In this episode, Jack Cochran and Matthew James welcome Miriam Graf, a presales veteran with 20 years as an individual contributor and 10 years in leadership roles. Miriam shares invaluable insights on navigating career growth in presales, from speaking up about your aspirations to recognizing when leadership is and isn't the right path for you. She discusses the evolution from being "the hero" to becoming a leader who helps others shine, and explores the diverse career opportunities available beyond traditional management roles.

This episode is sponsored by Elvance. Find out more about them at https://elvance.io/

Follow Us

• Connect with Jack Cochran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackcochran/

• Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/

• Connect with Miriam Graf: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miriamgraf/ or email [email protected]

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack

• Presales Podcast: https://www.presalescollective.com/podcast

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome

06:53 Lessons to learn earlier

10:38 IC vs leadership

16:42 Expensive experience lessons

22:46 Variety of expertise is good

28:27 Focus on your industry and keep learning

Key Topics Covered

1. Speaking Up About Your Career

   • Why waiting for someone to notice doesn't work

   • How expressing interest puts you on the radar for future opportunities

   • The importance of taking initiative on projects you're passionate about

2. The Transition from Hero to Leader

   • Why being the top SE doesn't automatically translate to leadership

   • The emotional shift from personal accolades to team success

   • Understanding if management is actually the right path for you

3. Alternative Career Paths Beyond Management

   • National expert or technical specialist roles

   • Product management and product marketing opportunities

   • Customer success, implementation, and demo engineering

   • How presales skills translate across multiple disciplines

4. Essential Skills for Career Advancement

   • Soft skills: passion, communication, empathy, and listening

   • Business acumen: understanding the "so what?" for your audience

   • Technical skills: continuous learning and adaptability

5. Learning Through Experience

   • The value of trying roles outside presales

   • How diverse experience makes you a better SE

   • Why failures and tough feedback lead to growth

6. Industry Expertise

   • How to quickly learn an industry's key challenges

   • The value of becoming a vertical expert

   • Building credibility without years of industry experience

In this episode, Jack Cochran and Matthew James are joined by Rob Bruce, a presales leader at Syndigo with 20 years of experience, to discuss an innovative approach to presales operations: the Pursuit Desk. Rob shares how Syndigo has built a dedicated "concierge team" that handles RFPs, security questionnaires, reference coordination, and other time-consuming tasks, freeing solutions engineers to focus on discovery, solutioning, and building customer relationships. The conversation explores how to operate at the "top of your license," the role of AI in scaling pursuit operations, and practical advice for championing similar initiatives at your organization.

Thank you to Elvance for sponsoring this episode: https://elvance.io

Follow Us

• Connect with Jack Cochran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackcochran/

• Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/

• Connect with Rob Bruce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbruce/

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack

• Book: "Selling is Hard, Buying is Harder" by Garen Hess

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome

04:29 What is a Presales Concierge

11:18 Presales culture

14:00 Working at the top of your diploma

17:10 How do you justify this

21:38 As focused as an F1 team

23:32 AI and the Pursuit Desk

Key Topics Covered

1. The Pursuit Desk Concept

   • Functions as a presales concierge handling non-customer-facing tasks

   • Manages RFPs, InfoSec documents, NDAs, reference coordination

   • Creates centralized control over messaging and responses

   • Operates on a global scale with cultural sensitivity

2. Operating at the Top of Your License

   • Focus on discovery, creative thinking, empathetic listening, and presenting solutions

   • Eliminate time spent on administrative tasks that don't require SE expertise

   • Reduce context switching and multitasking to maintain flow

   • Maximize value delivery to customers and the organization

3. Building the Business Case

   • Find an executive sponsor to champion the initiative

   • Measure impact through deal win rates and velocity

   • Consider creative budget reallocation (travel budgets, etc.)

   • Calculate ROI based on SE productivity and reduced burnout

4. The Role of AI in Pursuit Operations

   • AI handles first-pass RFP responses (80% completion)

   • Pursuit desk personalizes and adds empathy (final 20%)

   • Machine learning analyzes past deals for pattern recognition

   • Go/no-go scorecards based on historical data

   • Enables scaling without proportional headcount increases

5. Presales Culture and Values

   • Building trust through technical expertise and genuine personality

   • Being a "chameleon" who adapts to different buyer needs

   • Creating an environment where people feel welcomed and valued

   • Mentorship and knowledge sharing across teams

6. Preventing Burnout

   • Eliminating nights and weekends spent on RFPs

   • Reducing stress through better task distribution

   • Enabling SEs to focus on work they're passionate about

   • Creating sustainable workloads that retain top talent

7. Measuring Success

   • Tracking time spent on each RFP or pursuit activity

   • Correlating effort to win-loss rates

   • Building audit trails for continuous improvement

   • Creating dashboards for data-driven decision making

In this episode, Jack Cochran and Matthew James are joined by Art Fromm, author of "Making Seamless Sales" and sales enablement expert, to discuss how presales and sales teams can work together more effectively. Art shares insights from his 25+ years in sales enablement, exploring the common disconnects between SEs and AEs, and provides practical strategies for building stronger partnerships that drive better outcomes.

