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Dear Quota Team

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I sell enterprise tech. Our product is very technical and every deal gets to the point where a sales engineer from our team has to join the call to answer more detailed technical questions from the end users and IT team at the prospect company. My problem: this one sales engineer who keeps getting put on my calls is the absolute worst. He's a total control freak and takes over the call. He talks over the prospect (and me). He says things to prospects that make me look dumb/incompetent. And the way he talks, his tone, he's always talking down to people like he thinks he's some genius.

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I don't have any "proof" that this guy has directly lost me deals, but I can just feel prospects getting a bad taste in their mouth when he is on the call. I don't want to get him fired (although maybe there's an argument that he should be) but I want to make sure he's no longer on my calls. What should I say to my manager?

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Frustrated in California 

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Dear Frustrated,

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The whole point of having a sales engineer is to help the customer understand how to use/implement your solution and improve the sales process — not to put it in jeopardy. If he's actually costing you deals, he's probably doing it to other reps too. Tell it to your boss straight, but stick to the facts. Don’t make it personal. You can also suggest that your boss listens to call recordings so he can see what’s happening for himself. Good luck.