique 4: Restate 210
Basic Technique 5: Answer 211
Working with Consultants 211
Follow Up Leads to Closeout 212
Summary 212
Contents xiii

17 The Executive Connection 215

A Quick Definition 215
What They Think of You 216
Keep It Simple 216
Plan the Meeting 217
Setting the Stage 217
Following the Money 218
Determining the Goal of the Meeting 219
You Are the Expert 220
Execute the Meeting 220
Education Versus Selling 220
Presentation Ideas 221
Presentation Technique 222
Follow Up After the Meeting 223
Building a Relationship 223
A Rational Decision 223
The Informal Executive Connection 223
Summary 224

18 The Trusted Advisor 227

Bottom Line Upfront—The Impact of a Trusted Advisor (T/A) Program 227
Defining the T/A 228
Measuring Trust 230
The Built-In Advantage of the SE 231
Creating the Trust Scale 232
Calculating the T Score 233
Using Trust in the Sales Cycle 234
Summary 235

19 Doing the Math/Calculating ROI 237

Is This Really Your Job? 238
Doing the Math—Step by Step 238
Getting Started 238
Step 1: Estimate Total project Cost 239
Step 2: Estimate Cost Savings 239
Step 3: Estimate Additional Revenue and Margin 241
Step 4: Calculate ROI 242
Competing with ROI 243
xiv Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook

Using ROI Analysis as a Closing Tool 243

Finding Basic Data to Fill the Model 244
Cite Your Sources 244
Advanced ROI Calculations 244
Summary 245

20 The “U” in Technical Sales 247

Me, Myself, and I 247
What Are Your Goals? 248
Your Personal Value Proposition: Self-Branding 249
Internal Branding 250
External Branding 250
Communicating Your Personal Value Proposition 250
Delivering on Your Value Proposition 251
Put Together the Plan 251
Put Your Plan Into Action 253
Career Progression and the PVP 253
Benchmarking 254
Ethics in Sales 254
Summary 256

21 Selling with Partners 257

Partnership Defined 257
Defining Account Ownership 258
Working the Relationship and Building the Infrastructure 261
Partner Enablement 264
Summary 265

22 Competitive Tactics 267

Identify the Competition 267
Your Number-One Competitor Isn’t Who You Think It Is 268
Develop a Competitive Strategy 269
Know Thine Enemy 271
The Art of Competitive Analysis 273
“Tell Me About Your Competition” 273
Product Benchmarks 275
Summary 276
Contents xv

23 Using the CRM/SFA System 277

Why CRM Is Your Best Friend 278
Time and Resource Prioritization 278
The Art of Repeatability 280
Gain Advantage by Tapping Organizational Knowledge 281
Look at the Numbers 283
Annual Review Time 284
Summary 285

24 Crossing Over to the Dark Side 287

What Is Your Motivation? 287
Positioning for the Change 288
What You Should Expect 290
How to Make It All Work 291
Use Your Strengths 293
Summary 294

25 Organizational Structure 297

Structure 298
Structure 1: Separate SE Structure 298
Structure 1A: Totally Independent SE Structure 300
Structure 2: Strong Branch Management 300
Roles in the SE Organization 301
Training 301
Demonstration Preparation 302
Bid Support 302
Mentoring and Skills Development 303
Motivation 303
Product Expertise 303
Point of Escalation/General Management Support 303
Review of Sales Support Functions 304
SE Manager 304
Trainer 304
Lead SEs 305
Infrastructure Support Groups 306
Overlay Sales/Market Executives 306
Field Marketing 307
Advanced Topics: The SE Career Path 307
Advanced Topics: Five Models for SE Organizations 308
Ratios: 2-to-1 or 1-to-1 308
Model 1: A New Organization—Five SEs and $0–20 Million in Annual Sales 309
xvi Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook

Model 2: Getting Off the Ground: 20– SEs and $50–100 Million in
Annual Sales 310
Model 3: Economies or Diseconomies of Scale: 100–200 SEs and
$400 Million in Annual Sales 311
Model 4: Over $500 Million in Annual Sales—Splitting the Business Unit 312
Model 5: Differences in the SaaS SE Organization 312
Making the Models Work in the Real World 313
Summary 313

26 Building the Infrastructure 315

A Little Philosophy 315
Training Techniques 317
Initial Corporate Training 317
Initial Technical Training 317
Follow-Up/Update Training 318
Demonstration and Equipment Support 319
Knowledge Management (KM) and Retention 321
Key Requirements for a Simple KM System 322
Engineering and Technical Support 323
General SE Processes 324
Summary 325

27 Hiring Winners 327

The Job Description 328
Using the Hiring Profile 329
Dealing with Recruiters 331
Screening Candidates 332
The Interview 333
Setting Expectations 333
Be Prepared 333
Questions and Answers 334
Judging the Candidate’s Performance 335
Hiring 336
Job Roles and Position Escalation 337
Summary 337

28 Time Management for SEs 339

Fixed Time and Infinite Demands 339
Running Your Schedule Like a Business 340
The Procrastination Problem 340
Contents xvii

Prioritization 341
Qualification 341
Quantification 342
A Simple Structure for Managing Your Time 342
Importance 342
Impact 343
Timeliness 343
Prioritizing the Tasks 343
How to Run Your Day 345
The Daily Close 347
Designing Graceful Fallback Plans 347
Get a Little Help from Your Friends 347
Apply the 80/20 Rule 348
Attaching Caveats 348
“Be Prepared” Prioritization Tactics 349
Long-Term Time Management 350
Negotiating Work Levels with Your Manager and the Sales Rep 350
Personal Commitments 351
Working in Abusive Environments 351
Summary 351

29 Managing by the Metrics 353

Managing by the Metrics for the Individual 354
Managing by the Metrics for the Manager 354
Weighting the Metrics 356
Managing-by-Metrics Bonus Compensation Versus MBO 356
Rolling Out Metrics-Based Management to Your Organization 357
Avoiding the Pitfalls 358
Using Metrics to Communicate Internally and with
Company Executives 359
Summary 360

30 Final Words 361

Be Passionate 362
Keep Work and Personal Lives in Balance 362
Consistently Outperform Expectations 363
Build and Maintain Relationships 364
Set and Achieve Goals 364
Continually Challenge Yourself 365
xviii Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook

Appendix: More About Mastering Technical Sales 367

About the Authors 369

Index 371
Acknowledgments

I t would be impossible to mention everyone who contributed toward the

ideas and concepts expressed within this book. The best I can do is to say
thanks to countless hundreds of sales engineers (SEs) from companies like
Oracle, EMC, HP, Akamai, Commvault, SAS, Rackspace, Nuance, Veeam,
and Brocade who have stopped me in the hallways during events in places
ranging from Singapore to Stockholm to Seattle to Sydney. For every one
of you who said, “You should write about…” I thank you yet again and this
book is really for you.
First, thanks to our editorial team of Mark Walsh, Samantha Ronan, and
our mystery reviewer. I’d like to thank each and every manager I have ever
worked with—notably Alice Kessler, Mark Armenante, Ted Yarnell, Wen-
dell Meeks, Dick Trovato, Tim Miller, Gene Holcombe, David Griffin, and
Kathy Eastwood. I have also had the pleasure of working with some of the
finest salespeople in the world, who, whether they knew it or not, taught
me much of what is in this book. That list would be a book of its own, so I
would especially like to mention Marc Schnabolk, Sid Amster, John Vairo,
Tom King, and Nick Dorney.
This book is about the personal experience of being an SE, so much of
which was taken from my SE teams and peers at Oracle, Sybase, Vantive,
and Business Objects. In particular each of the following taught me some-
thing about effective management—Joel Kapit, Nancy Lindsey, Elsie Weiler,
David Lesniak, Steve Rubich, Gary Sing, Scott Leisten, Carlos Nouche, John
Chiavelli, Vic Morvillo, Brian Baillod, Todd Tharpe, and Richard Foster.
I’m convinced that I learn far more from my clients than they learn from
me and, in particular from the many SE leaders who share my passion about
presales being the best job in the world. So, thank you to Rob Kaloustian,

xix
xx Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook

David Siles, Scott Lillis, Andy Spencer, Anuja Sharma, David Gregory, Jon
Aumann, Dr. Greg Anderson, Orcun Terzel, Patrick Dennis, Peter Beer, Matt
Zwolenski, Jack Fine, Bob Burkhardt, Bill Balnave, Eric Popiel, Mark Land-
wer, Chris Daly, Peter Doolan, Paula Brown, Lisa Larson, and Rob Engle. I
borrowed at least one fantastic idea from each of you!
Credit also needs to be given to my parents, who taught me the value
of hard work and that if you don’t have a dream it will never come true. I
also thank my children, Amanda (a presales engineer) and Matthew, who, I
know, believe that very same thing.
Finally, my heartfelt gratitude goes out to my wife and trusted advisor
Allison, for her unshakable confidence in me. She remains convinced that I
will someday write the great American novel.

