Sales Engineer
GACC Pittsburgh Chapter Apprenticeship - Sales Engineering

Sales Engineer

The Sales Engineer has fundamental skills in manufacturing processes and production management to give them the technical background they need to pitch a sale or convince buyers with their problem-solving strategy with technical issues. The sales engineer forms a bridge between the customer and the engineering or R&D department of a company as he or she becomes an expert about customer needs and preferences and can determine how products and services could be modified to suit those needs.

up to ~5,000 hours of On-the-Job Training

465 Hours of related Technical Instruction in: Technical Sales, Business Processes, Agile Methodologies, Intro Programming (Python), Intro Web Development

Credentials Earned:

  • Associates Degree in Business with Certification in Sales Engineering
  • Journeyman certification issued by the Department of Labor
  • Globally-Recognized German DiHK Certification

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last updated Oct 16, 2023

Overview

The Sales Engineer Program is one of the four modules of our registered Dual Apprenticeship program. It is a very sophisticated and popular module in Germany as almost every big to middle-sized company trains apprentices in this occupation.

Our program provides a core understanding of a business organization and the markets it is acting in, with a huge emphasizes on building marketing and sales related skills. On top of the business-related knowledge all apprentices receive fundamental skills in manufacturing processes and production management to give them the technical background they need to pitch a sale or convince buyers with their problem-solving strategy with technical issues.

With this holistic skill set a sales engineer forms a bridge between the customer and the engineering or R&D department of a company as he or she becomes an expert about customer needs and preferences and can determine how products and services could be modified to suit those needs.

Curriculum

  • Business Administration
    Learn how to run businesses effectively, efficiently and profitably.
  • Production Management
    Learn the process of managing the activities of a business to produce desired outcomes for products and services.
  • Fundamental Skills in Manufacturing
    Find out all the basic skills you need to know in order to be successful in manufacturing.

FAQs

  • Identify and contact existing and new clients with sales potential
  • Evaluates client leads to a needs analysis that will support the preparation of the customer visit or initial call
  • Utilizes data from the needs analysis to develop & prepare customer focused sales pitches
  • Demonstrates communication skills, active listening skills
  • Presents and represents the company, brand, product and a solution to the client
  • Demonstrates strategies such as: follow-up, cross-selling, up-selling techniques
  • Ability to present the company, mission, brand and products appropriately
  • Confers with customers & engineers to assess equipment needs and to determine system requirements
  • Collaborates with sales teams to understand customer requirements and provides sales support
  • Plans and modifies products to meet customer needs
  • Help clients solve problems with installed equipment
  • Helps in researching and developing new products
  • Demonstrates ability to manage inventory, estimates demand for products and services and schedules orders
  • Handles customer complaints

Sales Engineers work in all kind of industries where a highly technical product needs to be sold to a customer. Companies in our cohort are: Foerster Instruments Inc., Z + F USA Inc. , WE EF Lighting and Leybold USA Inc. They produce and sell various products such as:
  • 3D Laser Scanner that are used for architecture, inspection and other measurements
  • Inspection equipment for pipes and other materials to detect falses
  • Outdoor Lighting installations for buildings, some of them you can find in the skyscapers in Pittsburgh Downtown
  • Vacuums that are part of the Hyperloop project in Switzerland
GACC Pittsburgh Chapter works closely with the community colleges, career and technical centers and other credentialing institutions in the areas closest to where our apprentices live or work. The education partner awards academic credit for completion of instructions that may be delivered in a classroom on a community college campus or online either synchronously or asynchronously.
GACC Pittsburgh Chapter Community Colleges Partnerships
Prof. Starr & Student

Apprentices will attend community college courses that are integrated with the On the Job training. The coursework will be an Associate’s Degree in Business, with a Sales Engineering Certification. Apprentices will take core business courses, such as Intro to Business, Production Management, Principles of Selling, Technical Communication, Principles of Macroeconomics, Accounting. In addition to business classes, apprentices will take 20-25 credits of technical electives, specifically designed for the industry and technology of employment.

Additional certification that is provided during the pre-apprenticeship program and/or during the apprenticeship program’s curriculum may be delivered in a classroom format or online over a robust enterprise platform that enables 24/7 access to training content and tracks skill gain against competency models. The curriculum includes classes in basic electrical and their components, motor control, wiring, power distribution, hydraulics, pneumatics and robotics. For example, in Mechatronics Industrial Processes, apprentices learn how engineering materials are gathered and processed for use. The course covers principles of production planning, inventory management and the operating and troubleshooting of industrial equipment. Students who successfully pass the course will sit for the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council's (MSSC) Processes and Production and Maintenance Awareness exams towards achievement of the Certified Production Technician (CPT) credential.

GACC Pittsburgh Chapter Turbine Workforce course catalog view
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During the Apprenticeship Program you will rotate through the different departments of your company beginning from Sales, Marketing and Finance to Inventory, Warehouse and Production side. The goal is it to get a profound understanding of all parts of the company and to understand core and supporting processes. This way you as Sales Engineer have the right skill set to successfully pitch a sale to a customer and to consult them with product variations and use cases for your product. In some cases the Sales Engineer is the link between the customer and the company's R&D department. With your insight to the customer's needs and demands you can be an active part in product development and adjustment processes.
Next to working full-time at one of the participating companies the apprentices will have classroom training at a partnering community college to obtain the Sales Engineer certificate as well as an associate’s degree. The curriculum at a partnering community college includes business administration classes, but also production management and fundamental skills in manufacturing (MT1 certification). Apprentices will be paid while working and getting trained on the job as well as attending their college classes. Moreover, the companies pay the student’s college tuition, which makes our program an attractive alternative to pay for college education while simultaneously gaining significant work experiences.

Upon completion the Mechatronics Technician Apprentices receive:

  • Journeyman papers by the PA Dept. of Labor and Industry (issued by the GACC Pittsburgh Chapter)
  • Sales Engineer Certificate from a partnering community college
  • Associates degree from a partnering community college
  • Apprenticeship Certificate from the DIHK