Transforming Presales with AI Automation

In this episode, Matthew James and Timmy Hendrickson are joined by Nalin Senthamil, Founder and CEO of Storylane, to discuss the future of pre-sales and AI driving influence beyond pipeline. They explore how demo automation is transforming the self-serve buyer experience, the changing role of solutions engineers, and how AI can create 10X impact in pre-sales workflows. Nalin shares insights on leveraging AI for demo personalization, managing complex product integrations, and why the traditional discovery call may be dying.

To join the show live, follow the Presales Collective's LinkedIn page or join the PSC Slack community for updates. The show is bi-weekly on Tuesdays, 8AM PT/11AM ET/4PM GMT.

Follow the Hosts

• Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/

• Connect with Timmy Hendrickson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timmyhendrickson/

• Connect with Nalin Senthamil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nalinpradeep/

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack

• Storylane: https://www.storylane.io/

Timestamps

00:04 Welcome

01:08 Nalin's background and founding Storylane

03:08 What does a self-serve buyer experience look like?

08:18 How AI has changed presales

13:40 Training AI agents to answer technical questions

17:02 AI testing customer scenario

19:28 Overlooked use cases for demo automation

26:30 One workflow where AI can create 10X impact today

Key Topics Covered

1. The Death of Discovery Calls

   • Why buyers are coming to conversations already educated

   • How self-serve experiences span the entire buying journey

   • The role of AI sales agents in initial discovery

2. The Four Categories of SE Work

   • Relationship building and strategic solutioning

   • Demo delivery and POC management

   • Administrative tasks and CRM updates

   • Knowledge sharing and product insights

3. AI as an SE Sidekick

   • Demo preparation and tailoring automation

   • Administrative task reduction

   • Strategic thinking enhancement rather than replacement

4. Demo Automation Use Cases

   • Supporting different AE to SE ratios

   • Managing complex product integrations

   • Upsell and expansion opportunities

   • Micro-demos for specific features

5. Training AI for Technical Questions

   • Leveraging tribal knowledge from Slack, Google Drive, and call recordings

   • Importance of data quality and curation

   • Automatic ingestion of organizational knowledge

6. The Future of Pre-Sales

   • AI enabling faster iteration and personalization

   • Strategic partnership between CS and pre-sales for upsells

   • The evolution from technical support to strategic advisory roles