John Care,
Newtown, Pennsylvania
June 2014

First, I send thanks to all of our readers and reviewers from the past dozen
or so years. This book has been sold on every continent to thousands of
mostly satisfied folk. If you aren’t satisfied, I encourage you to drop us a line
at www.masteringtechnicalsales.com—if you provide a great anecdote that
proves one of our points right or wrong, we’ll put your name on this page
and put you in the next edition!
Thank you also to past and current managers and mentors who’ve
inspired me and encouraged a drive for excellence in all endeavors: Lyle
Bohlig, John Pearson, Dan Akers, Todd Carter, Kris Klein, Zach Maurus, Da-
vid Popowitz, Don Smith, Bob Spinner, Taek Kwon, and Robin Schoenbeck.
I would also like to thank those who helped out with early reviews of
the original chapters, engaged in content discussions, or provided ongoing
support and feedback: Jason McKarge, Scott Anscheutz, Bob Spinner, Dave
Yarnold, Carol Chase, Lisa Tucci, Dwight DePalmer, Sandy Ward, Eric Allart,
Mark Puckett, Rodney Goodger, Jonathan Farmer, and Don Smith.
Thanks as well to a large group of people with whom I had the pleasure
of working and seeing in action. Your exploits can be found in the text,
so don’t be surprised if the some of this sounds familiar: Arek Dysko, Tim
Miller, Matt Panning, Alex Saleh, Brett Cain, Derek Sampson, Simon Beavis,
Nick Earl, Dave Henshall, Joe Jouhal, Mark Christiani, Jon Parkes, David
Quantrell, David Baldry, Bruno Labidoire, Steven Kresko, Nick Riitano, Jay
Tyler, John D’Amour, Matt Roloff, Barry Holley, Austin Wells, and Nelson
Veiga.
Acknowledgments xxi

And a triple-special thanks goes to my wife, Sheryl, and children,

Signe and Halle. Thanks for your patience while I was ticking away at the
computer late at night or early in the morning. You are the best.

Aron Bohlig,
San Francisco, California
June 2014
CHAPTE R

1 Introduction: Why Study

“Technical Sales”?
Small opportunities are often the beginning of
great enterprises.
                Demosthenes

I f you are reading this book, you are probably

either directly responsible for selling high-tech
products or are in a supporting group such as
training or marketing. Since the initial publica-
tion of this book we’ve learned from our discus-
sions in the sales community that these tech-
niques are relevant for companies addressing a
wide spectrum of industries including software,
hardware, networking, storage, security, profes-
sional services, financial technology, informa-
tion services, outsourced services, capital equip-
ment, medical equipment and devices, aircraft
components, and defense. We’ve found that this
content is applicable to any complex sales envi-
ronment where there are two sets of buyers: a
business buyer and a technology or domain ex-
pert gatekeeper. When such complexity exists,
it’s only natural that there will be two sets of sell-
ers: one focused on the business and commercial
aspects and one focused on the technical aspects.
This third edition was designed to bring
the original content up to date and help keep
it fresh. Since the original publication the art of
sales has remained relatively constant, but there

1
2 Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook

have been industry changes such as the emergence of software-as-a-service

(SaaS), changes in typical organizational structures, and acceptance of the
webcast as a presentation technology. In addition we’ve certainly learned
more since then and want to pass this information on to you. So you’ll dis-
cover that we have significantly revamped and rewritten numerous chap-
ters, including some new case studies, and have added four new chapters
dealing with advanced business discovery, using white boards as a sales tool,
learning to be seen as—and truly be—a trusted advisor to your customers,
and calculating ROI or the financial benefits of what you are selling.
In any case, congratulations; the techniques detailed in this book have
contributed to the success of thousands of technical sales professionals, and
we are confident they will improve your sales results as well. This book was
specifically written to help decode the “black art” of selling complex, high-
value products. These types of products are unique in their need to have a
technical professional—a sales consultant or sales engineer—involved in the
sales. Our systematic approaches can enable any level of sales or marketing
person to improve his or her capability to deliver service to the customer and
improve sales as a result.
The trade book press is glutted with books on how to sell, so why do we
think another one is necessary? Most current books focus on “old school
selling,” an approach that is more than 100 years old and is pretty well-
documented. Those books are great for the Willy Lomans of the world who
are focused on turning a quick buck with high-pressure sales. There are also
some excellent books that describe sales methodologies, or processes to follow
to improve your sales. These books are generally focused on establishing and
cultivating relationships with key executives.
What’s missing is an equal focus on improving the methods and skills
of those who engage in the technology side of the sales equation. This is a
new aspect of selling that has become increasingly important during the last
few decades as technology-based products and services have become an im-
portant component of the global economy. It is no longer sufficient to have
a basic background in a field, a dynamic Web site and some nice brochures.
In some cases, customers we have dealt with have run product evaluations
with teams of 20 people, of which five or six have doctorates in system ar-
chitecture or a similar field. So today’s high-tech salesperson needs to do the
job of yesterday, relationship selling, while maintaining an extremely high
level of technical proficiency in terms of today’s products—certainly a tall
order. The good news is that this profession pays extremely well, and that if
you are good, you will always be able to find a job.
It is worth taking a minute to consider why sales engineers are so highly
paid. This role is still evolving, as evidenced by the variety of terms for the
position: sales consultant (SC), sales engineer (SE), solutions architect (SA),
Introduction: Why Study “Technical Sales”? 3

and many other permutations. As mentioned, the skills required are diverse
and frequently difficult to find in a single individual. This means that good
SEs constitute a rare breed. But why do companies pay so dearly for this
unusual skill set? The answer is something we call the product/market gap.
This gap refers to the fact that by the time a high-tech product gets to mar-
ket, that product is fundamentally dated. This may mean that the product
is too slow or that the product doesn’t have the full suite of features cur-
rently demanded by the market. It is your job to sell these products that
only partially match the market need to the customers who constitute that
market. In some cases your products will perfectly reflect the current needs
of the market, but usually only for a short period of time. This product/
market gap is driven, on the one hand, by media and analysts who are al-
ways demanding more of vendors and, on the other, by the executives in
your company who want to expand the use of your product beyond your
traditional customers. The good news is that when this happens, an exciting
frontier is born—a frontier where there is money to be made and excite-
ment to be had.
Accordingly, this book is intended to help you do the following:

1. Make money;
2. Improve your skills;
3. Keep your sanity.

This book is set up in a modular fashion so you can order those pri-
orities as you see fit. The chapters are each meant to serve as a lesson in
a particular facet of the job. Each should be short enough that you can
easily read the chapter and apply its lessons to your skills and needs in a
single evening or a single plane flight. It is our hope that you can use this
book to great effect while traveling. Some chapters include material that is
paraphrased from other chapters to provide context, but in general, each
chapter can be read individually.
How should you get started? Later in this chapter, we recommend spe-
cific chapters to start with depending on your role and level of experience.
If you are new to sales, you may want to start from the beginning or at least
cover the first few chapters. Once you complete Chapter 2, “An Overview
of the Sales Process,” try to pick a chapter relevant to problems you are cur-
rently facing in a sales cycle.
While reading the material, keep in mind that each technique must
be customized to your particular situation. In sales, the best practice is al-
ways the one that wins the deal. Quoting verbatim from this book is un-
likely to win you points with a difficult sales rep, but the practices we have
documented should give you sufficient background to reach a mutually
4 Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook

beneficial solution. You will find that the chapters are broken into three
parts, each targeting a progressively more experienced reader. Within each
chapter, we also give specific advice based on the reader’s seniority and as-
sumed level of skill.
The chapter format is simple but designed to help you best leverage the
material. Review the list of goals provided at the beginning of each chapter
and use that as a framework to digest the material that follows. If you aren’t
new to sales, pencil in other goals you may have. Then proceed through the
material. Once you reach the “Skill Building” portion of a chapter, read the
appropriate section. Now take a few minutes to reflect on your personalized
goals and see if you have sufficient information on how to reach those goals.
If not, do you now have a good enough understanding of the problem to
pursue the solution? Our intent is that by this approach, a very high propor-
tion of common sales and career issues can be explored. We firmly believe
that if you apply the material in this book, you will experience better win
rates, higher quota achievement, and greater personal satisfaction. You will
also have better tools to manage your career and your personal brand. In
addition, on finishing this book you should gain additional insight into what
makes your prospects and your coworkers “tick.” This understanding should
help you interact with them more effectively, to your mutual benefit.
We now take a look at various types of consultants and suggest the
chapters of specific interest based on level of expertise.