The conversation covers the evolution from tribal knowledge to systematic collaboration, the importance of discovery before demos, and how to create value perception rather than just showing features. Art emphasizes that when teams work together properly versus teams that don't, there's a 37% difference in sales outcomes - a substantial opportunity sitting on the table.

Connect with Us

• Connect with Jack Cochran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackcochran/

• Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/

• Connect with Art Fromm: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artfromm/

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack

• Art's Website: https://teamsalesdevelopment.com

• Team Sales Development: https://www.teamsalesdevelopment.com

• "Making Seamless Sales" by Art Fromm: https://teamsalesdevelopment.com/making-seamless-sales-book/

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome

03:55 Sol/Con East 2025

05:26 Making SEAMless Sales

11:27 Our Solutions Have No Value

24:02 You Only Get One Shot

29:42 Aren't We All Presales

Key Topics Covered

1. The SEAM Framework

   • SE (Solutions Engineers) and AM (Account Managers) working together

   • Breaking down organizational silos between presales and sales

   • Creating systematic approaches rather than leaving collaboration to chance

2. Moving Beyond the Demo Rush

   • Why "we need to do a demo" often leads to failure

   • The importance of proper qualification and discovery first

   • How luck can reinforce bad habits in sales processes

3. Creating Value Perception

   • Understanding that solutions have no inherent value

   • The Venn diagram of customer needs overlapping with solutions

   • Turning "sell" into "buy" and "push" into "pull"

4. The Trust Dynamic

   • Presales comes with trust that can be lost

   • Sales lacks trust that needs to be gained

   • How proper discovery helps both teams build credibility

5. Organizational Alignment

   • Top-down (business focused) vs bottom-up (technical focused) approach

   • Creating healthy overlap between sales and presales responsibilities

   • The pyramid model of customer engagement levels

6. Training and Enablement

   • Moving beyond feature-function training to client success thinking

   • Understanding the complete buyer journey from hello to consumption

   • The concept of "solution enablement" as a continuous process

In this episode, Jack Cochran and Matthew James are joined by Wendy McHenry, Chair of WISE (Women in Solutions Excellence) at Presales Collective and Former Head of Global Solutions Engineering at CDATA, to discuss the critical need for supporting women in presales careers. They explore the challenges women face in a field where only 18% of solutions professionals are women, discuss unconscious bias in hiring and workplace environments, and highlight how WISE is creating support networks and career development opportunities to advance equity in the solutions field.

To join the show live, follow the Presales Collective's LinkedIn page or join the PSC Slack community for updates.

This episode is sponsored by Elvance. More information at https://elvance.io/

On the Show Today

• Connect with Jack Cochran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackcochran/

• Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/

• Connect with Wendy McHenry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendymac98/

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack

• WISE Chapter Information: https://www.presalescollective.com/wise

• Presales Collective LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/presalescollective

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome

04:51 Why WISE?

09:12 Being a woman in sales today

12:57 You're not technical enough

16:16 Women leaving the profession

20:33 How is WISE helping?

27:55 What's happening next?

Key Topics Covered

1. The Current State of Women in Presales

   • Only 18% of solutions professionals globally are women

   • Many women are the only woman on their SE team

   • Higher attrition rates during layoffs disproportionately impact women

2. Unconscious Bias and Workplace Challenges

   • "Not technical enough" bias applied differently to women

   • Interview panels dominated by men

   • Social environments that may exclude women

   • The importance of calling out bias when witnessed

3. WISE Mission and Structure

   • Started as an ERG at Salesforce, now part of Presales Collective

   • Open to anyone who cares about supporting women in solutions careers

   • Regional chapters like Women in Solutions Consulting Australia/New Zealand

   • Company-specific chapters at organizations like Salesforce and Pegasystems

4. Creating Change and Allyship

   • How to be an effective ally in supporting women's careers

   • Starting WISE chapters at your company (or expanding to broader sales/tech groups)

   • The importance of diverse account teams and client representation

   • Free career coaching and mentorship available through WISE council

In this episode, Jack Cochran and Matthew James are joined by Akash Ganapathi, CEO of Opine, to discuss how AI strategies differ between startups and enterprises in the presales space. They explore the myth of AI replacing SEs, the importance of specialization vs. generalization, and how AI can help presales teams manage more revenue per team member while focusing on strategic, relationship-building activities.

