So You Want to be a Pre-Sales Architect /

ConsultantK. Mohamed Faizal and Alvin Lau

Microsoft MVP

24th October 2015

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Questions?1. What is Pre-Sales all about ? 2. Do we need any sales experience?3. Are there any mandatory learnings to enter

the field?4. What are the career prospects?

What is Pre-Sales all about ? Simple answer is any function or task that is performed before the actual contract is signed

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Account Type

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20:5:2:1

Is it existing account ?Do you have coverage?Is the deal is seeded ?

Do you have any relationship ?Is people know who we are?

5 rules of Pre-Sales Engineering:1. You are a member of the sales team2. You are not a salesperson3. You must be Business Relevant4. You must be Technically Knowledgeable5. Know your audience

What is Pre-Sales all about ? 1. Pre-sales is all the stuff that happens to develop a sale2. Initial Contact between the Sales Team and the Technical Expert3. Fill the gap between the functional and business requirements of the Customer 4. You don't have to be a sales person but you do need to understand sales cycles. 5. You do need to be the "expert" in your field and understand how your product works.

1. Most products these days are not a one size fits all and most successful business are in solution oriented sales.

6. pre-sales consultant closely tied to the sales team but support them in a technical way. 7. Pre-sales consultants are instrumental in technical sales cycles as they are able to analyze

the customer requirements and assist in developing a proper solution. 8. Pre-sales technical consultant, Job to make sure the solution fits the customer

requirements and will work properly once implemented.

What is Pre-Sales all about ? 1. Pre-sales professional thus needs to understand what the end

customer is looking for, access the Sales requirement along with the Sales person and work with the technical team to deliver this requirement in a document.

2. These solution then need to fit the business objective, technical objective and financial objective of the client,

3. Which means tailor the proposal to meet what the customer needs, explains (or helps sell) this solution to the customer, helps close the deal or sale and often stays on to ensure that the delivery team or product specialists that follow him provide the intended solution.

What is Pre-Sales all about ? • Pre-Sales is not a role a person can plan to be in from the start of his

career. Its something that one can 'evolve' into after passing a decent

time in technical group, gaining some business acumen and learning

many soft skills like presentations, proposal writing, communication,

influencing etc etc.

Are there any mandatory learnings to enter the field?• No = No course or Certification required

• Yes = You must know the tools & techniques

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Tools & Techniques• RFI – Request for Information

• An open enquiry that spans the market seeking broad data and understanding.• RFQ – Request for Quotation

• An opportunity for potential suppliers to competitively cost the final chosen solution(s).

• RFT – Request for Tender• An opportunity for potential suppliers to submit an offer to supply goods or services against a detailed

tender.• RFP – Request for Proposal

• Sometimes based on a prior RFI; a business requirements-based request for specific solutions to the sourcing problem.

• BQ – Budgetary Quotation• ITQ - Invitation To Quote• Bulk Tender – Set for a period

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Tools & Techniques1. Initial visibility in the sales pipeline2. Initial Contact: 3. The Request for Information (RFI) and Request for Proposal (RFP) 4. Presentations 5. Demonstrations6. Face-to-Face Meetings

Tools & TechniquesInitial visibility in the sales pipelineSales person will reach out to you for assistance, education, involvement, or just

to discuss the opportunity with youSales stage is formally managed through the sales pipeline that can take the

form of a spreadsheet for small companies, or a software system with processes around it in medium to large companies• Initial Contact: sales person contacting the prospect and getting them to agree to a conference

call, demo, initial preliminary discussion, or face to facehave observed that a face-to-face meeting this early on is the exception, but it

does happen and more times than you would think

Tools & Techniques• The Request for Information (RFI) and Request for Proposal (RFP) • A Request for Information : is just that, white papers, brochures, on-

line demo, or most of the time, completing a RFI that the prospect has submitted to your company and most likely others. • Request for Proposal (RFP) which is similar to the Request for

Information, but is much more detailed and inclusive because it’s just that, a request for a proposal that you as a company will have to deliver on. The RFP isn’t just a response to questions about your product, technology, services, functionality, implementation, security, and support; it’s a proposal

