This week’s topic was “Getting into Presales”, we had people sharing their journeys into Presales and for those new to the space, how they heard about the role.
Some of the roles or places were in before joining Presales
• In House Trainer
• Development
• IT Operations
• Support
• Customer Success
• Consultancy / Implementation
• Joined straight from school (this was great to hear)
• Change Management, in the right vertical, found the role at a Job Fair
What was equally interesting was how people found the role
• Fell into the role
• Recognised as being a good presenter
• Expecting to be a developer
• Invited to join the team from a Customer Support role
• Forced to join, after a reorg, but ended up enjoying it
• On a training course, invited to join
• Heard about it, and worked in an adjacent space, well suited personality wise
• Saw how important communication was in this and related roles as a path
Why people moved into the role and concerns they had
• Combining Technology and Business Value
• Didn’t have sales skills, but realised that wasn’t the primary need
When hiring, what skills are important and valued
• Soft skills translate from other customer facing positions
• Word of Mouth counts for a lot, people
• Collaboration skills, learning,
• Comfortable asking questions
• Organisation skills
Technical skills are important but often not the #1, but learning them in your new role is crucial, which led us to our final topic.
Enablement for new Presales includes
• Presenting
• Demonstrations
• Often includes certification
• Often in person / virtual
• How to speak
Overall a lot of soft skills and transferable skills.
Finally, Managers are often building a pipeline of future candidates, so it’s good to network/connect