By Rob Kall, CEO & Co-Founder, Cien.ai

“We need our Subject Matter Experts in every deal!”

– CRO, PE-Owned Software Company

Are You Over-engineering Your Sales Team?

In today’s enterprise sales environment, the number of people involved in closing a deal can be staggering. On the seller side, it’s not unusual to see: 

• BDRs or SDRs doing initial outreach 
• Account Executives driving the sale 
• Account Managers handling relationships
• Helicopter managers jumping in at key moments 
• And of course… the Sales Engineers, stepping in to “explain the product”

We recently worked with a $500K ACV SaaS company where there were over 10 participants on both the buy-side and sell-side of a single deal. More people doesn’t always mean more clarity — in fact, it often creates confusion, slows down momentum, and muddies the message. Especially when it comes to using Sales Engineers, the key question becomes: do they help or hurt?

The Surprising Truth About Sales Engineers

At Cien.ai, we analyzed sales data using propensity models — these models assess win likelihood at the time a deal is created, before the AE has taken any major action. Here’s what we found:

• In some organizations, SE involvement increased the odds of success
• In others, it lowered the chances of closing

Why the inconsistency?

It often comes down to how and when SEs are involved — and what type of product is being sold. If a deal is overloaded with internal experts too early (or too often), it signals complexity to the buyer. It can overwhelm the process, especially if the SE is pulled in before the AE has confirmed interest or navigated the internal politics of the buying team. As one CRO for a PE-backed software company said before we did the analysis: “We need our Subject Matter Experts in every deal!”. It turned out that they were only needed in some specific circumstances, and for all other deals they had a negative impact on the outcome.

Success Is About Sequencing

The winning sales organizations we work with follow a pattern:

The AE builds internal momentum first. Find a champion. Understand the buying process. Frame the ROI.

Then, the SE steps in — strategically. Analysts and technical buyers love to challenge vendors. A well-timed SE can neutralize skepticism and handle security or compliance questions without derailing the narrative.

Avoid bringing the SE to the wrong meetings. Don’t put them in front of the CFO to discuss payment terms or ROI. Don’t let them get bogged down in irrelevant back-and-forth. Their job is precision, not persuasion.

By procurement stage, their job is done. No repeat demos. No last-minute “technical reviews.” The SE already verified the solution meets buyer requirements. Using Cien.ai’s models, companies can analyze past deals to see when SE involvement correlated with higher close rates — and when it became noise.

What Does Success Look Like?

You’ve got a coordinated GTM team that knows when to pull in each player:

• SEs engage the right stakeholders — at the right time

• AEs drive the story and own the outcome

• Buyer Analysts get their questions answered — without taking over

• Leadership is looped in once there's internal buy-in

• Buyers feel confident, not overwhelmed

And with Cien.ai’s predictive models and stakeholder mapping, you know when to deploy your experts and when to keep things simple — deal by deal.

About the Cien.ai Growth Essentials Series

This article is part of our Growth Essentials Series, inspired by our work with B2B business leaders, growth consultants, and PE operating partners. These articles focus on the non-technical aspects of improving GTM performance. For deep dives on measurement and analytics techniques, check out our Practical RevOps Analytics Series.