Burning Presales

Tim Brömme from Miro and Jan-Erik Jank from SAP are back again, and collectively from the Presales Unleashed podcast. This week, Jan helps us learn why presales should never try to solve a customer’s problem, and what they should be doing instead.

Connect with Tim and Jan here on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tbroemme/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/janerikjank/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marktechnology/

Tim Brömme from Miro and Jan-Erik Jank from SAP are here, collectively from the Presales Unleashed podcast. This week, Tim takes us through some insightful answers for those trying to scale their discovery to the whole buyer stakeholder group. Connect with Tim and Jan here on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tbroemme/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/janerikjank/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marktechnology/

Tony Francetic from Thomson Reuters returns to discuss how when teams grow, there’s a point where bringing management in to help run your staff can help corral the team. It’s a common struggle so Tony’s advice here can really help make sure your process of growth isn’t a scary one! Don't forget to connect with us both on LinkedIn!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marktechnology/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-francetic/

Tony Francetic from Thomson Reuters joins us to show how he’s leverages the knowledge and experience of his presales teams, to enable sales teams to perform better. There are two different methods to enable this kind of enablement change, and Tony takes us through both.

Don't forget to connect with us both on LinkedIn!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marktechnology/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-francetic/

When a digital demo is used in conjunction with live presales you can expect a 40% lift in likelihood of a deal closing. But without being able to show measurable business outcomes it’s very hard to say why we’re doing this in the first place. Laura Krebs from SAP Concur helps answer this question with her focus on driving scale, velocity and a better customer experience.

Laura Krebs from SAP Concur’s role explains how she takes the experience of her presales consultants and bottles it, producing success in every single segment, every single industry and every single opportunity size all because buyers are really driving the way in which they want to consume the information.

Customers must be retained before the proper value is gathered by a vendor, so Customer Success is ever more important - but with strong relationships being built by presales at the start of their journey, letting them have positive impacts after the sale (and rewarding them for it) leads to a natural continuation of successful change. But this can only happen when delivered in a scaled, measured way. Don covers all this and more plus how to create a thriving Presales vs CS relationship.

Sure, a controversial stance but actually the facts and changes stack up to the significant shift in what presales meetings are for, and the way that buyers consume content. Don says it's only history and the legacy of how we've sold that has trapped us into assuming live demos are the best way to serve buyers. An advisory, consultative workshop is going to be far more beneficial.

Hiring managers need to trade off different skills and abilities. John’s research shows that 69% or hiring managers lean towards candidates with a high ceiling of potential. There’s a limited market of individuals out there, and many companies are seeing great success in hiring directly out of industry. They operate at a peer level and bring immense authenticity to the buyer’s experience.

97% of hiring managers said that they look for motivation as the most important aspect in any potential candidate. Also, John says that the ability to build and maintain a healthy relationship with sales people is absolutely crucial. So for candidates setting themselves up for success, they need to take these important aspects into account, and all the other top tips that the team at Bright Dynamics have found in their latest research.

There’s been an explosion in awareness about the presales industry, but that leaves us with a question on how we can leverage all the new technologies available to us. Paul’s advice is to understand how to meet people where they are - TikTok and Twitch? Video attention spans are very short, and so you need to get your message across succinctly - the first time you record “it’s almost certainly way too long”.

Create the best possible version of a demo then share that impact with your colleagues - you’re now 1.5x the power of yourself. Calculating your power and impact is crucial for leveraging demo automation and auto responses to RFxs. Bring people out of that day to day whirlwind of RFP and repetitive demos, and increase the value of what you bring to your buyers.

Whilst the Cyber-security presales industry still has catching up to do, the conversation as we head into 2023 is moving away from cold calling and generic presentations, towards true buyer enablement. With these new methods, Damian also sees more demand generation activities coming into focus for presales and understanding the value they bring. “It’s about showing them what kind of outcomes you can achieve”.

Buyers want (immediate) access to products, information, and a trusted partner to help guide them (when they ask for it). Damian explains his Build, Connect, Engage and Close stages of his buyer-centric framework, and he’s successfully battled the ageing sales metrics that can now align to what buyers want.

The path to revenue leader takes many paths, Tom’s is a world of foundation in finance transformation as presales, and now, Sales! Tom says whomever describes the problem best is best placed to solve it so hear how he makes sure he’s there when customers have the need to change.

Leading with logic rarely gets you a real connection. A personal passion for Tom, understanding the emotional reasons for making buying decisions is more important than the logical ones. Closing deals is often focused on the emotional risk of moving forward, so here’s Tom’s take on helping buyers with risk mitigation.

Working together is more fun, more communication and better ideas - all focused on the buyers. But Rene also helps us with some hard questions, like how to get teams working together who don’t know each other, or aren’t always aligned on a common vision - here is where the skill of a leader comes into play.

Rene takes us through the 4 Ps of presales. Product, Process, People and Passion - and why Passion is absolutely essential when it comes to being an effective presales person. He also takes us through how to grow people, and as a manager how you can find the passion within people to coach and support them, but the motivation has to come from the people themselves.

Burning Presales brings you incredibly valuable presales advice, this time from Mitch Chesney.

Using his experience in this area, Mitch brings some valuable insights into how to help renewals and expansion take advantage of the massive scaling seen in the presales industry. “Clear the field & build that relationship for the long term”, make sure it continues to grow as it never ends at the contract signature and becomes part of the customer community.

Burning Presales brings you incredibly valuable presales advice, this time from Mitch Chesney. 

