Presales Podcast by Presales Collective

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Achint Sehgal connect on "Democratizing Trust in Solutions Leadership." Achint, Director of Solutions Engineering at OneTrust , talks about the importance of Trust in Sales and, especially, Solutions Consulting. Achint provides very tactical ways for leaders and organizations to make trust more than just a buzzword and a concrete part of your team's DNA. W...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Mattie Stremic connect with Curtis Barber and Jess Ashwood to discuss " Untapped Talent: The Education Exodus ." Curtis, Associate Solutions Engineer at SOCi, and Jess, Solution Expert at UKG, share their journey's from Teachers to Solutions Consulting. Curtis and Jess graduated from the PreSales Academy and have immediately made an impact in their current...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Paloma Garcia connect on "Solutions Role in Pipeline Generation". Paloma, Director of Solutions Consulting at ServiceNow, discusses her perspective on becoming a true partner to your customers and sales team by engaging in pipeline generation. Paloma believes that the best Solutions Consultants aid in sales by strategizing and executing different types of...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Tom Banton connect on "Investing in Future Solutions Leaders." Tom, Head of Leadership Enablement at PreSales Collective , discusses why the profession needs to be defining what GREAT Solutions Leadership looks like.  For more information on Leader Elevate and all PreSales Collective Enablement programs, visit www.presalescollective.com/enablement. 

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Chris Craft connect on " Stay Ready So You Don't Have To Get Ready ." Chris, Technology Leader at Docusign , discusses his perspective on being ready for change. Technology is always changing and it is easy to become complacent so Chris provides guidance on how to stay curious and engaged so that you are always ahead of the technology curve to better suppo...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Shawna James connect on "Building Community." Shawna,  Community & Events Manager at PreSales Collective , talks about the importance of building belonging. Shawna hit the ground running when she joined the PreSales Collective in January 2021. After years of experience in Community Building, Shawna focused on building stronger ties through our various prog...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Elena Hutchison connect on "SC Impact on Marketing." Elena, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Product Marketing at Medallia , talks about her career journey up from non-traditional PreSales talent to Solutions Consulting Leader and now Strategy and Product Marketing. During her time at Medallia, Elena and the SC's were introduced as a secret weapon...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Shamil Turner connect on "Balancing Pre & Post Sales in the World of Start-Ups." Shamil, Manager of Enterprise Solutions Architects at Figma, talks about the reality of early-stage SCs that support both Pre & Post Sale. The reality is that one role is Pitching, and the other role is Painting. In organizations still looking for product-market fit, PreSales...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Rich Kline connect on the topic " The 5 R's of Leadership ". Rich, Vice President of Solutions Engineering at OwnBackup , talks about the 5 R's of Leadership: Revenue, Recruiting, Retain, Ramp, and Relationship. The 5 R's are a way to think about what's most important and how PreSales Leaders see the bigger picture. For scaling PreSales organizations, havi...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Woody Evans connect on the topic "Business Discovery University." Woody, Vice President, Global Presales at Delphix, discusses teaching and scaling business discovery within a PreSales Organization. Business Discovery University, or BDU, is a program Woody created to help Solutions Consultants improve the behavior that's hardest to learn, most valuable, an...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Piet Saegeman connect on the topic "Strategic Messaging". Piet, Messaging Strategist at Yamazoni, talks about how good messaging optimizes the buying journey and drives business results. The reality is that every organization has a messaging strategy, but few manage it well. PreSales professionals are often the go-between for Marketing's messaging approach...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Ash Davis connect on " Communicating Value Effectively ." Ash, Principal Practice Lead at Red Hat and PSC DEEI Council Member , talks about how Value is not about you or your product but the customer. To effectively communicate Value and establish trust, more listening than talking is required. Ash delivers so much Value around how Solutions Consultants ca...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis, Alex Navarrete, and Felix Navarrete connect on "Establishing Yourself as A New SE." Felix, Solutions Consultant at Gainsight and recent PreSales Academy graduate , and Alex, Sr. Sales Engineer at Slack, discuss Felix's recent transition to the PreSales profession. Making a career change can be daunting, so Felix provides his experience from his first few mont...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Diana Cappello connect on the topic "Building a Customer Growth Org". Diana, Director of Solutions Engineering at Eightfold , discusses her experience building out a Customer Growth team at Clari. In this role, Solutions Engineers support the growth of existing customers only. This model is both interesting and important to the future of PreSales organizat...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Ajay Jay connect on " The Disparity between Technical Win and Business Win Rates ." Ajay, Co-Founder and CEO, talks about his experience with the highly debated Technical Win. Ajay also provides a valuable framework for understanding Technical Win and its impact on organizations related to Sales 3.0.

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Dola Akinduro connect on the topic " Always Be Learning ". Dola, Senior Manager of PreSales EMEA at Hubspot , talks about her perspective on the constant learning journey that all PreSales professionals are on. Dola provides tactical advice on change and both personal and professional growth. 

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Scott Blacker connect on the topic "Leveraging the Flywheel at Scale". Scott, Global Head of Solutions Engineering at Atlassian , discusses Atlassian's go-to-market strategy as it relates to the flywheel. With the topic of Product-Led Growth on the rise, Scott breaks down what the flywheel effect is and how it impacts the Solutions Engineers role within th...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Erin Baker connect on the topic "How To Get Promoted". Erin, Director of Solutions Consulting at AlayaCare and PreSales Collective Ambassador , talks about her promotion journey from Client Success Associate to Solutions Engineer and now Director of Solutions Engineering. Erin has been promoted 4 times during her 4.5 years at AlayaCare so she will share wh...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Jonathan Friedman connect on "Connecting Product to Value with Better Storytelling." Jonathan, Co-Founder & CEO at Demostack , talks about how the changes in buyer behavior force organizations to take a new approach to selling . PreSales plays a crucial role in the revenue process in this new approach. Solutions Engineers need to connect product to value t...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Katie Meloche connect on the topic "Career Confidence". Katie, Senior Strategic Value Advisor at Adobe, shares her personal experience and story of her career and how not to tie self-worth into career achievements. Katie is vulnerable and open as it relates to the impact of the demands of the PreSales professional. This is a great episode for anyone strugg...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Rishi Kapoor connect on the topic "The Importance of Team Selling". Rishi is a Consulting Lead Sales Engineer at Alteryx, and a PSC Ambassador, discusses what team selling is, why it is essential, and how, if done right, it unlocks a better customer experience. 

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Courtney Flickwir connect on the topic " Rearchitecting the Experience ". Courtney, Member Experience Manager at PreSales Collective, talks about how we are improving our current PreSales Collective Member Experience. There are many ways to be involved and engaged in PreSales Collective, which can have both benefits and cause confusion. Our new Member Hub...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Kevin Mefford connect on the topic "Spring World Tour". Kevin, Head of Community at PreSales Collective, talks about why PreSales Collective is building community and belonging in the face to face setting. The Spring World Tour is a 17 city event schedule for PreSales professionals to connect and network with their peers. Learn more about where we are goin...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Amin Ibrahim connect on the topic " Leveling Up the Demo ". Amin, Senior Director of Value and Solutions at Hootsuite & PSLC Council Member , talks about elevating the demo experience. Expectations of our prospects are changing so how do Solutions Consultants alter our demos to meet customers where they are. In this episode, James and Amin reference Donald...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Tom Banton connect on the topic "Back on the Road". Tom, Global Vice President of Solutions Engineering at eightfold.ai & PreSales Collective Ambassador, shares his experience in face to face customer meetings. As we leave the remote-only world, there are new rules of the game for in person sales meetings. Tom shares his learnings and offers advice for tho...