13 Years Without Sales: Why Engineers Advise

I recently came across a blog post in which a company explained why it had replaced its traditional sales department with product specialists. While reading it, I thought: this is exactly how we have always worked.

Avanet has never had a traditional sales department. No salespeople with quarterly targets. No commissions. No internal rankings. No people whose main job is to close a deal as quickly as possible.

Our customers speak to engineers. People who do not know Sophos Firewalls, VPNs, network segmentation and security operations merely from presentations, but work with them every day. We are equally open when it comes to switches and access points: although we know Sophos very well, we prefer UniFi in many projects when it is the better technical and commercial fit. Vendor loyalty is not a consulting objective for us.

This is less glamorous than a perfect sales funnel. But for our customers, it is more honest, more helpful and ultimately more reliable.

A Sale Is Not Yet a Success

Winning an order only feels good briefly if the reality afterwards does not match.

If a customer buys a product that does not suit their environment, the sale may be complete, but the problem is only beginning. Expectations then have to be corrected, workarounds built, support tickets written and trust restored.

That is why one thing has always been clear to us: the most important moment is not the sale. The most important moment comes later, when the solution is running. When the customer realises that the product delivers what we said it would. When the firewall has been migrated properly, the network remains stable, the Wi-Fi does not cause trouble every other day and the responsible IT team does not feel abandoned.

That is the benchmark. Not the most attractive quotation. Not the highest order value. But the question: would we operate this solution ourselves?

This question is not theoretical. Many customers return later for setup, changes, maintenance or an audit. If we recommend an environment, we therefore need to understand and stand behind it years later. Anything else would not be serious consulting in our view.

Why Traditional Sales Incentives Are Difficult

Traditional sales is often optimised for speed: pipeline, forecast, probability of closing and quota. That can work when the product is simple and the consequences of a poor purchase are manageable.

IT security is different.

A firewall is not an attractive tool that can be tried and forgotten if it disappoints. It sits at the centre of the network. It determines what can be reached and what cannot. It affects security, performance, availability and often the daily work of entire teams.

When advice is tied to a sales quota, the wrong kind of pressure quickly emerges:

• A product is presented more positively than the specific environment warrants.
• Limitations receive less attention because they might make the sale harder.
• What is easier to sell is preferred over what is better in the long term.
• Revenue is optimised even though the customer actually needs clarity.

We never wanted this conflict built into our system.

Advice Must Start With Operations

Engineers think differently. Not because they are better people, but because they know different pains.

Anyone who migrates firewalls knows that an unclear NAT rule can cost half a night later. Anyone who plans Wi-Fi knows that an access point on paper does not yet make a stable wireless network. Anyone who operates switches knows that “it will probably work” is not an architecture.

That experience changes the advice.

An engineer does not ask only: what would you like to buy? They ask: what is already in place? Where have problems occurred? Which services are critical? What should the network look like in two years? Who will operate the solution? Who gets called at night when something stops working?

That is where good advice begins. Not at the start of a sales presentation, but in the details that later determine satisfaction.

Customers Are Not Uninformed Today

Many customers do not come to us because they have heard of a Sophos Firewall for the first time. They have already researched, compared, perhaps watched videos, read data sheets or spoken with other companies.

They no longer need a pitch. They need someone to put things into context.

Is an XGS 108 really suitable, or would an XGS 128 make more sense? Is the existing switch sufficient, or will it make the VLAN design difficult later? Is Sophos Wireless the right choice, or do UniFi switches and access points make more sense for this project? Is a cloud gateway convenient but impractical in the long term because of traffic or architecture?

These questions cannot be answered well with sales rhetoric. They are answered well by knowing the products and understanding the consequences.

Why We Sometimes Advise Against a Purchase

One advantage of working without sales is that saying no becomes easier.

If we believe a product is not suitable, we say so. If a customer is doing well with an existing solution, we do not need to invent a problem. If a larger appliance is technically unnecessary, the customer should not buy a larger appliance.

At first, that may not sound like growth. In the long term, however, it is exactly that.

Customers notice whether they are being advised or pressured. They notice whether someone also discusses disadvantages. They notice whether, after the purchase, someone is still available who genuinely understands the promised solution.

Trust does not come from being able to sell everything. It comes from remaining honest even when that makes a sale smaller or means it does not happen at all.

The Freedom Not to Win Every Order

We worked hard to earn this luxury. Avanet is financially stable and does not depend on turning every enquiry into an order at any price. We do not need to fill a pipeline through pressure, conceal limitations or talk a project into being suitable.

Whether a customer decides today, next year or not at all after an honest assessment does not endanger our company. We regard that independence as a privilege. It allows us to say no, recommend a smaller solution or refer to another vendor.

Short-term profit matters less to us than a long-term relationship. This is not merely a pleasant principle; it is also sensible. Customers return later for configuration, maintenance, extensions or audits. At that point, it pays off if the original recommendation was genuinely right.

Product Knowledge Beats Sales Pressure

We do not believe every customer needs the deepest technical explanation. But we do believe the person on our side must be able to provide it.

When the subject is firewall rules, VPN, SD-RED, ZTNA, endpoint protection, MDR, VLANs, switches or access points, a good instinct is not enough. It requires experience, the ability to ask follow-up questions and the humility not to solve every problem with the same product.

Our model is therefore simple:

• Anyone who advises must understand the product.
• Anyone who recommends a solution must be able to explain it.
• Anyone who makes a promise must know what implementation involves.
• Anyone who supports the customer should not disappear after the sale.

This is less scalable than a pure sales model. But it fits what we want to build much better.

No Sales Team Does Not Mean No Advice

“No sales” is sometimes misunderstood. It does not mean customers are left alone or that nobody helps them make a decision.

Quite the opposite.

It means our advice starts with operations rather than a sales target. We want to understand what a company genuinely needs, which risks exist and how a solution will work in day-to-day use.

In the end, nobody should say: “This was sold to us.” They should say: “This was properly understood, planned and implemented.”

That is a significant difference.

No Sales, but Not No Responsibility

After more than 13 years, we are convinced that a company can grow without traditional salespeople. Perhaps even more healthily.

Not every customer needs more persuasion. Many need more clarity. Not every project needs more pressure. Many need better questions. And not every decision becomes better just because someone can present particularly well.

Our customers should speak with people who know the products, explain the limitations and share responsibility for the consequences of a recommendation.

Ultimately, a sale is worthless if the customer is unhappy. If the product does not work as described. If the solution is unreliable. Or if nobody is responsible after the purchase.

That is why we prefer to continue with what has worked for us for years:

No sales department. No salespeople. Instead, engineers, product knowledge and advice that must still stand up after the order is complete.