Follow Us

• Connect with Jack Cochran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackcochran/

• Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/

• Connect with Akash Ganapathi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akash-ganapathi/

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack

• Opine: https://tryopine.com/

• Contact Akash directly: [email protected]

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome

04:35 Why AI strategy differs for startups vs enterprises

09:27 Debunking the myth of AI replacing SEs

18:35 The human element in buying and selling

24:35 How enterprises can leverage existing knowledge bases

28:12 The paradox of considering AI for every task

32:14 Future predictions for 2026-2027

Key Topics Covered

1. Startup vs Enterprise AI Strategy

   • Startups benefit from generalist approaches and bottom-up experimentation

   • Enterprises need specialized, top-down AI strategies to avoid redundancy

   • The role of specialization vs wearing multiple hats

2. The AI Replacement Myth

   • Why the "AI SE" that replaces human SEs doesn't work

   • SEs do much more than just answer technical questions

   • The importance of relationship building and strategic thinking

3. Current AI Limitations

   • Context window constraints (around 1 million tokens currently)

   • Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) accuracy at ~75%

   • Why breakthrough improvements are needed for true automation

4. The Future of Presales with AI

   • More revenue managed per team member

   • Shift toward hiring less experienced SEs with AI enablement

   • Focus on strategic consulting rather than administrative tasks

5. Practical AI Implementation

   • Draft-and-approve workflows for deliverables

   • Automating account research, meeting prep, and RFP responses

   • Using AI for onboarding and knowledge enablement

6. Mid-Market Recommendations

   • Lean toward enterprise-style, forward-looking strategies

   • Enable not just current team but future hires

   • Focus on cross-organizational enablement (AEs, product, marketing)

In this episode, Jack Cochran and Matthew James are joined by Ben Hills, Founder and CEO of Iris, to discuss how to scale presales teams effectively while avoiding burnout. They explore the difference between healthy high performance and unsustainable overwork, the role of AI in streamlining repetitive tasks like RFPs, and practical strategies for building scalable processes that enhance rather than replace human expertise.

To join the show live, follow the Presales Collective's LinkedIn page or join the PSC Slack community for updates. The show is bi-weekly on Tuesdays, 8AM PT/11AM ET/4PM GMT.

Follow the Hosts

• Connect with Jack Cochran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackcochran/

• Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/

• Connect with Ben Hills: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminhills/

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack

• Iris: https://heyiris.ai/

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome

04:04 Iris

05:14 Ben's background

14:29 Healthy high performance vs burnout

21:55 Common scaling mistakes and the headcount trap

29:14 Effective AI tools for presales teams

35:04 The future of AI-to-AI RFP processes

37:46 Final advice on embracing AI

Key Topics Covered

1. Understanding Burnout vs. High Performance

   • Why burnout isn't just about hours worked

   • The importance of connecting work to larger purpose and outcomes

   • Creating time-bound periods of intense work with clear endpoints

2. Scaling Without Adding Headcount

   • The "mythical man month" problem in presales

   • Building playbooks and processes before hiring

   • Separating "in the business" vs "on the business" work

3. The Rocks, Pebbles, Sand Framework

   • Planning for big quarterly tasks (rocks)

   • Managing predictable weekly activities (pebbles)

   • Handling unexpected fire drills (sand)

4. AI Tools That Actually Work

   • RFP automation and response generation

   • Call transcript analysis for product feedback

   • Demo automation with synthetic data

   • Why AI SDRs haven't lived up to the hype

5. The Future of RFPs and AI

   • Model Control Protocol (MCP) for AI-to-AI communication

   • Maintaining personalization in automated processes

   • The buyer's perspective on RFP proliferation

In this episode, Jack Cochran and Matthew James are joined by Ben Pearce, founder of Elevated You, to discuss how technical professionals can effectively communicate with senior executives. They explore the critical differences between speaking to technical stakeholders versus C-suite leaders, covering everything from preparation strategies to delivery techniques. Ben shares practical frameworks for being relevant rather than just expert, emphasizing the importance of focusing on "what" and "why" instead of "how" when presenting to senior leaders.

