Burning Presales

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.