New SE

• Major benefits: You will learn how to develop your skills in sales and
technology. You will also be exposed to advanced sales concepts, tech-
niques, and strategies before you are forced to use them in the field.
• Target chapters: “An Overview of the Sales Process” (Chapter 2), “The
Dash to Demo” (Chapter 9), and “Getting Started” (Chapter 15). The
book you are holding represents hundreds of years of cumulative
sales experience; we are often told by highly experienced SEs that “I
wish I had this book when I started.”

Experienced SE

• Major benefits: (1) Improved understanding of interactions across the

sales team, reduced stress levels, and increased effectiveness through
team selling; (2) tactical improvements; and (3) suggestions on how
Introduction: Why Study “Technical Sales”? 5

to raise your visibility and improve your chances for promotion. You
will learn concepts about which you have had an intuitive under-
standing. When you come across such an idea, take the time to re-
flect on how your experience relates to what you have read. Try to
use the frameworks we have provided to systematize the best prac-
tices you have previously employed with what we have document-
ed. The result will be a personalized approach that will improve the
consistency of your output, leading to higher sales.
• Target chapters: “The ‘U’ in Technical Sales” (Chapter 20) and “Time
Management for SEs” (Chapter 28).

Sales Managers and Sales Trainers

• Major benefits: How do you add value to the sales force today? Too
many people in your position do not continuously challenge them-
selves by applying that metric to every strategic decision or com-
ponent of course work. This book covers both management issues
and suggestions for systematizing tactical excellence in your team.
We also provide insight on often overlooked issues such as technical
sales organization structures and political issues within the sales or-
ganization. Our hope is that you will find this book to be an excellent
framework or supplement for your training plan.
• Target chapters: “Organizational Structure” (Chapter 25), “Building
the Infrastructure” (Chapter 26), and “Managing by Metrics” (Chap-
ter 29).

Sales Representative

• Major benefits: Although many of the topics we cover are concerned

with technical sales issues, many chapters will assist the sales rep-
resentative as well. Not only will you benefit from the tactical skills
we ­discuss, but you will improve your communication and level of
understanding within your sales team. Spend 10 to 15 hours reading
the suggested chapters and then give the book to your sales consul-
tant. You will be better able to jointly sell and service your customers.
• Target chapters: “Needs Analysis and Discovery” (Chapter 5), “The
Dash to Demo” (Chapter 9), “Evaluation Strategies” (Chapter 13),
6 Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook

“Doing the Math / Calculating ROI” (Chapter 19), and “Competitive

Tactics” (Chapter 22).

Marketing and Product Management

• Major benefits: This book will provide you with a perspective on where
you should best invest your resources to help the sales force. Your fast
path to success is to read the sales process overview chapter, Chapter
2. Then ask a salesperson how much time he or she spends in each
sales stage. Find the bottlenecks or time sinks, read the appropriate
chapters, and begin improving your support in those key areas.
• Target chapters: “An Overview of the Sales Process” (Chapter 2), “Do-
ing the Math/Calculating ROI” (Chapter 19), and others depending
on current needs.

Technical Consultants

• Major benefits: As a technical consultant you will benefit in two ways

from this book. First, some of the concepts and processes are directly
applicable to the sales cycles you will be engaging in or supporting.
Second, you will frequently have to deal with vendor sales teams.
This book will help you better understand how those teams operate
and how you can get the most out of them for your client.
• Target chapters: “An Overview of the Sales Process” (Chapter 2) and
“Evaluation Strategies” (Chapter 13).

If you still have questions, go to Chapter 30 for instructions on how to get to

our Web site and we’ll be happy to respond to your inquiry.
 CHAPTE R
2
Chapter Goals
Understand different
phases of the sales process.
Know which groups are re-
sponsible for specific steps
in the sales process.
Provide an overview of the
key contributions expected
of the SE.
An Overview of the Sales
Process
If everything’s under control, you’re going too
slowly.
               Mario Andretti
M uch information about sales processes and
methodologies has been published, all of
which focuses on bringing structure to a sale but
provides little guidance to the SE. This chapter
briefly examines the major phases involved in
the introduction of a new product, its introduc-
tion via the sales force, and its subsequent pur-
chase by a customer. Table 2.1 lists the steps in
the sales life cycle. For each stage in the sales
process, more detail is provided in the remain-
ing chapters in this part (Chapters 3–13). The
reality is that the sales process is usually much
more fluid than what is presented here. Use this
overview to identify areas where you have the
least experience and consider starting with those
chapters first.
7
8 Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook

Table 2.1
Sales Life Cycle
New Product Introduction
Market definition
Marketing campaign
Sales Process
Lead qualification
Request for proposal (RFP) (optional)
Discovery and customer engagement
Present, demonstrate, and propose
Evaluation (optional)
Negotiate and close
Post-sales Support

Definition of the Market

Long before a salesperson even thinks about selling a product, a marketing
manager or an executive comes up with a bright idea for a new product or
service. In theory, the person who thinks up the offering has been interact-
ing closely with potential customers and has defined a product that will sat-
isfy a real market need. You would be shocked and dismayed at how often
this is not the case. This phase is intimately related to the definition of your
lead qualification criteria (Chapter 3). The marketing department will have
one or more target customer profiles that will define the initial set of customers
on which the sales force will call.

Marketing Campaigns
Now someone responsible for demand generation builds a campaign to reach
potential purchasers of your product and make them aware of what you
have to offer. The marketing team will likely employ a variety of approaches
to reach these customers. We will consider a few different approaches and
focus on how the approach will impact your situation in the sales cycle.

Customer Events
New products are often previewed at international, national or regional
customer events. Whether a brief evening session or a full multiday boon-
doggle, these are effective ways of receiving direct feedback regarding the
value proposition from existing customers. This feedback is highly subject
to “sampling errors” where the views of the purchasers of the old product
are assumed to be similar to those of the nominal purchasers of the new
An Overview of the Sales Process 9

product. This can be particularly problematic if the new product appeals to

a new business buyer or decision maker, but the early feedback can be very
helpful nonetheless.

Trade Shows and Seminars

Frequently, a company will host an exhibition at a trade show. The result
will usually be several hundred (or thousand) moderately qualified leads.
Based on the authors’ experience, usually a handful (perhaps 5% of the
total) of well-qualified leads may result. As you may know, attending a
trade show is often an excuse for training or a “junket” on the part of the
customer attendee. As a result, most leads from trade shows will not be high
enough quality to make it to your sales team. However trade shows can be
particularly helpful for new product introductions, enabling marketers to
receive immediate feedback regarding forthcoming product releases directly
from potential customers. Ideally this is one of the first steps performed in
a marketing campaign to help refine the marketing message for the “low-
touch” forms of marketing.

Mailing Lists and Outbound Calling Campaigns

The mailing list and calling campaign approaches often represent the first
step in a sales and marketing campaign. The ratio of useless names and
numbers to real leads is probably on the order of 100 to 1. What usually
happens is that a customer is sent materials describing your solution. If the
customer responds, a telemarketer will then follow up to begin the sales
cycle. As we will discuss later, these types of leads are difficult to generate
and qualify. Be sure to be gentle when working with your telemarketing
team on these leads.

