Presales Podcast by Presales Collective

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Ricardo Lupo connect on the topic "Constructing an Effective PreSale Team". Ricardo, Head of Solutions Engineering at LogDNA, talks what he believes are the core components of an effective PreSales team. Ultimately, establishing a culture of feedback is crucial while we are in this remote- first culture.

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Susan St. Ledger connect on the topic "Unlocking a High Growth Mindset". Susan, President of Worldwide Field Operations at Okta, talks about why and how to embrace a growth mindset. Susan speaks to the influential leaders who helped her mold her mindset and why embracing change is a very important step in unlocking a high growth mindset. 

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Anurag Goel connect on the topic "World Class Value Organizations". Anurag, Global Head of Value Consulting and Realization at Red Hat, talks about what a Value Consultant is and how it is similar yet different from a Sales Engineer. Anurag also provides specifics into what a World Class Value Organization looks like and how it plugs into the Sales Cycle /...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Rob Johnson connect on the topic "Leadership Development". Rob, Vice President EMEA Solutions Engineering at Celonis, talks about showing up as our authentic self in Leadership and utilizing it to create a culture of trust. Rob uses a term inspiring uniqueness, which is about maximizing employees potential and impact.  

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Shannon Trainor Stark connect on the topic " Best Practices for Experimentation ". Shannon, Managing Director, Solutions Consulting Google Marketing Platform, talks about how she has created a culture of experimentation throughout her career. Things such as creating a framework, highlighting successes and failures, and stressing the idea of innovation as p...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Dominic Dinardo connect on the topic "Life After PreSales". Dominic, CEO and Co-Founder of Aforza , talks about how his roles in PreSales prepared him for roles in Sales, General Management, and now as a CEO. Dominic started writing code when he was 12 years old & eventually went on to study Computer Science before getting his first job with oil giant Shel...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Tristan Tao connect on the topic "Unconventional Path (to PreSales)". Tristan, VP of Solutions at Iterable, talks about his winding career path from Software Engineer to CTO to Entrepreneur to PreSales professional. One of the most interesting aspects of the episode is how Tristan discusses the parallels between entrepreneurship and PreSales.

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Tia Hopkins connect on the topic "Establishing Trust". Tia, Title , Vice President of Cyber Risk Advisory and Solutions Architecture, talks about how and why establishing trust amongst internal and external stakeholders is critical for success. 

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Toby Penn connect on the topic "The Power of a Positive Team". Toby, VP of North American PreSales at Recorded Future, talks about the impact positivity has in the workplace. Positivity is a choice and can have have a real impact on a team's success. 

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Patty Hager connect on the topic "The Rise of Intelligent Devices". Patty, Senior Director of North American PreSales - Intelligent Device Group @ Lenovo, talks about her transition from Software to Hardware Sales Engineering. Hardware, or Intelligent Device, companies are starting to utilize a Solution Selling motion that mimics traditional software compa...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and David Ashworth connect on the topic "Customer Life Cycle: PreSales Impact". David, VP of Delivery, Customer Succes and Growth at Provarity , talks about what the PreSales professionals role should and shouldn't be during the post sale customer experience. David has spent years in Sales Engineering work but is now leading post sale, where he is using his Pr...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Doug Landis connect on the topic "A Venture Capitlist's View of PreSales". Doug, Growth Partner at Emergence Capital , talks about his view regarding the importance of the PreSales professional in Go-To-Market Organizations. Sales Engineers are having their day in the sun and Doug explains why. 

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Karen Catlin connect on the topic "Level Up Your Ally Game". Karen, an Advocate for Inclusive Workplaces, talks about why she started a company to promote being a better ally and how we as PreSales professionals can be more inclusive in the workplace.  More information on Karen's newsletter and books can be found at betterallies.com  

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Christine Ehrenberger Stegmeyer connect on the topic "Building Your Personal Brand". Christine, Vice President of Solutions Consulting Americas at ServiceNow , talks about how and why your personal brand is so important both internally and externally. Christine provides elements of a personal brand and a framework for Sales Engineers to do a Brand Audit. 

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Supriya Yerramilli connect on the topic "Six-Month Check in: Life as a SE". Supriya, Sales Engineer at IT Glue, talks about her experience breaking into PreSales, getting hired as a Solutions Engineer, and ramping into the role. Supriya has hit the ground running and even won "SE of the Quarter" in her first ramped quarter. 

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Lee Johnson connect on the topic "Leading from the Front". Lee, Solution Architecture & Sales Engineering Lead at Virtustream and Chairman of the PreSales Collective DEEI council, talks about Diversity Issues within PreSales.  With the creation of our PreSales Collective Diversity, Equity, Equality, and Inclusion program, Lee and team are making the PreSal...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Pat McQueen connect on the topic "The Process". Pat, SVP of Operations and Sales Engineering at Copado, talks about his experience in hypergrowth as an early employee at Salesforce.com and Salesforce.org. Pat discusses how instituing frameworks allowed for increased speed and velocity within his PreSales teams. 

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Richard Armstrong connect on the topic "The Technical Win". Richard, Head of Americas Solutions Engineering at Cloudflare, talks about the highly debated Technical Win and how it allows organizations to be clearer on what Sales Engineers are accountable for. As PreSales professionals, We must be able to show the business quantifiable results, how and to wh...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Yugi Higashi connect on the topic "A Year in Review". Yuji, Co-Founder of the PreSales Collective, talks about the genesis of the PreSales Collective on our one year anniversary of the podcast. One year later, what started as an idea to bring PreSales professionals together, is an 11,000 member global community. 

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and David Maloof connect on the topic "A PreSales Journey". David , GVP of Solution Engineering, Strategic Advisory Services & Scout Academy at Salesforce, talks about his PreSales Journey. From Sales Rep to Product to PreSales, David has worked in a number of capacities that has shaped the way he approaches PreSales.   

Episode Description: On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis is joined by PreSales Book Club Leaders Steve Bullington & David Ledger plus active book club members Carly Wennogle and Mike Pastore. The crew discusses the PSC Book Club and each guests pitches a different book to read this summer! Steve - LifeScale by Brian Solis David - Range by David Epstein  Carly - Radical Candor by Kim Scott Mike ...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Peter Polizzi connect on the topic "Building a Complex GoToMarket (GTM) Organization. Peter, Senior Vice President of Market Strategies and Technical Sales, talks about his new role at Splunk and how it could be the future of PreSales. Peter's new role unifies five different departments under one roof to have a unified go to market message.

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Naz Irani connect on the topic "Empowering Your People". Naz Irani, Head of Enterprise and Strategic Solutions Architecture at Stripe and President of the PreSales Leadership Collective's Council, discusses her experiences with empowering people. In this episode, Naz will explain how empowerment is the key to building a culture of high performance, innovat...

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Ganesh Shankar connect on the topic "How Technology helps PreSales Professionals Close Deals Faster". Ganesh, Co-Founder and CEO of RFPIO , talks about w hy a former product manager decided to build a company dedicated to automating the RFP response process and equipping PreSales teams. Learn more about RFPIO      

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Kathy Horan Lalama connect on the topic "Scaling New Logo PreSales Teams". Kathy, Director of Solutions Engineering , talks about Scaling New Logo PreSales teams. Some organizations approach selling to new logos the same way that they sell to the existing install base. In this episode, Kathy talks about why and how the motions are different.