In this week's newsletter, Aaron Moncur has a conversation with Ramzi Marjaba, Senior Solution Engineer at VM Software and founder of We The Sales Engineers.
Most people don't do discovery. They do a presentation. The customer invited them in to show them what you got, and it's up to the customer to figure out how they can use what you do to solve their own problems. At that point, if the customer buys, they bought despite of you, not because of you.
In this episode:
How the BANT framework (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline) prevents wasted cycles on deals with misaligned expectations or wrong decision-makers
Why empathy in sales means understanding where customers are coming from, not simply doing what they ask for
How selling business outcomes - saved time, reduced risk, unlocked revenue - beats presenting product specifications
Why individual contributors need sales skills even without formal sales roles: convincing managers, promoting ideas, and negotiating raises all require the same consultative approach
How earning trust incrementally through small, low-risk commitments can revive shelved projects and advance ideas that seem dead
Bonus Content:
The Power of the Information Interview
S6E42 Ramzi Marjaba | From Idea to Approval: Persuasion for Engineers
Most engineers avoid sales conversations, but Ramzi Marjaba spent 15 years learning that sales skills apply everywhere - from getting raises to convincing teams about design decisions. In this episode, he walks through the discovery process that separates successful deals from time-wasting proposals. The core challenge: customers rarely tell you their real problems, budgets almost never come up naturally, and the person you're talking to might not have authority to buy anything. Ramzi explains how frameworks like BANT help qualify opportunities early, why genuine empathy builds stronger relationships than feature lists, and how selling business outcomes makes price discussions easier. The conversation includes a concrete example where an engineer used incremental trust-building - "give me two days" - to revive a shelved product after a year of failed attempts. Whether you're selling equipment, pitching ideas internally, or negotiating your next raise, understanding what's actually in it for the other person changes every conversation.
>If YouTube isn’t your thing, check out this episode and all of our past episodes on Apple, Spotify, and all the rest.
Quick! When your automation fails, what gets protected first? Humans, the machine, or the product?
Most teams design backwards. They optimize for product quality, then machine uptime, then (maybe) add safety guards.
Pipeline Design & Engineering's order of protection:
Humans first. Always.
Machine second.
Product last.
Why? No humans = can't run machine. No machine = can't make product. Your responsibility is handing operators a system they trust won't hurt them.
We follow ANSI B11.0 standards and conduct risk assessments before finalizing any design.
Designing safe automation systems? Pipeline Design & Engineering follows safety-first protocols on every project.
Earning Trust Through Small Commitments
Aaron shared a story about Easy Motion, an internal automation product Pipeline developed for over a year before shelving it due to persistent bugs. The team had invested significant time and money, but the product remained unstable.
One of our engineers approached me and said, 'I have some ideas for how we can make this work.' And I was like, 'We've already spent so much time and money, I don't want to do this.
The engineer didn't ask for weeks or months. He asked for two days: just enough time to prove one specific problem could be solved.
He said, 'Give me two days, and if I can't produce this result by the end of two days, I'll never bring it up again.
Aaron agreed. Two days later, the engineer solved the first major technical problem. Then he asked for two more days to tackle the second issue that had stumped the entire team.
Two days later he comes back. It's solved. Don't try to sell the farm all at once. Bite off little demos that you can do—little pieces of proof that you can bring to your leadership.
Ramzi explained why this approach works: "He reduced the risk. He didn't say, 'Let me work on everything. I'll fix it.' In two days, he would've said, 'That's not going to happen.' He broke it down to the first problem, two days, and then the second. He earned trust."
Sometimes in sales you earn the right to the next meeting. That's sometimes all you can get. You don't always earn the right to sell within the first meeting. Sometimes you just earn the right for the next meeting. He earned the right for the next problem to solve.
The pattern applies beyond internal projects. With customers, starting small reduces their perceived risk and builds confidence in your ability to deliver. With managers, demonstrating progress on limited commitments creates space for larger requests later.
The Power of Informational Interviews
Information interviews provide engineers direct access to industry knowledge and professional networks that don't exist in job postings or documentation. This guide covers the sourcing, outreach, and conversation tactics that turn cold contacts into valuable professional relationships.
To see my 4 keys to sourcing, outreach and impactful conversations, read the full article on The Wave.
Did you know that our team at The Wave and Pipeline Media Lab is building a database of high quality vendors across various disciplines? Have a company you really like working with? Are you a company looking to expand your reach?
Visit the vendor page on The Wave now and submit your company for review!