Why UConn Engineers Should Learn Sales

Have you ever thought about a career in sales? Flow Tech’s owner posed me this question in the spring of 2009, in the middle of the Rome Ballroom during the UConn Engineering Career Fair.

How do I answer this correctly? Is it okay to say, “Hell no!”?

Who on Earth goes to engineering school to pursue a career in sales? If I wanted a career in sales, I would’ve gone to the School of Business. No thanks, not for me. I pursued engineering because I wanted to design things, build things, change the world. Leave sales to the guy in the used car lot with slick-backed hair, shoving a business card in your face and trying to put one over on you.

Yet here I am over 10 years later. Technical sales is the only career I’ve ever known, even after a bachelor’s degree in engineering from UConn and a professional engineering license. How did I end up here?

Maybe it was fate. Happenstance. Serendipity. Maybe because Flow Tech was hiring during a recession. Maybe it was a neighbor who worked in engineering, telling me one Saturday afternoon that he wished he had pursued a career in sales. “The harder you work the more you’re paid,” he told me. Maybe it was Flow Tech’s owner, Rich Harper, telling me to follow up with him in two weeks. I could always keep a tight calendar, so I sent him an email and gave a follow-up call as instructed. Maybe I had just that right mix of personality and technical acumen to be able to ask the right questions of engineers, contractors, and end-users to be successful. Maybe I was just lucky.

Sales, and specifically technical sales, isn’t for everyone. I could talk for hours about the benefits of a career in sales, the vision and mission of Flow Tech, and how a career with us is rewarding, challenging, and fun. How a career in sales can be lucrative. But that’s not the point of this.

I’m writing this to advocate for some sales training for all engineers. Even a modicum of sales training. An expert salesperson will find the best job after they graduate, find the next best job opportunity, career path, and prestigious position, even if none of those jobs are primarily associated with sales. I say primarily because, well, EVERYTHING has to do with sales. Nothing happens until somebody sells something. And the most important thing you must sell is yourself.

If my words of wisdom inspired you to learn more about technical sales as a viable career path, I encourage you to check out our internship program. Please feel free to reach out to me directly. You can always contact us by web or phone (860.291.8886) too. Stay up-to-date on Flow Tech’s happenings by following us on social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Mike Davis quote.

About the Author

Michael O. Davis, PE has been with Flow Tech, Inc. since 2009. As one of Flow Tech’s Outside Sales Engineers, Michael is responsible for selling some of Flow Tech’s more technically complex systems in their territory covering Connecticut and parts of Massachusetts and New York. Michael specializes in custom air handling applications, air-to-air heat recovery exchangers, and controls-related products including gas detection, airflow measuring products, and control dampers.

Michael is a 2010 graduate from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. He currently resides in South Glastonbury, CT with this wife and two children.

By Michael O. Davis, PE
Michael O. Davis, PE Sales Engineer