WHAT DOES AN INSIDE SALES ENGINEER DO?

Published: Sep 11, 2025 - The Inside Sales Engineer develops and maintains strong customer and OEM relationships by addressing technical and commercial requirements while supporting product launches and customer events. This role evaluates customer maintenance strategies, identifies improvement opportunities, and ensures alignment with pricing, sales objectives, and continuous improvement initiatives. The engineer also manages CRM systems to drive business growth and ensures effective communication of company strategies and policies.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Inside Sales Engineer

1. Inside Sales Engineer Duties

  • Sales Opportunities: Seek and identify new sales opportunities for incoming high-value deals
  • Customer Relations: Follow up with existing and potential customers to build relationships to drive conversion
  • Team Collaboration: Collaborate with salespeople across the business, working closely with Account Managers on high-value deals in the French region
  • Customer Research: Researching customers and becoming a subject matter expert in the manufacturing and additive manufacturing field (CNC, 3DP, Sheet Metal Fabrication and Injection Molding)
  • Order Processing: Process and expedite customer (utilities, industries, EPCs) transactions including quotes and orders, using a computerized order processing system
  • Problem Resolution: Investigate and resolve problems or assist in their resolution, and implement measures to ensure customer satisfaction
  • Price Development: Follow general instructions to develop competitive selling prices, utilizing cost and historical data to respond to customer requirements
  • Information Clarification: Interact with relevant parties on such issues as clarifying information and resolving problems
  • Procurement Support: Initiate procurement of selected materials and services necessary to complete transactions in accordance with sound purchasing practices and corporate procurement principles
  • Objective Support: Support the sales and financial objectives of other departments within the organization
  • Business Planning: Participate in developing client-specific business plans and strategies in conjunction with other groups
  • Process Improvement: Make recommendations regarding such matters as opportunities for new business, improved processing techniques, operating efficiencies, and measures to increase customer satisfaction

2. Inside Sales Engineer Details

  • Customer Interaction: Extensive interaction with prospective customers, partners, and team via phone and email
  • Product Knowledge: Maintain an expert level of product knowledge and application
  • Sales Achievement: Attain targeted sales acquisition goals and performance as per the KRAs
  • Needs Assessment: Proactively assess, clarify, and validate customer needs on an ongoing basis
  • Customer Experience: Focuses on delivering a positive customer experience according to E2E standards
  • Customer Retention: Establish and maintain contact with existing customers
  • Aftermarket Promotion: Generate aftermarket leads and promote the sales of aftermarket products and services
  • Proposal Development: Research and develop LCM proposals with support and assistance from Applications Engineers, concerning the following scope of supply: HMI upgrades, aftermarket modifications, engineering services, service contracts, training (all forms) and spare parts
  • CRM Management: Update and maintain the CRM system and customer information
  • Customer Understanding: Obtain a full view of customers, understand their needs and quickly respond to these needs to create a unique customer experience
  • Program Notification: Notifies customers of any applicable LCM program, offering and product notifications
  • Opportunity Creation: Create leads and identify threats within the installed for Brownfield AM by opening opportunities in the CRM

3. Inside Sales Engineer Responsibilities

  • Client Service: Obtain detailed client assignment information and utilize it to provide effective customer service by sourcing and qualifying candidates
  • Applicant Evaluation: Interview and test applicants using the determined methods to evaluate their qualifications for assignments
  • Talent Development: Identify and provide training to associates and candidates to continuously upgrade talent and skill set by utilizing TDC
  • Request Fulfillment: Timely fulfillment of client requests with qualified associates
  • Performance Coaching: Monitor, coach, and counsel associates' attendance and performance and provide feedback
  • Issue Resolution: Troubleshoot to resolve the problems or complaints of clients and associates
  • Business Development: Make key skill phone calls to new and existing clients to increase business
  • Candidate Recruitment: Recruit candidates to pipeline a pool of applicants for high-demand skill areas
  • Job Analysis: Acquire a thorough understanding of job requisitions/descriptions for competencies, skills, and knowledge of successful applicants
  • Customer Service: Answer the telephone and greet visitors to provide high levels of customer service to clients and associates
  • Applicant Screening: Work with the recruiting team to screen, test, and qualify applicants through the use of qualifying interviewing techniques and skill assessment testing
  • Behavioral Interviewing: Use of Behavior-Based Interview techniques in screening and qualifying applicants
  • Question Creation: Create Behavior-Based Interviewing and Prescreening questions

