Presales Podcast by Presales Collective

In this episode of the PreSales Podcast, Chris Mabry speaks with Kai Tillman - Army Veteran, 5x published author, educator, and Senior Solutions Engineer at Atlassian. One of the biggest takeaways is this:  Veterans have a unique blend of skills and experiences that equip them to tackle complex challenges easily. They have GRIT and stay steady while faced with huge change, making them a perfect fi...

In this episode of the PreSales Podcast, Chris Mabry and Justin McDonald discuss Justin's journey from individual contributor to Founder and CEO. We discuss struggles, lessons learned along the way, and tools he developed as an SE that he still uses today as a CEO.  Explore the rising significance of live demos in SaaS sales world Discuss how a demo isn't just a "presentation" but a methodology/pr...

In this Letter to the Community, I introduce myself to the PreSales community as the new General Manager, giving insight into my backstory as a Solution Consultant and the journey to leading and managing teams.  I unpack what I love most about my career and the PreSales Collective: People. The human story of growth, friendship, and potential is what drives me.  At PreSales Collective, we believe t...

This six-part series is designed to help Solutions Consultants of all experience levels perfect their craft and be the best in their field. Through interviews and case studies with experienced professionals, we'll unpack real-life stories and get actionable insights into what you can do right now to become a world-class SC. Tune in and discover strategies for: Continuous learning and improvement T...

This six-part series is designed to help Solutions Consultants of all experience levels perfect their craft and be the best in their field. Through interviews and case studies with experienced professionals, we'll unpack real-life stories and get actionable insights into what you can do right now to become a world-class SC. Tune in and discover strategies for: Continuous learning and improvement T...

This six-part series is designed to help Solutions Consultants of all experience levels perfect their craft and be the best in their field. Through interviews and case studies with experienced professionals, we'll unpack real-life stories and get actionable insights into what you can do right now to become a world-class SC. Tune in and discover strategies for: Continuous learning and improvement T...

This six-part series is designed to help Solutions Consultants of all experience levels perfect their craft and be the best in their field. Through interviews and case studies with experienced professionals, we'll unpack real-life stories and get actionable insights into what you can do right now to become a world-class SC. Tune in and discover strategies for: Continuous learning and improvement T...

This six-part series is designed to help Solutions Consultants of all experience levels perfect their craft and be the best in their field. Through interviews and case studies with experienced professionals, we'll unpack real-life stories and get actionable insights into what you can do right now to become a world-class SC. Tune in and discover strategies for: Continuous learning and improvement T...

This six-part series is designed to help Solutions Consultants of all experience levels perfect their craft and be the best in their field. Through interviews and case studies with experienced professionals, we'll unpack real-life stories and get actionable insights into what you can do right now to become a world-class SC. Tune in and discover strategies for: Continuous learning and improvement T...

This week on the PreSales Podcast, James spends a few minutes recapping 2022 and discussing PreSales Collective's strategy for 2023! Don't worry, the PSC Podcast isn't going anywhere, but it is changing to bi-weekly and has some exciting format changes! The data tells us that people listen to every single episode every week so please use this chance to catch up on the episodes you've missed.

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Dini Mehta connect on " CROs Perspective: Unlocking the Solutions Consultant ." Dini, Former Chief Revenue Officer at Lattice and Part Time Operator at Operator Collective,  discusses how and why she believes Solutions Consulting is a strategic component of the Go-To-Market organization. Dini shares her strategy to scale Solutions and use the role as a con...

In 2021, the PreSales Collective released a State of Diversity report for the entire PreSales community. This report, with research supported by the Sales Talent Agency, benchmarked diversity metrics in our industry so that we could more fully understand the gender and ethnic makeup of the profession. We committed to putting out a report every year so that we could use the data over time to track...

On the PreSales Podcast, Mattie and Emmanuel Fadajutimi connect on "Lessons From My First Year in PreSales" Emmanuel, Solutions Engineer at Hubspot , talks about the realities of what's like to be an early-career SC, lessons he's learned over the past year, and what it means to have a learner mindset regardless of where you are in your career.