RFQ - DocumentsCompany Background

Products Offered

Services Offered

The Overall Solution

Showcase Customers

Thought Leadership / Awards / Industry Recognition

Prospects Overall Requirements

Prospect Questions

Architecture

Functionality

Standards Complied To

Security

Development Lifecycle

Professional Services

Project Management and Roadmap

Implementation Methodology

Implementation Estimates

Partners

Hosting

Support and Maintenance

Change Request and Product Features Methodology

Customer Conferences and Committees

Pricing

Legal

Presentations• You will be required to make presentations on every aspect of your company and it’s products,

solutions, and services at some time• Presentations and demonstrations, you are center stage in front of a demanding audience that

wants to be educated, entertained, and interacted with. • Sales is about relationships and being able to interact with one or many people in demanding

situations• Keep in mind that the customer will use the presentation as a point of reference in the future, so

major points of interest should be captured, but the details should be elaborated upon by you. • Remember, the business requirements are most likely driving the meeting and your presentation

should address the business requirements and how your product / solution can technically address the business requirements.

• You will always run into the situation where you don’t have enough time to present what you want to. This requires that you continuously trim your presentation to present only the salient points of interest to the prospect or that you feel are important enough.

Face-to-Face Meetings • Practice makes perfect and the better you are able to present your

solution and interact with multiple personalities and show a level of confidence the better off you will be. • Think of a politician at a press conference. Most of the time it’s a

professional and cordial event, but usually there is always that “one” moment when someone presents a question, comment, or objection that can throw you off. You have to be able to handle it professionally, show your credibility, and interact in a constructive manner.

• All of the steps outlined here require everyone to be at the top of their game, but

demos are that event that require experienced resources, planning, coordination,

and fall back procedures in case something goes wrong. Too many times the

demo is lacking because prior planning wasn’t taken and the lack of coordination

can lead to confusion and the perception or reality that you as a company are

disorganized.

Tools & Techniques

Skills• Technical Knowledge, functional knowledge with some Domain experience

• Presales Professional because you need to have technical skills in your domain of

expertise, but also Sales skills and preferably also knowledge in PM (Project

Management) and BM (Bid Management).

• It's a very unique set of skills, you have to be technical to understand what would be

the best way to design the solution and with perfect customer facing skills at the same

time. The most difficult bit it to "translate" customer words into a valid requirement

Skills• During the whole sales-cycle you act as a trusted adviser and interface between your prospect,

• Your technical expertise, industry knowledge, and your capability to explain technically complex

things in a simple and comprehensive way, are making you the perfect sparring-partner for

contacts in IT as well as special departments.

• Your tasks cover amongst others analyzing customer specific processes, answering RFIs/RFPs,

preparing & executing of product demos, giving speeches or participating in panel discussions

on fairs and events, analyzing competition, and regular meetings with product management to

improve our products.

What is the career path of a pre sales consultant • Pre-Sales Consultant >>> Senior or Principal • OR • SME • Solution Manager , • Bid Manager, • Proposal Author, • Estimation Specialist, • Practice Head • Marketing Head

The technology is only one

small part of the equation. If

you don’t understand

your customers, you can’t build

adoptive solutions.

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Thank you to our sponsors!

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Reference• http://www2.wwt.com/united/art-pre-sales• • https://www.linkedin.com/groups/What-is-career-path-pre-2123766.

S.103947640?qid=045d5c31-074e-4fed-b421-acc357e5defc&trk=groups_most_popular-0-b-cmr&goback=%2Egmp_2123766

• • https://www.linkedin.com/groups/What-defines-PreSales-64542.S.93

540970?qid=999be0c5-0c7e-4bd0-a713-d743a5c42a8d&trk=groups_most_popular-0-b-ttl&goback=%2Eanb_68591_*2_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1%2Egmp_64542

• • https://www.linkedin.com/groups/IT-ITeS-Pre-Sales-2173749?gid=217

3749&trk=vsrp_groups_res_name&trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A197520061403765608614%2CVSRPtargetId%3A2173749%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary