Rew Dickinson Companies

I speak about my experiences in Enterprise Sales, Solutions Engineering, Consulting, and Sales Training and how I use Behavioral Science and Psychology to sell faster. 

Are you looking for a trainer / speaker for your next SKO, QBR, or virtual team event? 

Learn more by scheduling a call here 👉 https://go.oncehub.com/RewDickinsonCompanies




---TESTIMONIALS / AWARDS---

🗣️ "This was the most engaging session we have ever had." - Sales Rep
🗣️ "You are the most effective remote trainer I have ever seen." - VP of Sales Engineering
🗣️ "The storytelling and empathy training should be required for our entire French sales team." - Solutions Architect, France
🗣️ "I learned more from your 2 minutes than I did in 16 hours of sales training." - Sales Engineer, California
🥇 #1 rated content - Demofest
🥇 #1 rated speaker - Demofest
🥇 #1 most attended session - Demofest
🥇 #1 most attended session - Xpert Community

---ABOUT REW DICKINSON COMPANIES---

Rew Dickinson Companies offers corporate training and professional development under the following brands:

✅ Alpha Presales
✅ Alpha Tech Sales
✅ Alpha Storytelling
✅ InfluEar

CEO + Speaker (SKOs, QBRs, Team Events)

Alpha Presales

Alpha Presales is training for Solutions Engineers who are:
✅ extremely good problem solvers
✅ extremely intelligent
✅ extremely thoughtful and detail-oriented

But struggle with: 
❌ asking the right questions
❌ finding business pain
❌ mapping pain to business outcomes
❌ communicating value
❌ building technical champions
❌ and getting to the point because their brains are so darn big

Alpha Presales will be the best training they ever receive and they'll be better sellers and leaders because of it:

🗣️ "Our SEs were extremely skilled, but they weren’t leading the sale. After Alpha Presales training, there was an obvious increase in their confidence and now the team leads the sale and they aren’t being salesy.”👨‍💼 Lee, VP of Sales Engineering

---Want to take your team to the next level?---

If you're a presales or sales leader, book a call and we'll design a custom training for your team. We have a training program for every budget and if you don't have money, we can show you a process for asking for it. 

👉 www.AlphaPresales.com

Presales Trainer

Alpha Tech Sales

Most sales teams have been through sales training and don't need another one. Alpha Tech Sales isn't sales training. It's leadership training that is designed for individual contributors in sales roles (AEs, SEs, CS, etc.). This training helps you sell faster and it is deeply rooted in psychology and human behavioral science. 

When I was a sales rep, I used this science to close 6 and 7 figure deals and hit quota every year. I still use it when I’m selling training to sales leaders. You can use this science to sell to people the way THEY want to be sold to. The reason you do that is because they feel comfortable -> then they trust you more -> then they make decisions faster -> then your deal gets closed faster. Win->Win->Win->Win!

---Want to take your team from being "sellers" to being client leaders?---

If you're a sales leader, book a call and we'll design a custom training for your team or event. We have a training program for every budget and if you don't have money, we can show you a process for asking for it. 

Book a call here: 
👉 https://go.oncehub.com/AlphaTechSales

Sales Trainer

Creative Sales Academy

I teach storytelling for SALES. 

- Not fluffy marketing storytelling that makes people's eyes glaze over.
- Not storytelling for theatre, or film, or entertainment. 
- Not generic storytelling that makes you look like you have no idea what you're talking about. 

I teach storytelling that closes 6-figure sales deals. 

Learn it from someone who has actually sold before. 

Not a marketer or an entertainer.

Storytelling Instructor

PreSales Collective

"Rew facilitates workshops for the PreSales Academy and his approach is truly unique. Rather than teaching sales engineers to be subject matter experts and salespeople, he teaches them to be leaders. This allows them to guide their prospects toward making decisions faster and more easily, which saves time and advances the sale." 
- Yuji Higashi, Co-Founder, Presales Collective

"When I started my journey into presales, I was super anxious. I was worried that I wasn’t going to ask the right questions in discovery and I wasn’t going to have the skills I needed to give compelling presentations. When I met Rew, he provided me with the right framework to help me ask the right questions, and give effective presentations. The best part however is that in every session with him, my confidence grew immensely and now I’m a much more confident sales engineer."
-Shanelle, Sales Engineer

Sales Instructor

Appian Corporation

I did Presales, Direct Sales, and Partner Sales and loved each. 


🥇 Presales - Top performer, Pillar Award winner

"5 years after our POC (proof of concept) people on the evaluation team still remember Rew. He impressed us with his ability to understand our business problem and the impact that problem had on our operations. His style for asking questions and recapping gave us confidence that we were working side-by-side to solve our challenges. Rew understood his audiences and would seamlessly toggle his translations between the business and technical teams. He was able to anticipate needs that would drive additional business value too. When we were ready to move to implementation, we wanted Rew to do it because we were so confident in his value – too bad Sales Engineers don’t do delivery too." 
-Kathy, Client, Top 5 global staffing firm, #1 in US


🥇 Sales - Top performer, quota attainment 10%, 147%, 171%, 186%, 150%, Average deal size $250,913 ACV.

"Many salespeople are only focused on making the sale, but know very little about their actual product. I would much rather work with a salesperson who comes from the technology side. Rew struck a great balance between the two. It created a sense of authenticity."
-Greg, Client, #1 global truck manufacturer


🥇 Partner Sales - Top performer

"If Rew has ever sold you anything, you probably don’t know it and you likely still think it was your idea. If you appreciate knowledge, passion, and stunning good looks, Rew is your man for two of the three.”
-Jeff, Client, #1 management consulting firm by revenue



"Rew is one of the few people I've ever met who not only excels at his own craft, but just inherently makes everyone around him better, regardless of their role. Most impressive is how Rew can adjust and adapt to situations in real-time to make a colleague shine. Simply put, everyone wants to work with Rew, because he makes everyone better."
-Shaun, Presales Director

Sales Engineering + Sales

Deloitte Consulting

Deloitte is where I learned what good client-service looks like.

It's also where I developed my over-explaining problem that I had get rid of once I got into sales 😁.

I was a Software Developer -> turned Consultant -> turned Project Manager.

Consulting + Software Engineering

New York Life Investment Management

I was primarily responsible for financial analysis of New York Life Investment Management's MainStay Mutual Fund family.

Financial Analyst

CEO @ Alpha Presales | Teaching smart people to talk less and sell more. The smarter your sales engineers are, the more they need this.

Follow this LinkedIn account to get: 
- Content from C-Suite Leaders and Sales Leaders that I’ve had on my podcast
- Content from Alpha Tech Sales and Alpha Presales Training
- Content and research on Psychology, Behavioral Science, and Sales

---MORE INFO---

My background is Sales, Pre-Sales, and Consulting. 

I advise, train, and do research for enterprise software companies. In 2023, the ratio of Sales Reps to Pre-Sales Reps dropped by 24%. That means that buyers are relying LESS on Sales Reps and MORE on “technical people.” 

The problem is that most technical people are just like I was:
- Really good at problem solving
- Not so good at sales 

Are your technical people good at sales? Or do they take 10 minutes to answer a simple question because they're so smart? Do they ask enough questions or do they jump to solutions? Can they map pain to business outcomes? Can they get to the point or do they overcommunicate? Do they slow down the deal for their AEs? 

How about your sales reps? Are they the confident client leaders that you know they can be? 

I've been a sales engineer and a sales rep. 
- If you want me to train your team or speak at your SKO, QBR, or virtual team events, book a call here:  https://go.oncehub.com/RewDickinsonCompanies
- If you just want to learn stuff for free, follow me
- If you want to take your team to the elite level, check out Alpha Presales' or Alpha Tech Sales' elite training programs

You don’t want your Sales Reps to be telling your Sales Engineers what to do.

In most software companies that I work with, the Sales Engineers have been at the company for much longer than the Sales Reps have, and they’ve seen way more qualified opportunities than the Sales Reps have.

But many companies have a culture where Sales Engineers work FOR the Sales team and are expected to do what they’re told.

You don’t want this.

SEs tend to know (sometimes even better than Sales Reps) what works and what doesn’t work– because they’ve seen more deals. 

That’s why the best model is to have Sales Engineers work WITH their Sales Reps, not FOR their Sales Reps.

Rew Dickinson

Sales Reps, stop doing discovery for your Sales Engineers.

Sales Engineers, if your Sales Rep does discovery for you, that’s great, but ask your Sales Rep to set aside 3 minutes in the meeting agenda for you to ask the client some questions.

The reason for this is simple:

Human beings want to feel heard.

The only way to do that is to ask questions and listen.

The hard part about this is that clients don’t want to repeat themselves— so in this video I provide a 3-step formula for making your client feel heard, without making them repeat themselves.



P.S. The Sales Rep + Sales Engineer partnership is the best partnership in enterprise sales. Tag a partner that you love working with!

If you're a Sales Leader, you need to train your AEs and SEs on this topic. 

- > Selling to Top-Line vs Bottom-Line Companies. 

This post explains: 
1) What it means
2) Why it matters to AEs and SEs
3) How to apply it to B2B Sales so you sell more



---1. WHAT IT MEANS---

Top Line and Bottom Line aren't just business buzzwords– they come from Accounting and they REALLY matter if you're in Sales. 

• Top-Line = Revenue.
• Bottom-Line = Income (Revenue minus Expenses). 



---2. WHY IT MATTERS---

Most salespeople show up with the same pitch regardless of whether they're selling to a Top-Line Company or a Bottom-Line Company. 

That's a mistake. Here's why. 

Top-Line Companies care about growing revenue. A great example is Costco. If you show up to Costco and tell them how your software can help them improve their margins (bottom-line), you'll get laughed out the door because Costco is focused on low margins and high sales volume (top-line). 

Now look at a Bottom-Line Company like Southwest Airlines. They are more concerned with margins (bottom-line) than with growing revenue (top-line). So if you're selling to Southwest, you DO want to talk about saving money and keeping margins up. 



---3. HOW TO APPLY IT---

You can be selling the EXACT same software product, but if you're selling to a Top-Line Company, your sales pitch should be completely different than if you're selling to a Bottom-Line Company. 

If you're selling to Top-Line Companies, talk about making money. If you're selling to Bottom-Line Companies, talk about saving money. 

Most people don't do this. In fact, when I run Value Selling workshops, one of the first questions I ask is: "Is your prospect a Top-Line or Bottom-Line Company?" Most AEs and SEs can't answer that. 

If you don't know the answer to that, you can't effectively sell the VALUE of your product.


P.S. If you like sales lessons like this, join 500+ other AEs, SEs, and Sales Leaders who get my newsletter: https://lnkd.in/enkrErZM

This is advice I got from a former CEO on how to get people to do something you need done, when you don’t have authority over them.

The context is specifically when you’re sending emails to clients, partners, etc. and you are NOT their direct manager.

It was a great lesson on leadership that I still use in sales, business, and even my personal life.

In January I watched 20+ software demos and almost every person made this mistake.

They explain their product in simple terms so that people understand it.

But then they move on, and the customer doesn’t buy. 

I explain the psychology behind why this happens and how to avoid it in the video— because the same thing just happened to me at my favorite local coffee shop.



P.S. Have you ever had a Croque Madame?

I’m at Demofest San Francisco and I just met a rock star that has sold 50,000 albums.

He said the people that get to the elite level in music do one thing differently.

“It’s all preparation. That’s it.”
- Paul Logue 

What amazed me is it’s the exact same thing that gets a sales professional to the elite level.

No alternative text description for this image

If you're in Sales, you'll understand this...

Sales Engineers usually get the "sympathy invite." 

That's why I'm loving what Eightfold is doing right now. 

1. First, they invested in consultative sales training from Alpha GTM for their AEs, SEs, CSMs, and Partner teams at SKO. 

2. Then, they followed it up with virtual Alpha Presales training specifically for their Solutions Engineering (SE) team!

We're three days deep in the Alpha Training Lab and this global crew (Singapore to Houston!) is crushing it. 

This is what happens when companies stop treating SEs like "the technical person" and start treating them like the superstars they can be! 

Thank Ethan Jones and Diana Cappello for the opportunity to work with your teams.

When's the last time you got training specifically for your SEs?

Today I’m going to be on campus at York College of Pennsylvania teaching students how to land their dream job.

What would you tell a 22 year old now, that you wish you knew when you were 22?

When I met my wife, I didn’t have to ask her “how are you different?”

When you get asked “how are you different,” in a sales meeting, it’s usually because you show up with a bland presentation that you could have given to anyone.

Don’t show up with a bland presentation that you could have given to anyone, and most people won’t have to ask you why you’re different. 

You’ll have already shown how.

Most sales engineers are geniuses who think they know how to sell (I did)…

But then they get into a sales meeting and they:

- get too in the weeds
- talk twice as much as they ask questions 
- don’t tell stories

Which begs the question, do they really know how to sell? 



P.S. Got these problems? 
Fix them here (virtually or in person): www.AlphaPresales.com

If you want to learn how to stop rambling in your demos, sign up for Demofest. 

I struggled with this for years as a Sales Rep, Sales Engineer, and Consultant. 

At Demofest, I will give you my playbook for rambling less and providing more value. 

Demofest is for anyone and it's 100% free (virtual). 

You can register here: https://lnkd.in/e4KGuv3w 

P.S. If your Sales Engineers struggle with this, send me a message because it's exactly the problem that Alpha Presales fixes.

Very applicable framework for Solutions Consultants.

The first problem a customer tells you is rarely THE problem. 

Thanks Keith Weightman.

RVP, Sales @ Bullhorn - I talk about creating systems for sellers to scale your impact, not your hours

Sellers are told "solve problems", "don't pitch products", but how? Here's a question framework dating back to 1913:

The 5W1H method.

Commonly taught to journalists
to ensure they cover all essential parts of a story,
it's an equally powerful problem-solving framework.

------

𝗪 - 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁

Is the problem that's occurring?

𝗪 - 𝗪𝗵𝗼

Is responsible, involved, or impacted?

𝗪 - 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲

Is the problem occurring? (ex: process, dept, etc.)