On the PreSales Podcast, Mattie Stremic connects with Allison Macalik and Gizelle Panton to discuss why "Mentorship Matters." Allison Macalik, Lead Solutions Engineer and Team Lead at Salesforce, and Gizelle Panton, Solutions Engineer at LinkedIn, share about their mentorship relationship, how to successfully mentor, and the importance of mentorship in career development. Gizelle and Allison were...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Jeff Stewart connect on " PreSales Performance – Metrics That Matter ." Jeff, Field CTO and Vice President, Global Solutions Engineering at SolarWinds, talks about what the PreSales Metrics are that truly highlight the impact of Solutions on the business. Jeff highlights how he looks at Team and Individual Performance as well as Sales Performance, Producti...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Meghan Noel connect on "Running PreSales like a Business." Meghan, Global Vice President of PreSales at Amplitude , talks about the critical business drivers to ensure your Solutions team is elevated within your organization. Meghan shares why ensuring our profession is viewed as true revenue drivers is more important than ever. Referenced Presentation: ht...

On the PreSales Podcast, Mattie Stremic and Akanksha Sehgal connect on "Building a Solutions Academy." Akanksha, Director of Global Solution Engineering at VMware, discusses the importance of entry-level or academy programs and provides tactical advice on how to build an academy program. Learn More about PreSales Academy: www.presalesacademy.com 

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Jamel Reimer connect on " Closing Eight-Figure Deals ." Jamal, Author of Mega Deal Secrets and Founder of the Enterprise Sellers Community , talks about his experience closing multiple $50,000,000+ deals. Jamal, a former Account Executive and Sales Leader turned Community Leader, has the unique expertise in closing deals that a tiny percentage of sellers h...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Paul Harris connect on "The Intriguing Similarities between Professional Athletes and Solutions Professionals." Paul, Principal Solution Architect at Loftware & PreSales Collective Ambassador, talks about how PreSales onboarding and development should be treated like top athletes. Paul discusses that development is a two-way street between player and coach...

On the PreSales Podcast, Mattie Stremic hosts Winny Delcin and Nina Berger on the topic of "Meet the PreSales Academy Team." Winny, Training Program Manager, and Nina, Career Services Manager, are two of the newest members of the PreSales Collective team and are heavily involved in the day-to-day of PreSales Academy. In this episode, we learn more about Winny and Nina, their backgrounds, why they...

On the PreSales Podcast, Mattie Stremic connects with James Kaikis to discuss "Two Years & 125 Episodes Later". The podcast has experienced incredible success over the last several years with almost 167,000 listens, an immense amount of topics, and guests from all around the world. For this episode, Mattie asked James to discuss the history of this podcast, how elevated voices to the profession, a...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Garin Hess connect on " How a Buyer Enablement Approach to Deal Review Improves Forecasting ." Garin, Author of Selling Is Hard. Buying Is Harder: How Buyer Enablement Drives Digital Sales and Shortens the Sales Cycle and CEO/Founder of Consensus, discusses how sales teams need to make buying easier by equipping champions to sell within their organization....

Research shows that what buyers want most from vendors are product demos. But what type of demo should we deliver at each stage of the buyer journey? ‍Many PreSales professionals categorize demos into two types: the standard demo and the technical demo. ‍In reality, there are six critical types of demos that most stakeholders in the buying group must go through to reach a decision. Knowing what th...

** Early Release ** This week the PreSales Podcast is utilizing VIDEO! ​Research shows that what buyers want most from vendors are product demos. But what type of demo should we deliver at each stage of the buyer journey?​ ‍Many PreSales professionals categorize demos into two types: the standard demo and the technical demo. ‍In reality, there are six critical types of demos that most stakeholders...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Andrew Birnbaum connect on " PreSales Role in Champion Building ." Andrew, Vice President of Solutions Engineering at Celonis , talks about how Solutions teams can play a bigger role in the sales cycle by building Champions. Champion building is no longer just the responsibility of sales executives exclusively as buyers, enterprises, and products are more...