A great topic, important to several regulars on the call. We wanted to talk about how you start a new presales organization. This could be different depending on maturity of the company, bredth of the presales mission, company values, culture and more.
Notes from the session:
Setting a new org up to help a company with established sales team
Organic vs inorganic
Organic - supporting the existing customers
Inorganic - supporting speculative new business
New segments/new bases
Why it happens?
What is the mission for the Presales org?
- Define the problem space
- Get other people's opinions about it
- Marketing, product, sales
- Iterative, can change over time
- Try to be focused with the mission - make it clear what the real role of the team is
- Origin based - if the team is formed from other staff, what is the dividing line
Where does it report into? Sales, Technical Delivery, Marketing?
How is it compensated?
Don't start with everything
Poll on linked in from PSC - where do people report to
Which comes first - the function or the leadership
CCO?
• Stand for the customer
First 60 days?
• Find out what people want before they start
• Build the functions and materials
Create a culture for the team
• Base it on your first hires
• Make sure it grows
Mentorship groups - black valley
Final thoughts
"Don't get too caught up in what it will be in the future. Focus on what you need now."