4. Inside Sales Engineer Job Summary

  • Assessment Administration: Complete skill and/or personality assessment
  • Application Processing: Complete employment applications and analyze the information provided on the application form
  • Record Management: Partner with Recruiting Assistant and other Metro team members to ensure completeness and accuracy of records in Direct Office, Red Carpet and other Manpower systems
  • Recruitment Planning: Develop a skill-set based recruitment plan using social media, job boards and community relationships
  • Pipeline Development: Develop an ongoing and diverse pipeline using research, networking, database mining, etc., for prospective applicants
  • Candidate Qualification: Identifies placeable candidates through qualifying techniques and skill assessment testing
  • Offer Negotiation: Manages the candidate offer negotiation process
  • Order Prioritization: Prioritize job orders effectively to meet revenue targets
  • Attraction Campaigns: Creates and implements attraction campaigns/plans aligned with the retail business direction of the branch to ensure a consistent and plentiful database of qualified candidates
  • Passive Recruiting: Proactively recruits passive candidates through networks, associations, social media, and other viable sources
  • Candidate Interviewing: Interview candidates to establish strengths, skills, experience and requirements
  • Behavioral Screening: Creates and uses behavioral interviewing techniques in screening and qualifying candidates

5. Inside Sales Engineer Accountabilities

  • Quotation Support: Assist the field sales team with quotations for customers
  • Certification Support: Provide support to the field sales team with the supply of necessary certifications as requested by the customer
  • Lead Management: Manage all incoming leads by qualifying them with a phone call or email before passing them on to the relevant field sales rep
  • 3D Modeling: Provide 3D images to the sales team for specific equipment set-ups using the Revit program
  • Tender Preparation: Assist the field sales team with preparing tender bids
  • Account Setup: Assist the field sales team by liaising with new customers to complete any new account/supplier information
  • Customer Prospecting: Prospecting new customers to gather new contacts for the sales team to target
  • Social Promotion: Actively promote Atlas Copco Rental through the use of social media, specifically LinkedIn
  • Knowledge Development: Maintain professional and technical knowledge by attending educational workshops
  • Process Improvement: Work toward improving processes relating to customer requirements
  • Team Contribution: Contribute to the team effort by accomplishing related results

6. Inside Sales Engineer Functions

  • Inquiry Management: Managing and pre-qualifying incoming customer enquiries, technically, commercially and negotiating terms
  • Proposal Preparation: Producing clear and accurate proposals
  • System Utilization: Actively participating in the utilisation of Salesforce.com and SAP for the cooperation and collaboration of business opportunities
  • Pipeline Management: Maintaining the sales pipeline with forecast date and probability and managing the pipeline from open opportunities to closing the sale
  • Team Collaboration: Working closely with all teams to develop and improve customer performance
  • Account Management: Owning and managing customer accounts, including database maintenance
  • Product Knowledge: Enhancing product knowledge with in-house training
  • Digital Promotion: Promoting a digital sales platform
  • Workload Prioritization: Prioritising workload and self-managed activities
  • Application Liaison: Liaising with Application Consultants and Industry Managers for complex applications
  • Cross Selling: Identifying cross-selling opportunities
  • Issue Resolution: Taking ownership of complaints, returns and other issues affecting customer satisfaction

7. Inside Sales Engineer Job Description

  • Customer Needs: Identify customers’ needs, and share value propositions leading to new sales opportunities
  • Lead Qualification: Provide excellent sales and technical support to screen and qualify all inbound leads, converting those with potential into sales opportunities
  • Technical Troubleshooting: Troubleshooting technical problems and replicating customer issues with similar hardware
  • Documentation Management: Commitment to documenting the details of your interactions in Salesforce and other applications to ensure all stakeholders are informed and up to date
  • Opportunity Identification: Work with the team to identify and qualify business opportunities
  • Objection Handling: Identify key customer technical objections
  • Blocker Resolution: Develop strategies to resolve technical blockers
  • Demo Delivery: Deliver demos to customers and work hands-on with customers to demonstrate Lacework’s value in customer/partner environments
  • Security Recommendation: Recommend security best practices, cloud architecture, platforms and application infrastructure to successfully implement a complete cloud security solution based on Lacework
  • Feedback Sharing: Bring constructive feedback from customers to product management to improve the Lacework solution
  • Sales Coordination: Responsible for coordinating the internal sales activity for a top-ranked category of technical products
  • Offer Preparation: Actively monitor the requests from Clients and promptly respond by issuing appropriate technical and commercial offers
  • Client Liaison: Liaise with existing Clients and prospects, support contract negotiations and follow up contracts and professionally liaise with business partners to ensure long-term beneficial collaborations
  • Field Support: Effectively provide support to the field sales team and punctually cover requests and business needs

