People of the Same Element
People of the same element are the best for compatibility. They have a lot in common and their differences complement each other nicely. This does not mean that it is completely smooth sailing. There are significant differences after all.
Going back to the sales situation, application engineers tend to want to show off their product. They believe that if you have the best mouse trap, people will just buy it. Application engineers often point out short comings of their software. They figure that the customer is going to find them anyway and they would appreciate the honesty. The application engineers also have that habit of thinking too long and giving very technical answers. This often projects an image of lack of confidence in the software and scares the customer.
Sales people, on the other hand, realize that people do not just buy the best mouse trap. They also realize that the more you show the customer the software, the more questions come up. This drags out the sales cycle and makes it more likely that the customer will find flaws with the software. Finally, you never want your customer to find a flaw with the software. Even though all software has flaws, customers tend to focus on them. If your competition hides all of their flaws and you don’t, you may lose the deal.
I can’t tell you how many times my sales person and I left a customer with the sales person complaining about me showing the customer too much and me complaining about the sales person not pointing out where the customer might run into problems. The trick with any sales team is respecting what the other person does best, knowing what you do best, and developing the happy medium. The same is true with all relationships. People in the same element have complementing differences, but you still need to achieve respect and balance.