On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Chris Craft connect on "Stay Ready So You Don't Have To Get Ready." Chris, Technology Leader at Docusign, discusses his perspective on being ready for change. Technology is always changing and it is easy to become complacent so Chris provides guidance on how to stay curious and engaged so that you are always ahead of the technology curve to better support your customers.

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Shawna James connect on "Building Community." Shawna,  Community & Events Manager at PreSales Collective, talks about the importance of building belonging. Shawna hit the ground running when she joined the PreSales Collective in January 2021. After years of experience in Community Building, Shawna focused on building stronger ties through our various programs and the impact has been palpable. Shawna shares her story and why community matters to her. More importantly, she discusses how PSC will continue to aim to emphasize a sense of belonging while building out a world-class community.

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Elena Hutchison connect on "SC Impact on Marketing." Elena, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Product Marketing at Medallia, talks about her career journey up from non-traditional PreSales talent to Solutions Consulting Leader and now Strategy and Product Marketing. During her time at Medallia, Elena and the SC’s were introduced as a secret weapon to Analyst Relations and other Marketing functions. Listen to Elena discuss how your SC team can be at the center of influence both internally and externally. 

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Shamil Turner connect on "Balancing Pre & Post Sales in the World of Start-Ups." Shamil, Manager of Enterprise Solutions Architects at Figma, talks about the reality of early-stage SCs that support both Pre & Post Sale. The reality is that one role is Pitching, and the other role is Painting. In organizations still looking for product-market fit, PreSales teams need to be audible ready and be that trusted advisor throughout the customer life cycle.  

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Rich Kline connect on the topic "The 5 R’s of Leadership". Rich, Vice President of Solutions Engineering at OwnBackup, talks about the 5 R’s of Leadership: Revenue, Recruiting, Retain, Ramp, and Relationship. The 5 R’s are a way to think about what’s most important and how PreSales Leaders see the bigger picture. For scaling PreSales organizations, having a framework helps with great alignment. 

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Woody Evans connect on the topic “Business Discovery University.” Woody, Vice President, Global Presales at Delphix, discusses teaching and scaling business discovery within a PreSales Organization. Business Discovery University, or BDU, is a program Woody created to help Solutions Consultants improve the behavior that’s hardest to learn, most valuable, and that needs the most practice: meta-cognition. 

Read More: https://www.presalescollective.com/content/business-discovery-university-for-presales 

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Piet Saegeman connect on the topic “Strategic Messaging”. Piet, Messaging Strategist at Yamazoni, talks about how good messaging optimizes the buying journey and drives business results. The reality is that every organization has a messaging strategy, but few manage it well. PreSales professionals are often the go-between for Marketing’s messaging approach and the reality of the messaging in the field by the Sales team.

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Ash Davis connect on “Communicating Value Effectively.” Ash, Principal Practice Lead at Red Hat and PSC DEEI Council Member, talks about how Value is not about you or your product but the customer. To effectively communicate Value and establish trust, more listening than talking is required. Ash delivers so much Value around how Solutions Consultants can elevate how they deliver Value in their day-to-day.

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis, Alex Navarrete, and Felix Navarrete connect on "Establishing Yourself as A New SE." Felix, Solutions Consultant at Gainsight and recent PreSales Academy graduate, and Alex, Sr. Sales Engineer at Slack, discuss Felix's recent transition to the PreSales profession. Making a career change can be daunting, so Felix provides his experience from his first few months in the role. Alex, a veteran in the profession, discusses how he has offered guidance to his brother but, more importantly, how SCs need to re-establish themselves year after year.

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Diana Cappello connect on the topic "Building a Customer Growth Org". Diana, Director of Solutions Engineering at Eightfold, discusses her experience building out a Customer Growth team at Clari. In this role, Solutions Engineers support the growth of existing customers only. This model is both interesting and important to the future of PreSales organizational structures. Hear Diana offer tactical advice on what and why a customer growth team and how she is going to implement the same structure in her new role at eightfold.ai.