[innomatics]

The biggest difference between sales and engineering is the concept of closing.

Engineering or research work is never completed. We are always improving and perfecting the machine.

Closing needs to be thought of binary. This doesn't necessarily mean via contract. Good sales people will close the sale well before anything need to be signed. An expert sales person understands the customer's psychology and leaves them thinking of no other option than to purchase from you.

In technical sales it pays to be knowledgeable and understand the customer's objectives. But even smart buyers and not immune to subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, closing techniques. If you don't employ aggressive closing strategies at the right opportunities, your competition will beat you to it.

I worked in tech sales for couple of years and did just OK. My style was a little too far on the consultative side and I realised I lacked the killer instinct to close hard often enough. Possibly not all industries are as competitive as the one I was in (PCR equipment/reagents). But I decided my personality was just better suited to tinkering so I became a coder instead.

[vladmk]

I don’t understand what you mean by “good sales people will close before anything is signed” any good sales person will tell you that before you have money in the bank the client can still not pay they can even sign something and back out.

[innomatics]

Obviously the difference is between 'customer has placed order' and 'customer will buy'. Great salespeople will use their energy and skill to achieve the latter with high probability of conversion. They do not need to hound the customer about signing/paying. They have closed and move to the next.

[vladmk]

I'd advise you to get back into sales and learn it fully before giving advice here because if someone says they'll buy, you can't take it to the bank and cash it therefore you haven't made a sale. You need to make money and close, maybe that's the "killer instinct" you were talking about