8. Inside Sales Engineer Overview

  • Sales Support: Provides inside sales support to the Regional Sales Team
  • Proposal Generation: Generate technical sales proposals or quotations to meet customer expectations promptly
  • Lead Vetting: Direct customer contact for vetting leads
  • Service Support: Supports the Service Manager on Installation/Commissioning and Warranty Issues
  • Order Management: Maintain organized order intake and sales records and reporting capabilities for the same
  • Order Monitoring: Monitors status, invoicing, and payment on machine orders
  • Logistics Coordination: Coordinates with Logistics to track equipment and FTU shipments
  • Order Execution: Liaise between Sales, Engineering and Manufacturing during order execution
  • Account Setup: Coordinates with Accounting for new account/customer set-up
  • Order Auditing: Audits new equipment orders for technical accuracy
  • ERP Entry: Enters equipment orders into the factory in SAP ERP
  • Order Tracking: Track equipment order progress
  • FTU Tracking: Tracks FTUs' availability, billing, and payment
  • Report Preparation: Regularly prepares OI/Sales reports for management
  • CRM Logging: Quotation logging in CRM
  • Inventory Maintenance: Maintain equipment inventory lists

9. Inside Sales Engineer Details and Accountabilities

  • Presentation Delivery: Create and deliver persuasive presentations to prospective clients
  • Feature Connection: Connect product technical features to business drivers and pain points
  • Evaluation Monitoring: Monitor evaluation activity, working closely with the client to ensure business requirements are well defined, the system is configured appropriately and key objectives are well defined
  • Business Understanding: Fully understand the client’s business model and organizational structure
  • Client Partnership: Partner with clients over the course of the evaluation to ensure strong adoption of system usage is in place and the necessary metrics for the evaluation are collected
  • Value Proposition: Prove the product value proposition at the conclusion of the evaluation period
  • Demo Execution: Act as the technical point of contact during the sales cycle, running product demonstrations
  • Technical Expertise: Serve as the technical expert and trusted resource
  • Online Engagement: Effectively lead online presentations and comfortably engage the client’s technology team, discussing product requirements and positioning
  • Competitor Awareness: Keep up to date on competitors’ products in the market and provide feedback and input to product marketing on roadmap requirements and product direction
  • Issue Troubleshooting: Work closely with the engineering/development team on troubleshooting any issues, providing detailed input to diagnose and resolve client issues
  • Relationship Building: Build relationships with multiple functions, including managerial and executive levels
  • Call Planning: Assist in planning and execution of joint calls with Account Managers and other team members (i.e., product management, engineering, support)
  • Sales Training: Assist with training and onboarding new Sales Engineers

10. Inside Sales Engineer Tasks

  • Customer Relations: Develop relationships with potential and maintain good relationships with existing customers and OEMs
  • Client Follow Up: Making calls and following up with clients to understand the individual and unique needs of each customer
  • Strategy Evaluation: Define and evaluate a customer’s maintenance strategy/processes and identify improvement opportunities through collaboration with Flowserve
  • Marketing Activities: Setting up specific marketing activities to launch our products in specific markets
  • Event Support: Support/Organize customer events (demonstrations for products and services, Tech-Forums, exhibitions)
  • Inquiry Review: Review all customer inquiry-related documents while addressing all relevant technical and commercial requirements
  • Product Offering: Offer products at established prices and discounts and in line with Flowserve's total sales and product mix objectives
  • Factory Liaison: Develop and maintain good contacts with the Flowserve factories, aftermarket organization and Commercial Operations so customer needs are addressed swiftly
  • Process Support: Provide active support to Continuous Improvement Process (CIP) initiatives
  • CRM Management: Support and fully own the FlowForce CRM program for assigned customers and use the program as the primary Sales tool which drives future business growth
  • Professional Communication: Provide professional communication and implementation of the company’s strategies and policies
Relevant Information
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