Partners
A partner (system integrator, distributor, or value-added reseller) may bring
you into a deal. These types of deals have advantages and disadvantages.
One positive aspect is that there is probably a qualified deal to be pursued;
otherwise the partner wouldn’t be bothering you. One negative aspect
is that you will usually not have direct access to the customer, and you
will probably be brought in at the last moment possible for any customer
deliverable.

Web-Based Form or “Fremium” Products

It is increasingly common for SaaS vendors to provide free or low-priced
limited-feature versions of their products. Alternately a white paper may
only be accessible by providing a name, e-mail, and phone number. A tele-
sales person may then be dispatched to qualify this Web-based lead.
10 Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook

Lead Qualification
Lead qualification has two major components. The first is the preliminary
qualification performed by your telemarketing support person. This type of
qualification is usually intended to validate the prospect’s budget and prob-
ability of purchase and to identify the key people your sales team should
contact. If the project is big enough and seems likely to go forward, the lead
will be “handed off” to your sales representative. The sales representative is
then responsible for developing an account plan to try to secure the prospect
as a customer.
As part of this process, you and the sales representative will perform the
second phase of lead qualification. In this phase, the salesperson will revali-
date the budget and timeline of the customer, and you will be responsible
for validating the technical requirements of the customer. Once again, if the
prospect looks like they have a sufficient budget and are likely to buy, and
if their technical environment is compatible with your product’s require-
ments, then you progress to the next phase of the sales cycle.

RFP
Larger clients may submit a formal request for details surrounding your
company, products, and other important decision-making criteria. These
documents can range anywhere from 10 to several hundred pages. A very
thin RFP is a good indicator that you are dealing with a project team that has
not gone through this process previously. A very thick RFP usually means
that the customer has hired a consultant that is trying to prove its value by
adding additional detail and complexity to the process.
In cases where you are a key vendor for your customer, you may be
able to avoid the initiation of an RFP process. If this is the case, try to find
out what criteria are used to establish when an RFP is required. Most large
companies have very strict guidelines regarding when competitive bids need
to be issued and when established vendors can be used. By understanding
these criteria, you can avoid accidentally inviting competitors to bid on your
customers’ projects.
If your company is a major player in your market, you will also fre-
quently receive unsolicited RFPs. This usually means that either a competi-
tor or a systems integrator has already sold the concept of the product to the
prospect, and the prospect is trying to ensure that they have a look at the
best products on the market. This situation is a very difficult one in which
to compete, because this unknown third-party competitor will already have
had access to the key contact personnel of the prospect and will have set
expectations that may exceed your capabilities.
An Overview of the Sales Process 11

Discovery and First Customer Engagement

Frequently, a prospect will issue an RFP to a large number of vendors (five
or more) and then put together a “short list” of the vendors whose products
they wish to pursue. If your company is on this list, you will be permitted to
ask questions of the prospect. This phase is usually called discovery or needs
analysis. This is a critical phase because it is during your discovery that you
will learn enough about your customer to put together a personalized so-
lution for them. This is also your first real opportunity to interact with the
customer. Your ability to identify pain points and respond with a compelling
value proposition is a true measure of your skill as an SE.

Present, Demonstrate, and Propose

This part of the process consists of three phases: presentation, demonstra-
tion, and the proposal.

Presentation
Once you have completed your discovery session, you will be expected to
present your findings. These presentations will typically be in response to
your customer’s request to detail different aspects of your solution. You
should also certainly take the initiative and be sure that you present any
additional selling points you identified during discovery. Chapter 8 pro-
vides insight on ways you can improve the quality with which you deliver
a presentation.

Demonstration
If you are a new SE, you will probably see the demonstration as the most
challenging part of the sales process. Depending on the needs of your client
and the quality of your product, this may very well be true. The truth is that
giving a demonstration is easy. Giving a good demonstration that meaning-
fully communicates the value of your solution is extremely difficult. Many
SEs never rise above merely listing off the features of their products. If you
aren’t beyond this phase yet, this book will help you learn how to put to-
gether a presentation that uses product demonstrations as the proof points
for your key messages. In the end, it will be your ability to choose the cor-
rect messages—and then substantiate them—that will determine whether
your proposal will be superior to that of your competitor’s.

Proposal
Some customers may make yet another cut, further reducing the number
of vendors allowed to make a proposal. The proposal is meant to reflect the
12 Mastering Technical Sales: The Sales Engineer’s Handbook

solution that you are recommending based on your interaction with the
customer. The proposal will also usually include pricing and different legal
terminology describing the way �your company does business. You will also
usually be required to put together a document describing the products you
are recommending as well as detailing dependencies for the customer, such
as other products the customer may need to have in place.

Proof of Concept (Optional)

Some customers will insist on being able to “pilot” or evaluate your product
in advance of a purchase through a “proof of concept.” Many companies
have advanced, self-administering pilot kits. Increasingly, pilot materials are
available directly for download from a company’s Web site. Most complex
hardware and software products will require some level of human support
to make sure that the customer is able to make the best use of your software.
These projects can typically be one of the most challenging areas in techni-
cal sales.

Negotiations: Close or Lose—Getting the Deal

At this point, your job is done and it is up to the salesperson to earn his or
her money. You may be brought in for last-minute clarification of technical
points, but most of the focus is on the financial and legal terms of the con-
tract. So cross your fingers and try to relax.

