Presales Podcast by Presales Collective

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Stephanie Kinser connect on the topic "The Importance of Executive Sponsorship". Stephanie, Executive Vice President, Enterprise Solutions at Salesforce, talks about her experience with the Salesforce Women in Solutions Excellence (WISE) program and how executive sponsorship makes a tangible difference in the successes of Employee Resource Groups (ERG). Stephanie highlights ways to ensure your Executive Sponsor is working for you but also provides advice on how to maximize impact as an Executive Sponsor.

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 / Customer Life 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 part of a teams DNA is how you create a PreSales culture that is always improving and iterating.

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 Shell as a Unix Systems Consultant. Now, many years later he leads an exciting Industry Cloud company, Aforza as their CEO.

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.