Peter Cohan’s Post

Presales Are Not Trusted Advisors. You need to earn that title (and not use it yourself). ▫️Show product / industry knowledge ▫️Teach the customer something new ▫️Tell them when they’re heading the wrong direction Whether you're in professional services, product management or another role... Trust is earned. What other steps can you take to build trust? -------- 👋 I'm James - I post 2x per week about Presales 🔔 #sales #presales #salesengineering

Do you know how to harness the power of “No” in sales? If you've been in presales or sales for long, you've likely faced your share of "Stump the Chump" moments. Handling these challenges takes emotional intelligence and awareness from both Sales Engineers (SE) and Account Executives (AE). One surprising but effective strategy? Don’t be afraid to admit limitations. A simple, honest “no” makes your “yes” much more credible. Transparency builds trust and sets the stage for a positive relationship. Want 4️⃣ more strategies for navigating these tricky scenarios? Check them out here: https://hubs.ly/Q02TFK3k0 #PreSales #SaaSSales #SalesTips

Now that I’ve started my own business, I often get asked: 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 "𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘩" 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺? And my response is straightforward: because I genuinely believe that presales and solution engineers are the most valuable assets in a sales organization! And often the 1 reason for customers to purchase from you: 1: According to a study from Mastering Technical Sales, buyers consider their engagements with SEs the most valuable interaction compared to dealing with sales reps or even executive-level staff. 2: People buy from people. This becomes even more important when everyone is talking about how to leverage AI in sales and presales. But AI is already starting to erode trust. People want to know if they are talking to an empathetic human being or a smart, yet unaccountable, AI parrot. 3: How you sell is as important as what you sell. The buying experience counts, including the guidance and support you provide to your customers along that journey. SEs are in the best position to reassure their customers that they have their best interests in mind and will mitigate their customers' risks by looking beyond the close date of the sale and helping them anticipate future challenges. --- With that in mind, I still observe that many SEs are perceived as valuable resources. However, their potential is significantly limited by how their expertise is leveraged. I’ve been there myself. I was the demo monkey who came in last minute to walk my prospects through a generic, half-hearted standard demo without really understanding their pain, only to disappear back into my cave. Occasionally, I was blessed with some random RFP responses to fill the time between demos. I was stuck in that hamster wheel myself 🐹 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼, 𝗥𝗙𝗣, 𝗦𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗽, 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁. 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼, 𝗥𝗙𝗣, 𝗦𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗽, 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁. 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼, 𝗥𝗙𝗣, 𝗦𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗽, 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁. -- This is why I started Presales Rockstars a couple of years ago as a little pet project. To share my experience, my f*ck ups, and my perspective. To elevate our role and showcase that we can be so much more than the demo monkey. To highlight to sales orgs that there is so much more we can do. But also to convince SEs about the importance, significance, and impact of their role—if they just fully embrace it. This approach is new to both individuals and organizations because both have considered themselves/their SEs as the product experts. But that time is long gone. Modern presales demands a broad set of complementary competencies. Discovery, storytelling, stakeholder management...sales skills! And this gap is what I'm trying to bridge. By equipping SEs with these critical skills: Helping sales orgs understand the full potential of their SEs.

#SalesLeadership, how often do you have to resolve disagreements between #sales and #presales? Sales reps think presales don't make time on the calendar for them. Presales reps think sales reps are too demanding. Here is how you can solve this common problem so there is better alignment between the two teams. 1. Work With Presales, Not Against Them How often does this happen to you? You've got a customer who wants a demo, but your sales engineer doesn't have an opening for two weeks. It's a common problem. In our latest Sales Engineer Compensation and Workload Report, we found that repetitive intro demos were the worst offender for wasting time. 2. Enable Presales with Automation Are you considering automating part of your sales cycle? Your competition is. 56% of sales engineer individual contributors and 52% of leaders reported they automate some portion of the demo process. 3. Do Discovery the Presales Way Discovery is always a hot topic for both sales and presales. And it's another topic that gets them fighting like cats and dogs. Qualifying leads before they receive a demo, automating part of the demo process, and doing discovery the presales way will help presale reach peak performance. For more information, check out this blog post. #scalingpresales #presales #sales #solutionsarchitect #demoautomation #consensus #buyerenablement

Tackling these hurdles head-on means you're set to thrive in presales! 🚀 Embrace the change & leverage your tech skills for greater impact. 👀 Follow me for presales advises & tips. #SoftwarePresales #CareerGrowth #TechToSales #presales #presalesconsultant #businessdevelopment #salescycle #sales #PresalesExcellence #EngagementStrategies #ValueCreation #RelationshipBuilding