Thank you to Storylane for sponsoring this episode. Find out more about Storylane and how to build killer demos in 2 minutes at https://storylane.io

To join the show live, follow the Presales Collective's LinkedIn page or join the PSC Slack community for updates. The show is bi-weekly on Tuesdays, 8AM PT/11AM ET/4PM GMT.

Follow the Hosts

• Connect with Jack Cochran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackcochran/

• Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/

• Connect with Ben Pearce:https://www.linkedin.com/in/benpthoughts/

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack

• Elevated You: https://www.elevatedyou.live/psc

• Tech World Human Skills Podcast: https://www.elevatedyou.live/twhs

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome

05:18 Why speaking to senior leaders is different

12:49 Being relevant vs. being an expert

16:19 Mastering delivery under pressure

25:04 Reading the room and course-correcting

32:53 De-risking and the human element

Key Topics Covered

1. The Technical Expert's Dilemma

   • How technical expertise can become a curse when speaking to executives

   • Moving from demonstrating knowledge to demonstrating relevance

2. The Three-Part Framework for Executive Communication

   • Relevance: Understanding what matters to your specific audience

   • Compelling Content: Creating materials that speak to their priorities

   • Excellent Delivery: Performing under pressure with confidence

3. Preparation Strategies

   • Mapping out personas and industries for reusable content

   • The importance of team collaboration in content creation

   • Practice vs. preparation: Why both are essential

4. Reading the Room

   • Starting with curiosity and mini-discovery

   • Mirroring language and adapting on the fly

   • Course-correcting based on real-time feedback

5. The Punchline Problem

   • Why building up to a big reveal doesn't work with executives

   • Leading with impact: "Hitting them between the eyes"

   • Getting to value within the first 90 seconds

6. Risk Management and Trust Building

   • Understanding that you represent organizational risk

   • The "never get fired for buying IBM" mentality

   • How human skills differentiate in an AI-driven world

   • Building confidence through listening and problem-solving

In this episode, Matthew James and Timmy Hendrickson are joined by Nalin Senthamil, Founder and CEO of Storylane, to discuss the future of pre-sales and AI driving influence beyond pipeline. They explore how demo automation is transforming the self-serve buyer experience, the changing role of solutions engineers, and how AI can create 10X impact in pre-sales workflows. Nalin shares insights on leveraging AI for demo personalization, managing complex product integrations, and why the traditional discovery call may be dying.

To join the show live, follow the Presales Collective's LinkedIn page or join the PSC Slack community for updates. The show is bi-weekly on Tuesdays, 8AM PT/11AM ET/4PM GMT.

Follow the Hosts

• Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/

• Connect with Timmy Hendrickson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timmyhendrickson/

• Connect with Nalin Senthamil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nalinpradeep/

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack

• Storylane: https://www.storylane.io/

Timestamps

00:04 Welcome

01:08 Nalin's background and founding Storylane

03:08 What does a self-serve buyer experience look like?

08:18 How AI has changed presales

13:40 Training AI agents to answer technical questions

17:02 AI testing customer scenario

19:28 Overlooked use cases for demo automation

26:30 One workflow where AI can create 10X impact today

Key Topics Covered

1. The Death of Discovery Calls

   • Why buyers are coming to conversations already educated

   • How self-serve experiences span the entire buying journey

   • The role of AI sales agents in initial discovery

2. The Four Categories of SE Work

   • Relationship building and strategic solutioning

   • Demo delivery and POC management

   • Administrative tasks and CRM updates

   • Knowledge sharing and product insights

3. AI as an SE Sidekick

   • Demo preparation and tailoring automation

   • Administrative task reduction

   • Strategic thinking enhancement rather than replacement

4. Demo Automation Use Cases

   • Supporting different AE to SE ratios

   • Managing complex product integrations

   • Upsell and expansion opportunities

   • Micro-demos for specific features

5. Training AI for Technical Questions

   • Leveraging tribal knowledge from Slack, Google Drive, and call recordings

   • Importance of data quality and curation

   • Automatic ingestion of organizational knowledge

6. The Future of Pre-Sales

   • AI enabling faster iteration and personalization

   • Strategic partnership between CS and pre-sales for upsells

   • The evolution from technical support to strategic advisory roles

In this second part of our conversation with Raphael Joseph, former SE turned recruiter and founder of Brando Tech, Jack Cochran and Matthew James dive deep into why traditional job hunting methods no longer work in today's market. Raphael shares strategic insights on how SEs should approach job searching in 2025, treating themselves as products and leveraging their natural skills to navigate the competitive landscape.

