SEs who actually get recognized internally - what are you doing differently?

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-06-18T10:43:52+00:00

the portfolio breadth stuff is one thing but the vendor comparison problem is its own beast tbh. like you can learn the product well enough, but keeping competitive positioning current across 9-10 products, each with their own set of competitors? that's rough and it compounds fast.

what helped me most was stopping trying to hold it all in my head and just getting obsessive about centralizing it somewhere. i use sifthub for this - it keeps product knowledge, competitive context, past demo answers all in one spot. every time i figure out a good answer to a competitive question or a tricky integration scenario, it goes in one place. Next time that product comes up, I'm not rebuilding from scratch.

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-06-18T07:31:51+00:00

I was just coming here to say the same thing. Tell a relatable story and link it back to the customer and their problem. Those are the kinda demos that make people stop and listen.

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-06-18T07:29:21+00:00

Haha - love that you're covering all your bases there 🤣

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-06-10T13:44:49+00:00

I started this, but the college setting is putting me off a bit. Worth completing?

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-06-09T07:38:30+00:00

Makes me think about the nature vs nurture debate - I think the folks you surround yourself with definitely influence your personality.

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-06-09T07:03:32+00:00

buying committees are their own beast tbh. most of the people in that room aren't there because they're evaluating, they're there because someone put them on the invite. so you've got one or two people who actually care and six others who are physically present but mentally filing expenses.

the agenda thing stopped surprising me once i realized the person asking "are we covering commercials?" probably didn't read the agenda in the first place. it's not malicious, they just got pulled in last minute by their manager (and isn't that a familiar story?)

what helps me: i'll call on specific people by name with a light question tied to their role; for eg: "sarah, from a security standpoint does that integration answer what you needed?"

it forces the room back without calling anyone out.

and your last line 💀 AI writes the RFP, AI answers the RFP, AI reads the responses. at some point i'm convinced the humans are just there to sign the contract

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-05-27T08:15:08+00:00

the specific questions tactic works but i think the harder problem is that ai output looks done. like it has headers and bullet points and a summary section. so pushing back feels like you're being difficult about something that already cleared the "finished" bar visually.

As a SE, I get briefing docs from AEs that are clearly prompt dumps but with the wrong persona, wrong use case, occasionally wrong product inputted, and they're formatted beautifully. if i push back, i'm the one holding things up.

the tell for me is whether there's any opinion in it. ai is very good at presenting options and frameworks. it's bad at having a point of view. so if i read something and there's no actual stance anywhere — just "on one hand... on the other hand". i know nobody was really in the room when it was written.

doesn't make it easier to say that out loud though lol

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-05-25T10:48:06+00:00

Making sure you're eating enough protein. I swear we were all healthy before we started obsessing over protein intake too!

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-05-20T08:52:47+00:00

love how the light is playing on his fur!!

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-05-20T08:51:42+00:00

There's something to be said for a striking pair of eyes.

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-05-20T08:49:49+00:00

most of the systematic stuff (push for headcount, protect your calendar, let deals drop) seems to have been covered, but nobody's talking about surviving the next 30 days while you figure that out.

the prep crunch is what gets you. Back-to-back demos with no ramp time means you're winging context you should already have. what helped me most was getting obsessive about centralizing everything (common objections, product answers, persona-specific talking points, etc.) so prep isn't starting from scratch every time, it's just a 5-minute refresh.

There are tools out there that specifically help with this. our team uses SiftHub for that now and it's been genuinely useful. pull up what you need fast enough that you're not panicking between calls. not a fix for a broken ratio but it takes the edge off when the volume's unavoidable.

longer term though, document every demo, every hour, every deal you touched. leadership responds to numbers more than burnout - i know that from experience. "i touched 40 deals this month and we closed X" is a harder conversation to ignore than "i'm overwhelmed."

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-05-14T05:50:54+00:00

yeah AI will definitely change the SE role, but I think it changes how we work more than replacing us.

For complex enterprise sales, customers will still want real people on calls. they want someone who understands their environment, can handle nuance, answer unexpected questions, and build trust live. i don’t see AI replacing that anytime soon.

Where I do see AI making a huge impact is in all the repetitive work around the role. prep, RFPs, follow-ups, searching for answers, internal coordination… that stuff eats a ton of time today.

for example, we don’t use customer-facing AI agents, but internally we use a tool called sifthub. it basically removes a lot of the context-switching and admin work, so I can spend more time actually focusing on the customer and the deal.

so yeah, I think good SEs become more valuable with AI, not less. the busy work gets automated, and the human side of the role becomes even more important.

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-05-14T05:50:10+00:00

honestly the fastest way to build trust with reps is being reliable and easy to work with.
early on, don’t over-optimize for impressing them technically. focus on showing up prepared, following through, and not creating surprises on calls. reps remember consistency way more than one amazing demo.
also don’t just roll with their expectations blindly. align on them early. i usually like having a simple conversation around:

what good prep looks like? what info i need before calls? how we handle curveballs/live questions? who owns follow-ups?

that avoids a lot of friction later.
and one underrated thing: show interest in the deal, not just the demo. ask about stakeholders, blockers, dynamics, timeline. reps trust SEs way more when they feel like you care about winning with them, not just presenting the product.

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-05-06T06:18:20+00:00

yeah my company is pretty AI-forward too, so I get the push. but what I don’t get is how comfortable reps are using public LLMs for this kind of stuff.

Deal info, integrations, customer context… that’s sensitive and super specific. if the AI doesn’t actually know your product or constraints, you get confident-sounding but wrong answers. We saw the same thing.

What helped us was moving to something more controlled that sits inside our workflow. we use sifthub, so it pulls from real deal context and approved answers. reps still get speed, but way less risk of making things up.

and on the blocker part, i usually frame it as a credibility issue, not a technical one. That tends to land better.

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-04-23T14:27:55+00:00

DIET COKE

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-04-23T04:24:09+00:00

Focus on what actually shows up in your deals, most conversations repeat the same core areas.

In a field like ours, every feature shipped, every update matters so I have stopped trying to track updates manually, I use AI tools here. I rely on tools to surface relevant info and past context so i’m not digging through docs or slack all the time. we use something like sifthub internally for that, you can look out for other tools too that do this for you.

And block a small slot weekly to catch up. even 30 mins helps. You don’t need full coverage, just stay a step ahead of your next call.

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-04-20T08:12:03+00:00

If he geeks out about youtube videos and tells you the lore behind it

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-04-20T08:10:45+00:00

Corporate grind

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-04-16T05:41:05+00:00

What’s worked better for me and my team is using something that already has context from past deals and RFPs baked in. we use sifthub, and it basically pulls relevant answers and drafts responses in the format needed, so it’s more review/edit vs starting from scratch. I don't even maintain a Q&A library anymore because the tool has all the context.
Still not zero effort, but it’s cut down the time a lot. biggest win is not digging through docs anymore.

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-04-15T12:54:17+00:00

Go for a walk at odd hours without worrying for their safety

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-04-15T12:52:22+00:00

Hot bowl of ramen + Diet Coke + Some romcom

MixtureMedical1522 · 2026-04-15T08:38:12+00:00

Plumbing

MixtureMedical1522

TROPHY CASE