Coaching for Sales Engineers and sales leaders
You have the skill, the experience and the track record. Coaching works on the part that decides the rest: how you show up when it counts.
Free · 30 minutes · online · no pitch
There's a problem you haven't considered. The strength that made you great? It got you here. Now it's holding you back.
The last 1%
“Just show me the demo.”The CFO leans back, and everything you prepared is gone.
You have done the work: the trainings, the books, the frameworks. On paper, nothing is missing. Then your team stalls on a big deal, and you step in and close it yourself, again.
If training were the issue, the training would have fixed it. The last 1% is how you show up in those moments: present and calm, choosing what to do instead of falling back on what you have always done.
That is what coaching works on. Not one more framework, but space to change how you show up.
Before he became a coach, Björn spent 25 years in Sales Engineering, IT architecture and technical and sales enablement, among other roles as an IBM-accredited IT Solution Architect and Technical Product Advocate.
So he knows where training ends and coaching begins. And he knows the pressure of a live demo from the inside, not from a textbook.
Why I do this
I remember standing at a whiteboard, sketching an architecture I had built a dozen times before. Every requirement was checked. On paper I was at 100% efficiency. Inside, I wasn't there at all.
I work with Sales Engineers and sales leaders who are very good at their job and sense that being good is no longer enough. I know that place. I stood there too.
Every personality assessment I ever took said the same thing. DISC, Myers-Briggs, CliftonStrengths: work independently, analyse, structure, solve problems. An introverted, rational perfectionist. The message was clear: you do your best work on your own.
It was accurate. I still liked working in teams. The tricky parts I mostly solved alone.
The change came when I started looking past the technology at the person in front of it. For years I trained IT professionals and salespeople. The sessions that stayed with anyone were never the ones where I explained something well. What had shifted in them was mental, a change of perspective, and I wanted to know what caused it.
Then I sat down for my first day of coach training, and none of what I knew helped. Familiar concepts didn't apply. The exercises asked for a skill set I had underused for years. I was lost and couldn't hide it.
That day is why I didn't stop at a certificate of attendance. Afterwards I spent six months comparing programmes before I chose one, then two years of intensive training and more than 250 hours of practice before I certified. I didn't want to be a coach who had read a couple of books.
Today I am a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach. Those two years didn't give me another framework. They gave me the attention to notice what is happening in a conversation while it is still happening.
How it works
30 minutes, free. Bring one situation you haven't solved yet. You get a clearer view of it and an honest answer on whether coaching fits.
The first session: your values, what drives you, and the goals for our work together.
Every session moves you to action and deepens what you learn from it. Small structures keep both going in between.
The last session: you bring together what you have learned, measured against your original goals.
Forward and Deepen is what coaching is for: change, which requires both learning and action, at the same time, in every session.
You hire a coach because you want something to be different. Change happens in two ways that never come apart. You learn more about yourself: what you want, who you are becoming, what makes you tick. And you take action that redefines what is possible for you and creates your next place to learn and grow. The two move together, and my job is to make sure both are happening for you at once. That is what makes coaching coaching, rather than therapy, consulting or a good conversation with a friend.
Between sessions, structures keep the learning and the action going where it is hardest to stay on track. We play with them until we find what works for you.
How I coach
Co-Active (opens in a new tab) is a relational model for coaching, leadership and life that integrates who you are with what you do. I trained and certified in it at the Co-Active Training Institute. We work as equal partners: you bring the topic and the expertise on your life, I bring the process and my full attention.
Works on the problem in front of you. You often get advice or a tool and leave with a plan for this one situation. When the next similar situation comes, you need help again.
Works on the person who has the problem: how you think, what you believe about yourself and how you show up under pressure. You find your own answers, and the change carries into situations we never talked about.
Transformative coaching asks more of the coach. Holding that space and depth safely takes the full set of coaching competencies defined by the International Coaching Federation (ICF). That is the difference between an average coach and a professional one, and it is the coaching I offer.
| Training | Consulting | Mentoring | Supervision | Therapy | Coaching | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Builds | Knowledge and skills | A solution to a problem | Guidance from someone who has walked the path | Reflection on your professional practice | Healing and stability | A change in how you think and act |
| The answers come from | The trainer | The consultant | The mentor's experience | You and the supervisor, looking at your cases | You, with the therapist's clinical expertise | You |
| Format | The same content for a group | Analysis and a recommendation | Advice and shared experience | Case reviews, often in a group | Treatment, often looking at the past | 1:1 conversations about where you want to go |
| Works best when | You are missing know-how | You need expertise you don't have | You want to learn from someone a step ahead | You work with people and want to reflect on your cases | Something weighs on you that needs treatment | You know what to do and still don't do it when it counts |
If something comes up in coaching that belongs with a therapist, I'll tell you.
The coaching model I trained and certified in (CPCC) at the Co-Active Training Institute. We work as equal partners: you bring the topic and the expertise on your life, I bring the process. Every session moves you to action and deepens what you learn from it. That is where Forward and Deepen comes from. More on Co-Active from CTI (opens in a new tab)
Transactional coaching works on the problem in front of you. You often get advice or a tool and leave with a plan for this one situation.
Transformative coaching works on the person who has the problem: how you think, what you believe about yourself and how you show up under pressure. You find your own answers, and the change carries into situations we never talked about. This depth is what CPCC training prepares a coach for, and it is the difference between an average coach and a professional one.
“Coach” is not a protected title in Germany. Anyone can call themselves one. A certification from a programme accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) tells you the coach was trained to a published standard, their coaching was observed and assessed, and they work under a code of ethics that protects you. My practice adheres to the ICF Code of Ethics (opens in a new tab).
Not the part that makes coaching work. AI can offer something like transactional coaching: it helps you get organized, prepare, spot patterns and keep the action going between sessions. Transformative coaching needs the human side. AI cannot be fully present with you, notice what you leave unsaid, challenge you because your agenda matters to it, or hold a confidential space built on trust. Change happens in that relationship.
More in my article: AI in Performance Coaching, a toolkit, not a replacement
For Sales Engineers
Everyone debates where the Forward Deployed Engineer belongs. This is about what the role asks of the person who chooses it.
Read the article: Responsible for Everything, in Charge of Nothing →For Sales Engineers
Why “Any questions?” at the end of a demo often hides the moment the customer checked out.
Read the article: When Silence Speaks First →For sales leaders
Your people are working hard enough. The bottleneck is thinking that has gone on autopilot.
Read the article: Move Beyond Dashboards, Start Developing Thinkers →I provide the space for change when rational perfectionism isn't enough anymore.
Not sure which fits? Book a Chemistry Call
