PreSales Hireside Chats

Ed Baxter is a British Pre-Sales leader based in Singapore. Since the age of 10 he's been plotting his move abroad. In this podcast we learn how he made it happen and what he's learned about living, working and PreSales in Singapore and Asia more broadly.

In this episode we talk with Procurement Technology SC's Julia Henriet and Juan Pablo Ahumada about their career journeys from Big 4 Audit and Economics into PreSales. We cover: - What they love about PreSales - Their pathway into PreSales from Big audit and Economics and how PreSales compares with this. - The makings of a great SE. - Skills and abilities they have developed as SC's - Why...

From Big Four to PreSales to Market Strategy—Gabriele’s Career Path Gabriele Fiata has taken an interesting route into PreSales. He started out between security consulting at KPMG and Deloitte, along with time in industry at PepsiCo before shifting into PreSales at SAP. Now, he works in market strategy, helping shape SAP’s cloud security messaging. In this episode, you will learn: • What Gabriele...

Kapali is a PreSales Business Architect at SAP, captaining PreSales teams on meaty, complex opportunities across the whole SAP range of products. She's also fantastic at explaining her role in a down-to-earth, clear way. In this conversation, we discuss: - What Kapali loves about PreSales - What PreSales is at SAP - How PreSales and work vendor side compare to advisory positions at Global SI's lik...

Rudy’s story is both fascinating and unique. Beginning his career as a Creative Director, he successfully transitioned into SE roles at Esko and Smartsheet, earning a reputation as a high-performing, respected, and well-loved team member in both companies. Now, having moved from PreSales into a Product Director, he sees things from all different perspective, making for a great Hireside Chat. In th...

Matt Gilbey is a Solution Advisory Lead for SAP Supply Chain . In this conversation, we discuss: • What Matt loves about PreSales • The actual amount of sales involved in PreSales • Matt’s journey into PreSales • The key lessons he has learned and how they have helped him become a confident presenter and public speaker • How PreSales compares to working in industry and consulting This conversation...

Simon is the Head of Customer Advisory for SAP UKI, with a wealth of experience hiring Simon believes in a candidate-centric, keep-things-simple, approach. In this episode expect to learn: - Some of the benefits of graduate programmes and academies - How Simon ensures candidates feel special and well treated through the interview process, leading to more accepted offers - What characteristics lead...

Mark is the Director of Buyer Enablement at Consensus, he is also a host on the excellent Two PreSales in a Pod, podcast. Mark has never been shy to advocate for his own perspective on all things PreSales. Expect to learn: - What the CV of the future will look like - How your personal brand and building a career microsite will help your career - The dangers of not having a personal brand - Why emp...

We speak with Marcel Golembiewski a DACH based PreSales leader who has improved his hiring results by getting his hands dirty and doing things differently. Expect to learn: - Thoughts on the state of the job market in SaaS PreSales - Why unsung heroes should be celebrated more - How Marcel took things into his own hands, helped his recruiting partner understand the PreSales role better and saw a 1...

As well as being one of Europe's most important regions, DACH has always been a little different to recruit in and certainly a challenging market to hire in. We speak with Manuel Schulz a DACH based PreSales leader about what he thinks is needed to hire SE's successfully there. Learn about: - What makes for a great SE - How to hire effectively in DACH - The particularities of DACH SE's...

What would the ideal hiring process look like for PreSales? This is gold from  Ramzi Marjaba .

“I can’t stand it when people try to sell me a product, I don't like being manipulated.” “It’s sales without being annoying” Such a nice take here from  Rew Dickinson  on his vision of what PreSales and leadership should be.

There’s a lot of talk currently about SE/SC skills and competencies matrixes, another example of PreSales professionalising further. Transforming the idea of a skills matrix into an adopted reality is the true challenge,  Sandra Palm  led an internal team that did this and took the time to talk us through the experience step by step.

For most people, it’s a pleasure to work in an industry as international as software. Evaluating a candidate’s soft skills is hard enough as it is, more so when as a hiring manager you need to allow for subtle cultural differences, some of which you may not even be aware of.  Gigi Carlino  runs an international team, so it was great to have his take on how he goes about allowing for language and c...

I’m surprised agility is not talked about more as a core capability in PreSales. I think  Chris Taplin  is spot-on here, agility matters and is applicable to everybody in PreSales. This highlight was taken from a wide-ranging conversation with Chris, amongst other things he walked us through the PreSales competency model he has developed over his impressive career.

Intuition.. does it help or hinder when hiring? The benefits and pitfalls of using intuition for hiring decisions, as well as thoughts around how to mitigate some of the risks of ‘going with your gut’ has been a reoccurring theme in the conversations we’ve been having with PreSales hiring managers. Here the brilliant  Sveta Kostinsky  provides her view.

Treat the recruitment process as a sales cycle and make a lasting impression through storytelling. Rock solid advice from  Kerry Sokalsky  for anyone interviewing for a PreSales role. During the full conversation, Kerry shared his view on the essential qualities for successful demos, different compensation models for PreSales jobs, and the most and least trainable PreSales skills. Big thanks for t...

We enjoyed an enlightening conversation with  Simon Gillis , discussing a range of topics around hiring, including the importance of diversity and proactively looking to bring in individuals who bring new perspectives to a team, as a cultural add. Thanks so much for the time Simon!

What abilities make up a top-performing PreSales professional and how can you assess these in the hiring process? We asked  Chris Jones  and this is what he had to say.

Matthieu Rider  is a seasoned PreSales leader with a lot of hiring experience. Matt took the time to discuss in depth his beliefs around hiring. Some highlights for us were: - Have an 'always hiring' approach, identifying future hires and nurturing these relationships for the right time. - Look beyond the obvious, there are excellent potential hires outside of traditional SE candidate pool...

Is personality diversity on a PreSales team important? If it is important, how do we go about ensuring it is factored into the hiring process? We enjoyed a very insightful conversation with  Adolfo Lozano Torralvo , discussing this and other topics related to his PreSales hiring philosophy. Thanks Adolfo!

Hiring from industry can lead to a PreSales team's best hires. They understand an industry’s drivers intimately and can operate at a peer level with customers, leading to more trust, customer centricity and better solutioning. They also bring any PreSales team a new perspective, having been in the customers' shoes. That said, it’s hard to identify those who can successfully make the shift...

What do accountants, recruiters, country singers, painters, proposal writers, psychology professors and TV news anchors (!) have in common? Amin Ibrahim  and his team have hired them all as Solution Consultants! We’ve now surveyed 65 PreSales hiring managers and the data is clear, the following is a breakdown of factors considered when hiring and the % of hiring managers that rate these at 8/10 im...

The interview process is akin to a sales campaign, including a discovery component. For candidates: Using your discovery skills, to accurately understand the position you’re interviewing for will showcase these PreSales skills, help you at the demo stage and allow you to qualify and understand better the role you are looking for. For hiring managers: Use this as an evaluation point, how well do ca...

In the midst of layoffs and a tighter hiring market there is currently a unique opportunity for PreSales leaders to develop their network of potential future hires. Especially with individuals who may previously not have been open to a conversation. Matt Walker  has extensive experience hiring for fast growth, from our conversation with him it’s clear he has thought deeply about team building, inc...