Post-Sales Support and Ongoing Account Management

Once a company has purchased your solution, it will have to implement it
and then maintain it on an ongoing basis. Your sales team should continue
to be involved with the customer. You will personally benefit from develop-
ing the relationship and the opportunity to use the customer as a reference.
Over time you will also have the opportunity to sell add-on products to
the customer. By continuing to support the customer, you will improve the
probability that these sales will continue. Usually, these types of sales require
less effort on your part, which makes them very attractive.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
the first bit of warmth the water-soaked men had felt in five days of
frigid Arctic weather. But it was of little comfort; beneath the snow the
ground was wet, and as the fire blazed up, it further softened the
beach roundabout it, so the men trying to dry themselves before the
fire soon found instead that they were sinking into the mushy tundra
to their knees.
“It’s no use, men. We might as well turn in. Pitch the tents,”
ordered De Long wearily, and soon the two tents were erected, a
little shelter at least from the cutting wind. On the soft and snow-
covered ground inside them, the wretched mariners stretched
themselves out full length, for the first time since leaving Semenovski
Island, able at least to turn in lying down.
More like stiffening corpses than sleepers, the exhausted men
sprawled out in the snow and soon as the driftwood fire died away,
darkness and falling snow enveloped the silent tents, while only the
whistling of the chilling wind kept watch over De Long and his
thirteen worn companions, stretched out at last on Siberian soil,
victors in a heroic retreat over ice and ocean to which the long
annals of the sea, whether in the tropics or round about the poles,
offers no parallel.
Morning dawned; it snowed intermittently. Crawling from his tent,
De Long looked about. Nearby to the westward, flowing north to
discharge into the sea, was a wide river. From the chart, this was
evidently the River Osoktah, the main northern mouth of the Lena,
and close at hand should be Sagastyr with its signal tower and a
busy trading village. But with a sinking heart, De Long, looking over
the snow-covered tundra, saw that every evidence of civilization
shown on his chart was completely missing—no signal tower, no
village, no signs of river traffic on the Lena, not even the slightest
sign of roving hunters! Petermann’s vivid descriptions of traffic and of
settlements at the Lena mouth were only the idle dreams of an
unreliable geographer, as unreal as the Grecian myths of marvelous
Atlantis to be found just beyond the Pillars of Hercules!
On rescue at this point De Long had based all his plans, figured
his food supply, and savagely driven himself and his men far beyond
human endurance to get here. And now at this long-sought goal,
plainly evident to all hands, was nothing but disillusion and despair!
Hobbling about him, trying to dry themselves before a new fire,
were his worn and crippled companions, all hope gone from their
haggard faces, all strength gone from their frozen bodies, through
bleared and sunken eyes, watching him apathetically. De Long
beckoned to Ambler.
“Do what you can for the men’s feet today, doctor, while I sort over
our stores. There’s no hope of assistance on the coast. We may as
well look this situation in the face, and prepare ourselves to walk
inland to the nearest settlement.”
“And where will that be?” asked the surgeon anxiously.
“At Ku Mark Surk, ninety-five miles to the southward,” replied De
Long.
“Ninety-five miles!” repeated Ambler in dismay. “Why, some of
these men can’t walk even a mile!”
“They’ve got to now,” answered the captain grimly. “Get to work on
our feet, doctor. Our lives depend on them now. Tomorrow they’ve
got to carry us along!”
“Aye, aye, sir. But ninety-five miles over this tundra! In our state
now, it’s worse than that drag over the pack. We’ll never get there!”
“Some of us may, and we’ll all try. It’s our last chance. And it’s up
to you, doctor. See what you can do to save our feet!”
All day on one man after another, Surgeon Ambler worked with
lint, with vaseline, and with his scalpel, opening blisters, cutting away
dead skin and flesh, gently massaging frozen feet and legs to restore
circulation, and finally bandaging up. When evening fell, De Long,
Boyd, and Ah Sam could hobble again. Even Erichsen, whom the
long motionless hours at the tiller during the storm at sea had left
with a far worse frostbite than anyone, whose two feet, stinking with
festering sores nauseated even the doctor as he worked on those
horribly swollen and blistered lumps from which protruded black and
feelingless toes, claimed to be improved and able to walk a little.
 While this (during a storm of snow, hail and sleet) was going on,
De Long ordered a cache made on the beach of the navigating gear,
most of the cooking utensils, the sleeping bags, and other
miscellaneous articles, so that the baggage to be carried was
reduced to the clothes the men wore, the ship’s records, four rifles
and ammunition, medicine and surgical tools, blankets, tents, and
their four days’ food supply, consisting only of some tea and the
unopened can of pemmican which should have gone to Chipp.
Leaving a written record in the cache to direct anyone who might
ever come after, searching for them, on the early afternoon of
September 19th, the ragged seamen shouldered their burdens and
dragging the expedition’s records on their little sledge, set out under
a bright sun over the snow-covered tundra for Ku Mark Surk, ninety-
five long miles to the south over the trackless delta.
It was a forlorn scene as De Long and his men took leave of the
Polar Sea which for two years had held them prisoner—to the west
flowed the Lena, a broad swift stream tumbling on its swirling bosom
broken floes from further up the frozen river; to the north spread the
Arctic Ocean, covered as far as eye could reach with young ice,
through which, sticking up gaunt and bare, the only objects visible on
its desolate surface, were the mast and the low gunwales of the
abandoned cutter. To east and south lay the flat snow-covered
tundra, and over this straggled the dismal caravan of the first cutter’s
crew—Iversen and Dressler dragging the sledge, Alexey out ahead
to break a path, De Long following him with the Jeannette’s ensign in
its oilskin case slung across his back, and behind him the rest of the
seamen staggering under their loads, with Lee, whose weakened
hips frequently gave way under him, constantly falling in the snow,
and Erichsen, Boyd, and Ah Sam hobbling painfully along at the rear.
It was terrible going, not helped much by a fifteen minute pause
every hour for rest. The snow-covered ground was swampy, with
many ponds covered with thin ice and hidden under the snow, and
into these pitfalls the men stumbled frequently, burying themselves
to their knees in the mossy tundra beneath, and coming up with their
leaking boots or moccasins filled, to plunge along again through the
snow and the freezing wind, oozing a slimy mixture of mud and
water from between their toes at every step.
Big Erichsen could barely even hobble, hardly able to lift one
numbed foot after another. At the second stop for rest, Ambler drew
Nindemann aside,
“Quartermaster, can’t you make a pair of crutches for Erichsen?
His arms are still strong; with crutches, he’ll make out better.”
“Yah, doc, but with what should I make ’em?” asked Nindemann. “I
ain’t got tools no more.”
“Don’t worry over that, Nindemann,” replied the doctor. “You’ve got
a knife.” He opened his medicine chest on the sledge. “Here, take
my surgical saw; I guess if it’ll saw bones, it’ll saw wood all right,” he
finished grimly.
Nindemann got to work on some driftwood branches, and soon
between sheath knife and bone saw, he had fashioned a fair enough
pair of crutches, on which when the party resumed its journey,
Erichsen swung along haltingly behind the crippled Ah Sam.
But for the worn and burdened seamen, progress was still snail-
like. After another faltering advance, De Long halted the party and
deciding to lighten up still further, sent back Nindemann and two
other seamen with one tent, all the log books, the spyglass, and two
tins of alcohol to stow them with the abandoned gear in the cache at
the beach. This left to be carried or dragged by the men only De
Long’s private journals as a record of the expedition, one tent, some
alcohol and medicines, the rifles, a cooking pot, and what little food
they still had, together with the silk flag which De Long himself bore
along.
The second day thus, the party staggered on four miles more to
the south. The going got worse, the straggling procession
lengthened out in the snow. A brief pause to rest, and all hands once
more got underway except Nindemann, whose load chafing his
shoulders, stayed behind to readjust it while the others started off
through the snow. Having eased the fastenings of his pack as well as
possible, the wearied quartermaster struggled to his feet and was
hurrying forward to catch up with his mates when unexpectedly he
stumbled over what as he fell he thought at first was a log half-
hidden in the snowy path, but which he quickly saw to be Erichsen,
prone on his face, while nearby, tossed into a drift, were his crude
crutches!
With a thumping heart, Nindemann feverishly rolled his shipmate
over on his back expecting to have to revive him, only to find instead
Erichsen’s snow-flecked blue eyes staring bitterly at him, and
Erichsen’s broken voice rising in a curse,
“Go avay, damn you! Ay vant yust to die here in peace!”
“Get up, Hans!” pleaded Nindemann. “You’re not going to die;
nobody is. Here’s your crutches. Come along! I’ll help you!”
Erichsen only shook his head, his eyes rolling in anguish.
“No use, Nindemann, my feet ban all gone! Even if you can go so
far as Moscow, Ay tal you, Ay cannot go one step more! Go on! Let
me die!” and with a convulsive effort of his huge body, he twisted
himself face down again and clawing feebly with his fingers, tried to
bury himself completely in the snow.
Frightened, Nindemann jerked erect and shouted down the trail,
“Captain! Hey, captain! Come back!” but so far off were all hands
now that no one turned. Leaving his silent shipmate in the drift, the
quartermaster, going as fast as the broken path allowed, hurried
after them, shouting occasionally, till half a mile along he finally
attracted De Long’s attention and stopped him till he could catch up,
when he told the captain of Erichsen’s plight.
De Long gritted his teeth.
“Keep ahead, Nindemann, till you come to driftwood, then build a
fire quick and camp,” ordered De Long briefly. “Come on, doctor;
we’ll go back for Erichsen!”
Back rushed De Long and Ambler till buried in the snow as
Nindemann had left him, they found the prostrate Erichsen. With
some difficulty, Ambler turned him over, while De Long pulled his
crutches out from the deep snow alongside. The doctor took the
broken seaman by both shoulders and started to lift him.
“Let go me, doc,” begged Erichsen, “it ban no use any more to
help. My legs ban killing me. Ay vant now only to die qvick! Go
avay!”
“Get up, Erichsen!” ordered De Long in a voice cold as steel.
“Here’s your crutches; take ’em and get going down that road! Do
you think I’m going to leave you now? Get underway! And when you
can’t hobble, I’ll drag you! Up now, before I jerk you up!”
For a moment, Erichsen, lying in the snow, stared dumbly into the
captain’s inflexible eyes, then his habit of obedience conquered his
suffering. Slowly he pushed himself into a sitting position and without
another word reached for the crutches. With Ambler’s assistance, he
rose to his feet and then with both De Long and the doctor behind
him to see that he did not again lie down, he hobbled off down the
path, each step undoubtedly an agony to him as his bleeding and
tortured feet came down in the snow. And so, slowly and painfully
they covered the last mile into the camp, where a roaring driftwood
fire and a scanty supper of cold pemmican and tea awaited them.
Before the fire, all hands steamed in front while they froze behind,
and then stretched out on driftwood logs for a bed, hauled their sole
remaining tent flat over the fourteen of them and turned in. But
between sharp winds, bitter cold, and falling snow, it was a fearful
night for the fourteen sufferers, shaking and shivering beneath the
thin canvas, and no one slept.
Through snow and fog again the party struggled southward along
the river bank next day, with Boyd and Ah Sam both improved, and
even Erichsen, the captain’s stern voice still ringing in his ears, doing
a little better on his crutches. But with only two days’ slim rations of