𝗪 - 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻

Did it start and how often?

𝗪 - 𝗪𝗵𝘆

Is it happening or what's the root cause?

𝗛 - 𝗛𝗼𝘄

Have you tried to solve or how might we solve?

-----

Most sellers only get the "what?"
And never dig any deeper.

Don't be like most sellers.

If it seems like everyone in tech sales has a weird title, you're right. Here's a simple breakdown of the 3 most common roles in tech sales, so you know who's who in the sales zoo: 


Name: Sales Rep
Responsible for: closing deals
Other names: 
- Account Executive (AE)
- Account Manager (AM)
- Regional Sales Manager (RSM)
+ other buzzwords like "strategic" and "enterprise" that make us feel special since we get kicked in the teeth most days. 


Name: Sales Engineer
Responsible for: helping the Sales Rep close deals
Other names: 
- Solutions Consultant (SC)
- Solutions Engineer (SE)
- Solutions Architect (SA)
- Value Engineer
- Pre-Sales
+ 1,000 other variations. Because, well, most of us are engineers and we obsess about naming conventions for (in my opinion), no good reason. 


Name: Sales Development Rep
Responsible for: generating leads for the Sales Rep
Other names: 
- Business Development Rep (BDR)
- Account Development Rep (ADR)
+ Sometimes called "inside sales," but that can mean several things. Should probably be called "heroes" for doing a thankless job. 


Some people use these names to hide the fact that they're in Sales. 

But there's nothing to be ashamed of. 

If you're selling solutions to people's problems, then you should NEVER be ashamed of selling. 

Wear it with pride :)

I regularly watch sales calls and see empathetic salespeople end the call with, "So, what are our next steps?" 

This is a mistake. Here's why: 

--- 

The problem: 

If you're in a sales meeting, it's very possible that the reason you're in that meeting is because the prospective customer has a problem that they don't know how to solve. 

So when you ask the prospective customer, "What are our next steps," you're asking someone who doesn't know where they're going to tell you where to go. 

I get it– most of us want to be accommodating and not pushy sellers. 

But this is exactly the reason why sales cycles take 9-12 months to close. 

We're letting our customers lead us, instead of us leading them. 

---

The solution: 

Rather than letting our customers lead us, we need to lead them. 

When I was a sales rep and a sales engineer, I liked to tell my prospect the most efficient way for them to get to a decision. 

It often sounded something like this: 

"At this point, most customers will bring a list of projects that they're working on so that we can have a meeting to discuss them and see if any of them would be a good fit for this software. Would that be a helpful next step for you?" 

---

Sometimes, our customers need us to take the lead. We just need to step up. 

What do you think? 


P.S. In 2024, Alpha GTM / Alpha Presales was awarded Top 10 Sales Training Company. If you want to teach your team to be better client leaders, check out our virtual and on-site training options.

This is not how I spell my name. 

But when I’m calling in a food order on the phone, and people ask, “can I get a name for your order?”

I say: “Rue, R-U-E.”

I do that because I’ve learned over time that most people have an easier time understanding R-U-E, than they do understanding R-E-W.

Using words that people understand makes doing business (buying food) easier.

It also makes sales much easier.

- - -

If you’re in sales, ask yourself if you really need to use the EXACT word or phrase that your company tells you to use?

Would a simpler word do the trick? 


P.S. Who still calls in their food order?

It's that time of year...

Sales Kickoff. 

What's crazier? 

Vegas, Nashville, or overseas?

Salespeople know this, but most of our clients don't. 

We're on the same team as you. 

We want what's best for you. 

That doesn't mean we'll do whatever you tell us to do. 

But we truly want to help you. 

If we can't help you, then frankly, we don't want to spend more time with you. 

Because that doesn't help you, and it doesn't help us. 

It's on us to help you, and it's also on us to walk away when we know we can't.

In sales, we often assume that the people we’re selling to want a promotion.

But that’s not always true.

For example, I spoke with a COO at big tech company has been at 8 startups. 

He had previously been a CEO and he was explaining how he doesn’t like that job. 

With bigger titles comes more spotlight and he said that he’s completely fine being behind the scenes.

In fact, he prefers it.

Don’t assume people’s motivation is move up. Often it’s just to be able to go home on time and enjoy time with their kids.

Question of the day: What’s the best sales movie?

True Story:

20 years ago, I came back home from college for the holidays and was hanging out with some of my High School friends.

At one point I quoted a movie and everyone started laughing.

That was odd…Because I would ALWAYS quote this movie and my friends would usually just roll their eyes because I quoted movies too much.

This time was different.

Everyone laughed this time.

So what happened?

Well, I found out later on, that before I showed up, all my friends were placing bets on how long it would take before Rew quoted another movie.

I’ll let you guess which movie it was ;)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

What’s the best sales movie?

Taplio

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