Burning Presales

RFPs are a stepping stone to presentations, but if they’re such a gateway to the next stage, why do so many people fail to put their best foot forward? Colin Wrightson from Juniper Networks has seen lots of examples of how NOT to answer them, and gives us some great advice on how to get this essential selling tool right. Connect with Colin on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-wrightson-36b7649/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

Colin manages a complex organization selling networking hardware, software and services. There are 5 distinct areas that network presales folks must cover, and so listen in to hear how Hardware, Architecture, Protocol, Management and Competition make being a presales person in the networking industry so different to those in the software industry. Find Colin on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-wrightson-36b7649/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

As we teased in the previous episode, Lidia rejoins us for a masterclass in turning your creative brain into a presales super-power. First step is to step back and not necessarily emulating your colleagues. For the rest, tune in for this bite-size answer to this burning presales question and don’t forget to connect with Lidia on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lidia-vasileva/ or via her website https://www.packetmage.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

Following on from a stellar Demofest session, Lidia joins us to highlight one of the key areas she’s passionate about - being clear. So listen in to her acronym-busting, purpose-finding episode where you’ll see why being clear and concise is the most compelling action you can take for your own success, and the success of your buyers. Connect with Lidia on LinkedIn ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/lidia-vasileva/⁠ or via her website https://www.packetmage.com. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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”. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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”. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/burning-presales/message