Top 10 List for New FAEs (OK, so there’s more than 10) Xilinx Software Marketing Xilinx, Colorado

1. Top 10 List for New FAEs(OK, so there’s more than 10)Xilinx Software MarketingXilinx, Colorado

2. Relationship Building

3. Get to know your factory resources • Hot Line • Design Center • etc. • Know their specialties • Know what they can do for an FAE and for a Customer.

4. Communicate • Call your Xilinx FAE until s/he tells you you're calling too much! • Involves you in the Customer Base • Involves you in the issues

5. Involvement • Make buddy calls with your Xilinx FAE • Get involved in his/her presentations, new products updates, user groups • know every word, every bad joke, every nuance of the presentation

6. The customer is sometimes right • It's your job to make them ALWAYS feel: • right • intelligent • capable.

7. Never Lie • You lose ALL credibility. • Corollary: admit you made a mistake or don't know. • Then LEARN the answer.

8. Treat Xilinx FAE Right • Fancy lunches with cute food servers , • Good wine • Gifts (but make sure it is under the table and cannot be traced) • They can be bought! (but, some are more expensive than others)

9. Account Management

10. Immersion: get immersed in the designs at your key account(s) • Helps the Customer (who is very likely short-handed anyway) • Establish yourself as a key technical resource for them • Helps you appreciate what he is going through • Helps you get up-to-speed quickly

11. Support first time users • Up front investment can last a lifetime for your customers • Converse: a bad first experience will last a lifetime with your customers A happy first time user will continue to design away, socket after socket, sometimes without you even knowing it.

12. Latch onto new users of Xilinx solutions with a “Death Grip: • Builds momentum for the Xilinx design • Fluency with the Xilinx tools (software and silicon) becomes a HUGE barrier to entry for the competition • Converse: Converting a customer over to your tools later is ten times as hard as getting the first win up front

13. Understand the concept of the "internal champion" • Increases opportunity for water cooler selling (The Engineer sells for you!) • The Champion is typically: • a senior level engineer • Well respected at his own company who can influence others • Motivated • Outspoken • Do EVERYTHING / ANYTHING to make sure the design is a roaring success • Champion = Design Wins!

14. Questioning Skills

15. Ask the customer several questions before you launch into your presentation • When's your next design? • What density are you thinking about? • What speed? • What software OSs and hardware platforms do you have to work with? • What 3rd party tools might you want to leverage for this design? • etc.

16. Interview the customer before you start to "inform" or present • Always understand • Their point of view • Their problem • Their vision of the solution • Never assume! • You run the risk of dispensing “hot air” if you don’t understand their frame of reference

17. Ask questions before answering a design question • Understand what the ultimate design goal is first (What’s he really asking?) • The Question may not be THE question • Device resources can solve many design problems • Pins, flip flops, routing, etc. • Anything extra that can be used to make the part faster and cheaper than the competition • Explore alternate methods and resources that can be used to solve an implementation problem

18. Acquiring Information is key • Conclude your answer of a question with a follow-up, leading question of your own. • Keep the customer talking and dig for: • biases • hot-buttons • pet-peeves • Knowing these details will help you during your demo. • Helps avoid getting stuck a Xilinx “answers database” without getting the info you need tailor your handling of the account.

19. Presenting Skills

20. Focus: Tell your Manager you need "preparation time" on Xilinx • Xilinx requires much up-front effort • Huge Payoff as measured by: • Revenue • Personal Growth (Disti FAEs who focus on Xilinx also find that the other lines become easier to understand as well).

21. Grow: Constantly learn the product and the process • Know your product better than your Xilinx FAE • Gain the Respect and Trust of the Xilinx FAE • Keep up: Xilinx is constantly pushing the technology envelope • “This is NOT a passive sport”

22. Constant and Never Ending Improvements • Give better, more concise presentations • Take a great presentation and make it better • It will blow away your competition • Get your salespeople (Dist, Rep) to critique it • Get your GM to critique it • Use their input and improve it

23. Sell: You are Selling Yourself • (even though someone else is collecting the P.O) • You are critical to winning the socket. • No one else will do this for you • Winning the socket means you're taking sockets away from the competition!

24. You are the EXPERT on XILINX • Know more then just what parts are available • Know HOW TO DO THINGS in the parts • Know real applications • Know the software • Know the competition • Know the industry

25. Practice: Practice every foil you present at least 20 times. • Make your presentations “lean and mean”. • If a point doesn’t ADD VALUE to your presentation, discard it.

26. Always be prepared to deliver the standard slide presentations on short notice • Keep a current set of slides with you at all time

27. Be prepared to do any PC demo on short notice • Schematic flow • VHDL flow • Mixed flow • into FPGAs and/or CPLDs.

28. Word Usage • Never use: • "design win" • "target account” • Instead... “Make the customer King vs. a pawn in a big game.”

29. *ALWAYS* Follow Up • Follow up a group presentation with a phone call to EACH individual • Understand what they came away with • Find out what their immediate opportunity / need is • Make sure the prospects understands and appreciates: • important points • key differentiators between Xilinx and the competition. • Use all available personnel to accomplish this: • Xilinx FAE, Sales Rep, Factory people, RSM, etc.

30. PC Skills

31. “Fumigate” • If you "inherit" a PC from your predecessor, delete All the Xilinx applications • You will now see the PC and the Xilinx software as a customer sees it