pemmican left, and with each day’s progress hardly a scant five
miles over the snowy tundra, the chances of making the remaining
eighty miles to Ku Mark Surk began to fade.
In the middle of the third afternoon, the party came to two
abandoned wood huts by the river side, the first evidence of
habitation they had met in the Lena Delta, and gladly all hands
entered. Inside the huts, reasonably sheltered for the first time in
weeks from cold, from wind, and from snow, and with plenty of
driftwood about so they could warm themselves at last, the men
stripped off their soaked and ragged furs and stood about naked
while their clothes dried before the hurriedly built fires.
Dressed again, and with a tiny portion of pemmican and some hot
tea for supper, the exhausted travelers threw themselves on the dirt
floor, at last to catch some sleep inside a human habitation, primitive
even though it was. No one any longer had a sleeping bag; only the
patched and ragged remnants of the fur and cloth garments and the
long since worn-out boots in which three months before they had
started the terrible journey over the ice from the sunken Jeannette
remained to them. But at least there was a tight roof and solid walls
about them and it was enough. In a few minutes, at four o’clock in
the afternoon, thankful beyond description for so much shelter, all
hands were sound asleep.
But there was one exception. Shelter or no shelter, Erichsen,
suffering the agonies of the damned from his mortifying feet, only
tossed and moaned, waking the doctor. Rousing Nindemann to help
him, the surgeon seated the suffering seaman on a log before the
fire, got his instruments and medicines, and then, while Nindemann
held the patient erect on the log, gently proceeded to unbandage his
left foot, the worst one.
As the last turn of the bandage came off, Nindemann anxiously
watching, saw to his horror, all the flesh, dead and putrid, drop away
from the ball of the foot, exposing tendons and bones. Startled, he
closed his eyes, repressed a groan. But Ambler said nothing; only
the slight compression of his lips indicated his despair. There was
nothing medical skill could do. Quietly smearing a fresh bandage
with vaseline, he carefully bound up the foot again and put back
Erichsen’s stocking and his boot.
“All done, Erichsen,” he said reassuringly; “you can turn in now,”
and gathering up his equipment, Ambler, his heart torn by poor
Erichsen’s condition, hurriedly stretched himself out in the hut as far
away as he could get lest his patient should start to question him.
But Erichsen was not wholly ignorant of what had happened.
Turning to Nindemann on the log beside him, he asked,
“Do you know much about frostbites?”
“Yah, Hans,” replied Nindemann, “at the first coming on, the flesh
turns blue and then it gets black.”
The big Dane nodded, continued sadly,
“Ven doc took off the bandage, Ay saw somet’ing drop from unter
my foot. You saw it too, Nindemann. Yah?”
Nindemann, with one arm about his suffering shipmate to keep
him erect, looked him squarely in the eye, and putting all the
conviction into his voice that he could muster, he lied heroically,
“No, Hans, there was nothing. You must be dreaming things.”
“Don’t try to fool me, qvartermaster; Ay tal you Ay saw it und so did
you.” Mournfully he gazed at his shabby boot, then sadly shook his
head. “Ay hope you get home yet, Nindemann, but vit me, it ban all
done. Stretch me out now; you must sleep.”
But it being still early in the evening, after a brief nap, De Long
sent Alexey and Nindemann out with rifles to hunt, the while the
others rested and he took stock of the situation.
Long and earnestly, as the two hunters trudged outside through
the snow looking for game, the captain pondered. His recent chart,
based on Petermann’s reports and descriptions of the villages on the
delta itself, he now knew was worthless; only in the old Russian
chart showing Ku Mark Surk at the head of the delta and Bulun
beyond could he put any faith. But with the nearest of these over
eighty miles distant, it was hopeless to expect that his crawling party,
making at best five miles a day, could ever get through on the two
days’ pemmican still left. And without food to sustain them on the
way, the outside temperature, hovering around zero, would of itself in
a few more nights in the open like the preceding one, quickly make
an end of them. There seemed nothing for it except to stay in the
huts where at least they had shelter and warmth and stretch to the
utmost their few pounds of pemmican, eked out by poor Snoozer as
a last resort, the while he sent two men ahead on a forced march to
Ku Mark Surk in the thin hope that he might keep his starving men
alive till they returned with aid, in two weeks at the soonest if they
found the traveling good, longer if they did not.
What alternatives were there? He considered them. Erichsen, Lee,
Boyd, and Ah Sam were his drags on progress, especially the two
former. If he left these two, the others might easily double their
speed of travel and reach Ku Mark Surk and safety in possibly a
week. But it would take at least a second week to get help back to
his abandoned men. How could two helpless cripples without food,
hardly able to crawl outside to gather wood to warm themselves,
stay alive for two long weeks, perhaps more? They would soon,
hopeless in the feeling that they were deserted, both lie down and
die. As it was, only his constant driving, his apparently soulless
harshness, and the lash of his stinging commands, kept them
hobbling weakly along.
Could he abandon them? Dispassionately he tried to consider it.
On one hand, a far better chance for life to twelve men, certain death
for two. On the other hand, the strong probability that all would
perish in that hut before relief arrived. Going on, leaving his cripples
behind, looked logical. But De Long shook his head. While he lived,
he could abandon nobody to the loneliness of that Arctic waste, least
of all the heroic Erichsen, who unrelieved through that terrible night
in the boat, had clung to the tiller, safely steering them all through the
gale, and now in the agony of his decaying feet, was
uncomplainingly paying the penalty of his steadfastness. With a sigh,
the captain decided to stay on in the hut, while he sent ahead for
help. Who should go? Running over in his mind the physical
condition of his men, he decided on Surgeon Ambler and
Nindemann, the two he felt who were most likely to get through.
At six o’clock, Nindemann returned, empty-handed except for a
dead gull he had found. Eagerly the hungry seamen, roused by
Nindemann’s entrance, crowded round while Ah Sam plucked the
gull, only to discover that the carcass had long since rotted. Sadly it
was thrown away, and the disappointed sailors once more turned in.
Alexey still was missing, but no fears were felt for him, and quickly,
without exception now, the exhausted company sank into deep
slumber.
About nine o’clock came a knock on the door of the hut and
Alexey’s voice rang out,
“All sleep here?”
Immediately, sleeping heads lifted here and there over the floor as
the door flew back and Alexey cried proudly,
“Captain! I shoot two reindeer!” and in staggered the snow-
covered hunter bearing on his back the hind quarter of a doe.
“Well done, Alexey!” shouted the captain, leaping to his feet and
kissing the startled Indian while all about men sprang up, almost
smothering the beaming Alexey in handclasps and in clumsy hugs.
Immediately sleep was forgotten, the fires poked up, and that
haunch of venison, cut in chunks, was roasting on a dozen sticks.
Each man got a pound and a half; most of them, long before their
meat was hardly more than seared before the fire, were gorging
themselves on the raw flesh! With startling rapidity, it disappeared
and hungrily his men looked toward the bloody remnant of that
haunch, but De Long, stowing it behind him in the hut, shook his
head and ended the feast, leaving the party no option but to return to
sleep, while only Snoozer, still gnawing wolfishly at the shank bone,
remained awake.
That changed De Long’s plans. Issuing only a very scanty ration of
pemmican for breakfast, he sent Alexey and six men out in the
morning to get the deer, while he concluded to spend that day and
the next in the hut, recuperating the sick, and then with his two days’
supply of pemmican still intact and the remainder of the two does for
food on the journey, push on southward with all hands.
And so they did. Warmed by soup made of the reindeer bones,
fortified by deer meat, and rested by two days’ inaction in the hut, the
party set out hopefully on September 24th with twenty pounds of
pemmican and fifty-four pounds of venison still left for food for
fourteen men and their dog, leaving a note and the captain’s
Winchester rifle (for which there was no longer any ammunition) as a
record behind them.
They tramped along the east bank of the river for three miles,
resting hourly and making poor progress. Looking hopelessly at the
broad stream still flowing unfrozen past him, De Long sighed for his
abandoned cutter, in which here with oars and sail, they might make
fine progress even against the current. But the cutter was gone and
wishes would do no good. However, they might perhaps make a raft
and sail or pole that upstream, at least relieving their feet. So
stopping the party, De Long turned all hands to gathering logs out of
which, using the sledge lashing for a fastening, a crude raft was
finally fashioned at the cost of eight hours’ strenuous toil, on which at
five p.m. they attempted to embark. But the river had ebbed
meanwhile, and in spite of an hour’s battle, it was impossible to get
the grounded side of the raft afloat. In deep disgust, amid the
suppressed curses of all hands at the result (and especially of
Nindemann who had done most of the work), the raft was
abandoned, the loads picked up again, and the men, doubly weary
now, staggered away southward, again to camp for the night on the
open tundra, freezing on a few logs spread in the snow for a bed, to
rise next morning after no sleep at all, stiffer and sorer even than the
night before.
The next day’s traveling was difficult beyond words, over snow and
thin ice through which torn boots broke, to come up covered with a
slushy mixture which immediately froze solid, soon making each
man’s feet as large and as heavy as sandbags, a gruelling task to lift
them, an endless labor to keep them reasonably cleared.
By some miscalculation either in issue or in original weighing, but
eight pounds of deer meat was found remaining, all of which went for
dinner. An afternoon of heartbreaking travel over an ice-coated bluff
from which the piercing wind had cleared all snow, leaving it slippery
as glass, brought them at night to a dilapidated hut, filthy in its
interior, but nevertheless the freezing seamen, taking it for a
godsend, stretched themselves promptly in the dirt inside,
unutterably grateful for the shelter. A scant portion of pemmican
passed for supper. With only three similar rations apiece left as the
total food supply, the toil-worn men turned in, grumbling audibly for
the immediate issue of the remnant of the pemmican and De Long
began to fear open rebellion.
Day broke inauspiciously. Before them, blocking the way, was a
swift side stream, too deep to ford, with ice too thin to walk upon. De
Long, after examining all possibilities of crossing, ordered
Nindemann to build a raft to ferry over on, and Nindemann, tired,
hungry and bitter over the fiasco attending the raft of a few days
before, went grumblingly at it. While he and his shipmates struggled
with the logs and the single line they had for a lashing, De Long
silently ignoring the none too well hidden signs of growing
disaffection went back to the hut. Outside the door, Ambler met him,
pulled him aside,
“Erichsen’s condition is getting desperate, captain. Both feet are
worse; another couple of days and nothing in God’s world can keep
him on them.”
“All right, doctor. We’ll do the best we can,” said De Long
resolutely. “Keep him going to the last minute, then we’ll drag him.
Meanwhile, I’d better keep an eye on the work on that raft.”
By ten a.m. the raft was done, a crazy affair and not very large due
to the lack of sufficient lashings. With Collins, Alexey and Lee as
passengers, and Nindemann and Kaack as ferrymen, it started over,
amid voluble cursing promptly submerging all hands to their knees.
But nevertheless it got successfully over to shoal water on the other
side, where Nindemann started to look for a good landing spot.
“Don’t waste time!” shouted De Long. “Let those men wade ashore
and hurry back with that raft!”
After considerable growling, audible even to De Long on the other
shore, the passengers waded off, and the two ferrymen paddled