The topic of scaling presales is often discussed, but Mitch brings years of experience in making sure you apply scaling to the right places, at the right times. What’s crucial is to understand your people, because freeing up their time means they can dive into other projects - do you know which projects they’re most passionate about? You should.

Lori Payne has been in software since the late 90’s, and basically observed the entire software cycle unfold. She landed in Presales first as a practitioner and has since risen to become Vice President if Global Solutions Consulting at Blackline. Lori is very passionate about enabling women in tech and building the next generation of Presales leaders. 

Mark joined this episode of the Burning Presales Podcast as the resident Presales and Buyer Enablement expert at Consensus. He was a former customer, and loved us so much he offered to join. Now, he teaches the Presales world how to enable buyers and scale Presales in ways few are able to do. It was my pleasure to ask him a BIG question I'm sure all of you are wondering about.

The second episode from my second round with Peter Cohan, who is the founder and principal of The Second Derivative and author of The Great Demo!. Legend, myth, the OG Presales thought leader and everything in between.

Back for round 2, Peter Cohan is the founder and principal of The Second Derivative and author of The Great Demo!. He's basically a legend. The OG thought leader for Presales. 

Today’s question will be answered by John Care. John is an Author, Speaker and Professional Skills Trainer For Sales Engineers at Mastering Technical Sales, where he is also the managing director. John, once again, gives way more content than I expected. Listen to the end, and check out the upcoming release of his book. 

Today’s question will be answered by John Care. John is an Author, Speaker and Professional Skills Trainer For Sales Engineers at Mastering Technical Sales, where he is also the managing director. This episode is RICH with content, answers to several sub questions, and an announcement about John's new book!

My guest for this episode is Patrick Passang, Author of the Social Sales Engineer, a Sales Engineering coach, entrepreneur and creator of the now infamous Secret Kingdom of Sales Engineering map. 

Today's question will be answered by Ramzi Marjaba, Sr. Sales Engineer at Ixia Solutions Group, and author and host of the wildly competitive podcast "We the Sales Engineers"

Today's question will be answered by Ramzi Marjaba, Sr. Sales Engineer at Ixia Solutions Group, and author and host of the wildly competitive podcast "We the Sales Engineers"

This episode is presented by Consensus and the question is answered by Akshat Srivastava. Akshat is a Solution Architect Leader at AWS and founder of SENY (Sales Engineers of New York) - a non-profit community focused on connecting current and prospective sales engineers based in the NYC metro area.

This episode is presented by Consensus and the question is answered by Akshat Srivastava. Akshat is a Solution Architect Leader at AWS and founder of SENY (Sales Engineers of New York) - a non-profit community focused on connecting current and prospective sales engineers based in the NYC metro area.

This question is answered by Todd Janzen, who is the Global Vice President of Q Branch at Salesforce.com. Q Branch is one of the coolest divisions of Salesforce, completely focused on building world-class Presales capabilities and the chief embracers of Buyer Enablement. Todd gets tactical about how Salesforce.com specifically uses the 6 demo types in their strategy to change the way they sell. 

Brian is an industry leader in building and managing Pre-Sales Solution Consultant and Sales Engineering teams. Currently, he is the SVP of Global sales engineering at Seismic. He knows a thing or two because he’s seen a thing or two.

James is a co-founder of the Presales Collective and host of The Presales Podcast. He’s also a former solution engineering practitioner and leader at marketing leading companies like Showpad and Salesforce.

James is a co-founder of the Presales Collective and host of The Presales Podcast. He’s also a former solution engineering practitioner and leader at market leaders, including Showpad and Salesforce.

Garin Hess is the Founder and CEO of Consensus, and author of “Selling is Hard. Buying is Harder”, a research-based book that discusses how enabling buyers accelerates technical sales.

Garin Hess is the Founder and CEO of Consensus, and author of “Selling is Hard. Buying is Harder”, a research-based book that discusses how enabling buyers accelerates technical sales.

Kerry Sokalsky is the President & Founder of Presales Mastery and the Founder of Sales Engineers of Toronto (SETO). He is an expert demo performance coach and is passionate about all things Presales.

Kerry Sokalsky is the President & Founder of Presales Mastery and the founder of Sales Engineers of Toronto (SETO). He is an expert demo performance coach and is passionate about all things Presales.

Rex is the VP of Sales at Consensus and has sold to literally hundreds of presales leaders at enterprise software companies. He is obligated to give this answer. 

Tony is a Solution Consultant leader at Thomson Reuters and passionate presales thought leader who couldn't be more pleased to give this answer.

Tony is a Solution Consultant leader at Thomson Reuters and passionate presales thought leader. He is riveted to give this answer.

Robert is a visionary sales leader who’s currently the Head of Sales Acceleration at Modernizing Medicine, and previously worked as Vice President of Sales at Thomson Reuters. He is animated to be giving this answer. 

Mark is a technology evangelist at Sage, Co-Host of the enormously successful podcast Two Presales in a Pod and founder of the Digital Presales Impact Model. Mark is stirred at the prospect of giving this answer. 

Mark is a Technology Evangelist at Sage, Co-Host of the enormously successful podcast Two Presales in a Pod and founder of the Digital Presales Impact Model. How should someone succeed in this space? Mark suggests to not just follow in his footsteps, but create your own in a similar enthusiastic style.

Chris is the author of the book, The Six Habits of Highly Effective Sales Engineers. He’s also founder and CEO of TechSalesAdvisors, and the Founder and Managing Director of www.DemoDoctor.com - an online training resource for sales engineers. He is inspired to be giving this answer.