#cross posting this from my post on LinkedIn.
“Do you want to be a post sales or a pre sales consultant? “
I’ve heard about a lot of PreSales Collective members talking about their journey to presales this week, and it has been exciting reading. The question above is what set me off on my journey!
It seemed an innocent enough question. I hardly had really given it much thought, but this is what first sent me in the career direction of Presales. Presales sounded more interesting to me and maybe a little bit out of my comfort zone! Nothing against post sales - there is a big need for good post sales consultants too and I've had the pleasure to work with many of the best.
Presales delivers a continual adventure to me. Each customer, each meeting and you have a chance to hear a new perspective or a new business problem. You're in the room when people start to get it. You help create "aha" moments!
For me the key skills of presales are passion, curiosity, and the patience to listen. Passion because you should be excited about your products & services, but curiosity so that you are interested in what your customer is thinking, and how they want to solve their business problems. Patience, because although you might have talked about this challenge, problem or product before, it is usually a new conversation for the customer, and you need to give them the time, space and control to share the challenge from their point of view.
Back over twenty years ago I made a decision to challenge myself with the unknown and it has paid off. Today I'm in a new country, representing my company and hearing fresh customer perspectives on their business problems and listening. Hoping to find a new way we can help them!
#JourneytoPresales #presalescollective
#presales