Books to help you expand your Presales career: Over the past 25+ years, I have read more books on the subject of Sales and Presales than I care to remember. Unfortunately, most of them were a waste of time. They could have easily been blog posts, or even newsletter emails. Instead, I encourage you to give these 3 a read. They're well worth the time. Demonstrating To Win! - Robert Riefstahl I first read this book in 2014 and it changed the way I demonstrate software. Here's why you'll love it: it addresses the challenges we all face in delivering technical presentations that are both persuasive and engaging. It will provide you with a practical framework and real-world examples that will help you focus on customer pain, engaging audiences, and handling tough questions.  Great Demo! - Peter Cohan This book was recommended to me early in my career by a former manager and long-time mentor. It completely changed the way I thought about demonstrating software.  Here's why you'll love it: It teaches you how to deliver concise, impactful demos by addressing key pain points first, keeping audiences engaged, and ultimately shortening the sales cycle for faster customer buy-in. The Challenger Sale - Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson Finally, I think everyone, in any Sales role, should read this book. Here's why you'll love it: This book introduces the "Challenger" sales approach, which emphasizes teaching, tailoring, and taking control of sales conversations. It equips Sales Engineers with strategies to challenge customer assumptions, offer new insights, and guide prospects toward solutions they may not have considered. The book helps SEs add more value in technical sales cycles by becoming trusted advisors, rather than just product experts. What books would you recommend?

A stellar demo can make all the difference! 🌟 👀 Follow me for presales advises & tips. #TechDemo #SoftwareSolutions #CustomerSuccess #presales #presalesconsultant #businessdevelopment #salescycle #sales #PresalesExcellence #EngagementStrategies #ValueCreation #RelationshipBuilding

I've been talking to sales and #presales folks recently to discover their key challenges with regard to software demos: 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀: "The sales team doesn't do enough discovery, how can I give a great demo without understanding the pain points?" 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀: "Presales gives the same generic demo every time. They need to tailor it to the customer's specific needs, instead of showcasing features!" 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗮𝘆: "The lead was not qualified in the first place!" -- The truth? Successful demos need a team effort. It's about: 🔍 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆: Getting to the heart of the customer's pain points. 🎯 𝗧𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: Showing how the software solves the problem, not just its features 💰 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀: Ensuring you're demoing to the right audience. __ Blame games are pointless. As Einstein said, "It's stupid to do the same thing over and over again, expecting different results." 🥼 There are great tools to do proper and better discovery. Or aligning sales and presales methodologies to speak a common language and have a fixed set of criteria in place that need to be met before jumping into a demo. Likewise, there are demo techniques even when you have limited customer insights. Start with the prospect's likely challenges and let them guide what they want to see. Instead of dumping all features onto them. Stop finger-pointing – be constructive, and start with yourself in the first place. Unless you enjoy bad demos...then keep on doing what you're doing 😉 -- 𝘏𝘪, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘔𝘢𝘹 👋 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝙪𝙣𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘳𝘨 🥊 💻 #𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 🧭 𝘊𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘶𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 🗺️ 𝘈𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 (#𝘔𝘌𝘋𝘋𝘗𝘐𝘊𝘊)

🚀 'Your technical skills can open doors, but your presales expertise will let you own the building.' 💼 'In presales, every demo is a performance. Make it your stage.' 🤝 'Selling solutions, not products, builds lasting partnerships.' Ready to level up your career? 👀 Follow me for presales advice & tips. #SoftwarePresales #CareerGrowth #TechInnovation #presales #presalesconsultant #businessdevelopment #salescycle #sales #PresalesExcellence #EngagementStrategies #ValueCreation #RelationshipBuilding

The #1 Presales Lesson I’ve Learned It’s NOT About the Pitch In my early days, I thought presales was all about delivering the perfect pitch. But I quickly learned that it’s not about what you say → it’s about how you listen. Here’s how I approach presales now: 1. Listen First, Pitch Later → I always start by asking questions What are their biggest challenges? What’s keeping them up at night? Understanding their pain points is key to tailoring the right solution. 2. Make It a Conversation, Not a Presentation → Instead of running through a deck, I engage in a dialogue I focus on the client’s needs, not just our features. It’s all about showing how we can solve their specific problems. 3. Follow Up with Value → After every meeting, I send a personalized follow-up Not just a “thank you for your time,” but a value-driven message that recaps our discussion and highlights how we can help. This keeps the momentum going. 4. Build Trust from the Start → Trust isn’t built with a single conversation It’s about being transparent, consistent, and always putting the client’s needs first. When they know you’re invested in their success, the sale follows naturally. Presales isn’t just about closing deals. It’s about opening doors to long-term partnerships. P.S. What’s your go-to strategy for successful presales conversations? Let’s chat! 💬