Subscriber Discussion

Snap Seeking Field Sales Engineer - North America

SL
Simon Langsford
Mar 16, 2017

Snap Surveillance is a small security technology company based out of Australia, providing a unique video surveillance software product for large control rooms and monitoring centers.  

I am reaching out to seek recommendations from the community for (or applications from) a good Field Sales Engineer (US based) who might be interested in helping us to better build, nurture, win and deliver opportunities within North America.

We're after the usual sort of skills mix - someone with good "hands on" technical aptitude, experience and understanding of IP based video surveillance systems, combined with the ability to engage and communicate effectively and positively with customers and resellers in developing and capturing sales. The role will require a reasonable amount of time at customer sites - running demos, installing trial / pilot systems, and working with / training up resellers on installing and supporting the Snap software. As the software install has strong ties to the resident VMS platform, a high level of familiarity with one or more of the "tier 1" VMS products (in particular Milestone) would be an advantage.

Worth flagging that this role won't appeal to everyone. We won't have (for now) a US office or local team in support, this will require an independent sort who is self motivated, enthusiastic and able to operate effectively without close support or supervision. May best suit an independent contractor. The role will need someone who can travel within North America, so ideally home location will be fairly near a travel hub (or within a strong regional security market).

For further information or to discuss,  please email us at  jobs (at) snapsurveillance.com

JH
John Honovich
Mar 17, 2017
IPVM

Simon, I added a link to your site and embedded one of your demo videos so people can see.

A few questions:

  • Will there be a North American sales person? Related, how much does the sales engineer need to 'sell' vs just do pre-sales technical help / demos, etc.?
  • "May best suit an independent contractor." Can you expand on that? I think most good candidates will want to be full time employees.
SL
Simon Langsford
Mar 17, 2017

Thanks John, appreciate the link and improvements to my post - and also good questions.

Right now, there won't be a North American sales manager / exec sitting over this role - for the time being I'm leading those activities and engaging with reseller sales teams and running our US marketing events directly.  We have previously had a false start with a Snap US sales exec, and since identified that the more compelling need we have with "boots on the ground" in the US is not so much for finding the opportunities - we have a good number of these - as it is to engage with the customers in trials, pilots, and installations at a more technical level, and to be able to actively support resellers in quick time with demos, training and the like.

My comment about contracting was really about how the individual is used to operating - with a degree of independence and responsibility for doing tasks like managing travel, handling their own expenses and other administrative tasks, working from a home office, managing their own IT devices (to a point) and the like without having the company doing this for them or telling them how to do it. I realize that these days this is more commonplace but still quite foreign to many in big companies at least, whereas contractors are usually already set up for this. (There's also a side benefit for us in the contracting piece, as setting up to have a US employee presents a range of corporate logistics issues to deal with). Hope that makes sense? We do want a committed person regardless.

JH
John Honovich
Mar 17, 2017
IPVM

Simon, ok, sounds.

General thoughts:

Positives: it's a different technology so it will be more interesting than selling just another VMS or camera, etc., plus smaller companies can let people learn more, do more things than larger ones.

Negatives: it's a smaller company without a sizable local customer base so there is some risk in adoption / growth and without a local sales rep, will likely require someone with more people skills.

Overall, I think it's an opportunity for someone to take. Maybe an integrator tech who wants to move up or a VMS SE who wants more freedom.

Simon, one other thing - have you considered hiring any rep firms? Combining a local SE with a few rep firms could work. Since your product compliments VMSes, it might fit well.

Finally, to other manufacturers or companies who want to post jobs here - feel free. No objections, just be prepared to answer questions. We'll eventually have a dedicated job board for now it will just be part of discussions.

SL
Simon Langsford
Mar 17, 2017

I've spoken with a few rep firms, and agree that's a potential way forward for us - at least in 1 or 2 regions. As you note, the alignment with VMS is key and also shapes our channel strategy including reps. Filling this role would help in these discussions, as the good reps want to understand how we can actively support them on the ground - this is part of that answer. (We are still a bit niche for some though - not enough scale to get them excited, even if we have the advantage of being unique / differentiated). 

(1)
SL
Simon Langsford
Mar 31, 2017

Slight addition to previous - anyone interested to discuss this position who's at ISC West next week, please feel free to drop by our Snap pod (on booth 18053) and have a chat with me about it.

JH
John Honovich
Mar 31, 2017
IPVM

booth 18053

That's the Milestone booth which you would have made it easier for yourself and others by just saying! Most people look for booths by name / sight rather than number.

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