back. On his return, Nindemann promptly started grumbling again
about the raft.
“What’s the matter, Nindemann?” asked De Long.
 “The lashings are loose and there ain’t enough logs to float it,” said
Nindemann sullenly.
“Well, you made the raft. Haul the lashing tighter then if it doesn’t
suit you,” suggested the captain.
“But I hauled it already as tight as I could,” protested the irritated
quartermaster.
“That’ll do!” Curtly De Long cut him short. “Get more logs if you
want them; tighten the lashing if you wish, but quit standing there!
I’ve had enough of your grumbling! Shake it up, now! We’ve got to
get on!”
Glowering at the reproof, Nindemann, his nerves finally at the
breaking point, glared a moment at the skipper, then turned and
moved down the bank. A few steps off, facing the next gang of men
waiting to cross on the raft, the stocky quartermaster clenched his
fists, swung them wildly in the captain’s direction and shouted,
“I would sooner be along with the devil than be along with you! I
wish I was in hell, or somewhere else than here, by Jesus Christ!”
Quietly De Long looked from the little knot of men on the raft to
Nindemann’s circling fists, then in an icy voice, he ordered,
“Nindemann! Come back here!”
Slowly the infuriated quartermaster approached his captain, to find
a pair of cold blue eyes drilling into him.
“So you’d sooner be shipmates with the devil than with me, eh?
You’ll find yourself in hell quick enough if you don’t do what I say!
What’s the matter now?”
Nindemann quailed, his mutinous passion suddenly chilling before
that frigid gaze.
“Nothing at all, sir,” he mumbled weakly.
“Another word from you and I’ll have you courtmartialed!” said De
Long coldly. “Now get up into that hut and consider yourself under
arrest until I send for you!”
 “Very well, sir,” answered Nindemann, and meekly he scrambled
up the bluff to the hut, while the captain looked down at the men
milling round on the raft.
“Görtz! Lend Kaack a hand with those paddles! Shove off now!”
“Aye, aye, sir!” Immediately the raft started its second trip.
It was slow work. Not till three in the afternoon was the raft ready
for the last load. Then sending Erichsen down first, De Long peered
into the hut at Nindemann crouching before the fire.
“Pick up your traps, quartermaster, and get to work again!”
“Aye, aye, sir!” said Nindemann obediently, and hastily gathering
up his load, he ran down to the raft where for the last trip he paddled
over and then, dismantling the logs to recover the priceless lashings,
he looked expectantly up to the captain for orders.
“Build a fire,” said the skipper briefly. “We’ll have dinner here and
dry ourselves before moving on.”
They made four miles by dark, camped in the snow, froze as usual
instead of sleeping, ate a skimpy breakfast, and with but a single
meal left, the party was about to break camp, when far away
Nindemann spotted some reindeer approaching the river. Keeping
everybody down, the captain sent Alexey and Nindemann out with
rifles.
Circling three miles to get to leeward of the small herd of reindeer,
the two hunters crawled cautiously along on their stomachs another
quarter mile, pausing, with their very lives depending on their care,
each time a deer looked in their direction, then snaking along again
through the snow. At last, within a hundred yards, they stopped,
picked out the two largest bucks they could see, and at a word from
Alexey, fired simultaneously.
Down went the buck at which Alexey’s Remington was aiming, but
Nindemann’s Winchester misfired and before Alexey could get in
another shot, the startled herd was off. Firing nevertheless, Alexey
swung to the moving targets, but failed to hit again. Leaping up, the
two men ran in to secure their prize and saw joyfully that Alexey had
knocked over a fine buck, as large as both the does which he had
previously shot. It took five men to drag him in to camp, and there, all
thought of movement suspended, the ravenous men turned to on
frying deer meat, gulping down three pounds apiece before the
captain finally called a halt on eating, and ordering his crew to
shoulder the remainder of the buck, provisions for three days more,
they got underway again in the teeth of a driving snow-storm.
By the next afternoon, September 28th, having spent the previous
night again in the snow, De Long came to an empty hut on a
promontory and looking off ahead, found himself trapped! On his
right, running north was the Lena; before him, running east, was
another broad river branching away from it and neither one could he
ford, nor after a diligent search, find any materials about of which to
make a raft. Huddled in the dirty hut, his utterly tired men sprawled
out before the fire, while Alexey scouted the river to the eastward for
a ford, but found none.
For three days, the ill-fated refugees were forced to remain in that
hut, unable to move in any direction except back northward, while a
gale outside brought heavy snow; and bitterly cursing their enforced
inaction while consuming their precious provisions, they waited,
hopeless of movement till in the increasing cold, the river should
freeze hard enough for them to cross. And meanwhile, fearing
Erichsen would get lockjaw if he waited further, Dr. Ambler was
forced to amputate first all his toes and then saw away a good part of
the remainder of the unfortunate Dane’s feet, leaving him with
useless stumps on which it was hopeless to expect, even with
crutches, that Hans Erichsen would ever walk again.
The captain became desperate. He cut the issue of deer meat
down to the limit, sent Alexey out in the blinding snow to hunt in one
direction, Nindemann in another, and Görtz and Kaack with fish lines
to see whether the rivers which were choking off their progress,
might at least yield up a few fish to eke out their provisions. But
except for one gull which Alexey knocked off a pole with a rifle ball,
not a solitary bit of food did anyone get.
 Meanwhile, the problem of how to move Erichsen became acute.
Finding a solitary driftwood plank, six inches thick and about four feet
long, Nindemann was turned to with a hatchet and the doctor’s saw
(which but a few hours before had been used on Erichsen’s feet) to
make a sledge on which to haul him, and by the night of September
30th, it was done.
October 1st came and the Arctic winter descended on them in
earnest. After a bitterly cold night, they issued from the hut to find the
Lena apparently frozen from bank to bank. Cautiously, with the thin
ice cracking ominously beneath them at each step, Alexey and
Nindemann scouted a path across, then one by one, with the men
widely separated, to distribute the weight, the others crawled over,
last of all Erichsen on his sledge drawn by two men some distance
apart hauling on a long line.
With all hands finally on the west bank without mishap, the party
turned south and for three days struggled on through increasingly
bitter cold, never finding any shelter, sometimes traveling on through
the night because that was less of a torture than freezing while
stretched out in the snowdrifts. The delta became a maze of
intersecting streams among which De Long was wholly unable to
locate his position on his useless charts. And a new horror was
added to their others—Erichsen became delirious and each time the
shivering men halted, he raved incessantly in Danish and English,
making sleep impossible even had the frigid nights otherwise
permitted it. And then the food (except for tea) gave out completely,
first the remaining scraps of reindeer going; finally the last hoarded
bits of the pemmican (which for nearly four months they had dragged
with them from the Jeannette) went for dinner on October 3rd.
Without food the party staggered on from their dinner camp, De
Long praying earnestly that some game might by a miracle again
cross their path. But they saw none, and weak with hunger dragged
their ice-clogged feet along, skirting the thin ice on the river edge
where the going was easier than on the mossy snow-covered tundra.
Suddenly De Long broke through and went into the river up to his
shoulders; while he was being hauled out, Görtz plunged through to
his neck and Collins was soused to his waist. A moment after they
had been dragged back to the surface soaked to their skins, each
was a glistening sheet of ice, with no help for it but to keep hobbling
onward till evening, when still in the open, they camped by the river
bank and, in the midst of a whistling gale of wind and snow they
huddled round a driftwood fire where the ice-coated sufferers
endeavored vainly to thaw themselves out.
There was nothing left for food for the wan and hungry crew—
except Snoozer. De Long, hoping to take at least this favorite dog
back home with him, had clung tenaciously to Snoozer through thick
and thin, kept him in the boat when the other dogs ran off at Bennett
Island, saved him when the other seamen would have left him to
starve or drown in the abandoned cutter off the Siberian coast, fed
him from his vanishing store of pemmican when he had little enough
to eat himself. But now with his men starving about him, desperately
needing food if they were to hold a little life in their chilling bodies,
sentiment and affection had to give way. Sadly he called over Boyd
and Iversen, told them to take Snoozer where no one could see
them, kill him, and dress the carcass.
So for supper each had a little dog meat, eaten with revulsion by
everyone, but eaten. And then followed a night horrible beyond
description. Erichsen’s ravings mingled with the whistling of the wind;
in the sub-zero blackness, the stupefied men, unsheltered from the
driving snow, crouched about a fire from which they could get no
warmth; in his wet and freezing garments, De Long huddled
alongside Alexey to keep from freezing to death; while all about,
shivering limbs and chattering teeth beat a gruesome
accompaniment to Erichsen’s groans as lashed to his sledge, as
close to the fire as they dared put him, he alternately shrieked and
moaned in delirium till finally he lapsed into a coma.
Morning came at last, to bring the unpleasant discovery that
Erichsen had somehow worked off his mittens during the night and
both his hands were completely frozen, through and through. The
doctor set Boyd and Iversen to work chafing his fingers and palms,
endeavoring to restore the circulation, but it proved hopeless.
Erichsen was now totally unconscious.
 Meanwhile Alexey had spied a hut a few miles off, and after a
hastily swallowed cup of tea which constituted breakfast, the men
hurriedly shouldered their burdens and dragging their unfortunate
shipmate, moved off toward it, fumbling along through the driving
snow and the intense cold for two hours, when, fervently thanking
God for the shelter, they reached the hut and building a fire inside,
proceeded to get warm for the first time in four days.
Here after a brief prayer for the unconscious Dane, read in a
broken voice by the captain, the entire party (except Alexey) sank to
the floor to rest at last. Alexey refused to rest. He had shipped for the
cruise, not as a seaman but as a hunter, and now with his captain
and his mates urgently needing food, regardless of himself, he went
out to seek it. But there was not the slightest sign of game about,
and frozen worse than ever from having broken through the river ice
on his hunt, the faithful Indian was at last compelled to return empty-
handed.
Supper, half a pound of dog meat apiece, and the last of the tea,
was the only meal for the day, but grateful to be out of the blizzard
raging roundabout, no one complained.
October 5th came and went, commencing in a breakfast consisting
only of hot water colored by re-used tea leaves and ending with a
supper composed of the last of the dog meat and more hot water
barely tinted with third-time used tea leaves. Hour by hour the men
sat, crowded in the little hut gazing at Erichsen, occasionally
conscious now, while his strength slowly ebbed away and his tongue
babbled feebly about his far-off Denmark. Night fell, the storm
howled on, the dying seaman relapsed again into a coma, and his
overwrought shipmates sagged down on the dirt floor to rest.
October 6th came and in the early morning light, Erichsen died.
Sadly in the driving snow, the grief-stricken sailors gathered round a
hole cut through the river ice while broken-hearted, De Long sobbed
out the funeral service over the body of as brave and staunch a
seaman as ever sacrificed his life to save his shipmates. And there
in the Arctic wastes, where he so long had suffered, with three
volleys from all the rifles in the party ringing out over the ice as a
final salute, mournfully his gaunt and frozen comrades consigned
Hans Erichsen, their strongest and their best man, to the Lena’s
waters.
 CHAPTER XXXVI