IMPORTANT: This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Make sure to listen to Part 1 first for the complete discussion on personal branding and LinkedIn optimization.

To join the show live, follow the Presales Collective's LinkedIn page or join the PSC Slack community for updates. The show is bi-weekly on Tuesdays, 8AM PT/11AM ET/4PM GMT.

Follow the Hosts

• Connect with Jack Cochran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackcochran/

• Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/

• Connect with Raphael Joseph: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphael-joseph-23044150/

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack

• Episode Sponsor: Opine - https://tryopine.com

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome

04:42 What is "classic job hunting" and why it's dead

11:52 How to get on recruiters' radar

13:33 Starting your job search the right way

21:04 Treating job hunting like account management

27:23 Interview process changes and AI requirements

30:30 Why it's not a numbers game anymore

Key Topics Covered

1. The Death of Classic Job Hunting

   • Why sending CVs to job postings no longer works

   • How companies receive hundreds of applications they can't process

   • The cycle of posting jobs, failing to hire, then using recruiters

   • Why your application often goes unread

2. The New Digital Job Hunting Approach

   • Treating yourself as a product you're selling

   • Building warm leads with hiring managers

   • Using SE skills for job hunting: research, discovery, and value proposition

   • The importance of targeted, high-touch approaches over spray-and-pray

3. Working with Recruiters Effectively

   • Why good recruiters provide 1-in-3 odds vs 1-in-300 direct applications

   • How recruiters can prep you with insider knowledge

   • The value of having internal champions in the hiring process

4. Market Dynamics in 2025

   • Why it's now an employer's market

   • The shift from growth-at-all-costs to profitability focus

   • How COVID overhiring led to current oversupply of candidates

   • AI's impact on hiring decisions and productivity expectations

5. Interview Strategy in the Current Market

   • Companies' increased specificity in requirements

   • Why "must-haves" are truly must-haves now

   • The importance of AI literacy and demonstrable skills

   • How to address gaps in your experience strategically

6. Leveraging SE Skills for Job Hunting

   • Using research abilities to identify opportunities

   • Applying discovery skills to understand company needs

   • Creating value propositions for yourself as a candidate

   • Avoiding the same mistakes SEs coach AEs to avoid

In this episode, Jack Cochran and Matthew James are joined by Raphael Joseph to discuss the critical importance of building a strong LinkedIn profile for PreSales professionals. They explore how the platform has evolved as a powerful career tool, especially in today's competitive job market. Raphael shares practical tips on crafting a professional presence that highlights your unique value proposition, explains the impact of consistent engagement, and offers advice on creating authentic content that resonates with hiring managers.

To join the show live, follow the Presales Collective's LinkedIn page or join the PSC Slack community for updates. The show is bi-weekly on Tuesdays, 8AM PT/11AM ET/4PM GMT.

Follow the Hosts

• Connect with Jack Cochran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackcochran/

• Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/

• Connect with Raphael Joseph: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphael-joseph-23044150/

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack

• Sponsor: Opine - https://tryopine.com

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome and introduction to LinkedIn's evolution

01:50 Sponsor: Opine

03:06 Raphael's background and career journey

10:46 Why you should build your LinkedIn profile before you need it

21:11 Focusing on your ideal customer profile (ICP)

25:21 Engagement strategies: connecting, commenting, and posting

33:49 Overcoming nervousness about posting

Key Topics Covered

1. LinkedIn Profile Optimization

   • Using your banner as prime real estate to showcase your unique value

   • Crafting a clear headline that highlights your specialization

   • Writing descriptions that focus on the value you provide

   • The importance of professional photos and consistent branding

2. Strategic Profile Positioning

   • Reverse-engineering your profile based on your target roles

   • Focusing on 3-4 key specializations rather than listing everything

   • Using industry-standard job titles even if your company uses different terminology

   • Making it easy for recruiters to find you through targeted keywords

3. Building Meaningful Connections

   • Connecting with 100-200 potential hiring managers weekly

   • Engaging with their content through thoughtful comments and questions

   • Creating a network before you need it for job searching

   • Leveraging connections for opportunities when transitions occur

4. Content Creation Strategy

   • Starting with comments before moving to creating original posts

   • Sharing authentic experiences from customer interactions

   • Finding your niche audience within the PreSales community

   • Focusing on consistency rather than viral metrics

5. The Changing Job Market

   • How market conditions have shifted from candidate-focused to employer-focused

   • Why specificity now trumps broadness in skills presentation

   • Standing out in a competitive environment through specialization

   • Using LinkedIn as your primary job search tool rather than traditional resumes