Leggo your ego

As engineers, we sometimes have a “smarter than thou” attitude. We use big impressive words and revel in praise thrown our way. The problem is that when you try to prop yourself up to look smart, you often make others feel not-so-smart and that is a huge purchasing turnoff.

We often think that no one in the room knows more than us about our product - heck we might have helped design the product ourselves. In reality - everyone in the room knows more than you.

You’re there to learn about your customer’s issues and needs and they know that way more than you do. So keep your trap shut and learn as much as you can before you talk about your product. And when you do start discussing it, be humble and let them know that you’re not sure it’s the best solution for them yet - you need to learn more.

And that’s hard to do if your engineering ego won’t fit through the door!