With some old tea leaves and two quarts of grain alcohol as their
entire food supply, the thirteen survivors gloomily resumed their
southward trek on October 7th. The snow was deep and still falling;
the weakened men ploughed through it to their waists. A little alcohol
mixed in water constituted dinner; a little more of the same was
served out for supper and night found them camping in the snow.
October 8th, underway again over thin ice, De Long sought a trail
over the wandering streams and through the multitude of islands
where the spreading Lena flattened out over the low delta lands and
its surface waters, churning in swirling eddies, were not yet
completely frozen over. More and more frequently the faltering men
paused to rest; De Long particularly, whose freezing immersion of a
few days before had sadly damaged his feet, was in worse condition
than anyone save Lee, whose weakening hips continually gave way,
plunging him drunkenly into the drifts every other step. Badly strung
out, the line of starving seamen staggered along with their captain in
the rear, constantly refusing the offers of his men to relieve him of
the load he carried and thus ease the way for him. When finally they
halted for the night, shelterless on the bleak and open tundra, his
hungry men had once again to be content with nothing more
substantial to fill the aching voids in their stomachs than hot water
and half an ounce of alcohol. De Long, watching them drop feebly in
their tracks in the snow with Ku Mark Surk still (as he thought) over
twelve miles away, concluded sadly that they could never all cover
that last stretch alive. Without the slightest chance now of getting
food in the deserted delta, they would soon in their weakened
condition use up the last dregs of their fading vitality and quickly
freeze to death in their tracks. His only hope lay in sending a few
stronger men ahead for help, while in some shelter, if they could find
it now, the rest of them, fighting off starvation, conserved their little
remaining strength and awaited rescue. With that resolve, he
beckoned Nindemann to his side in the snow.