Presales Podcast by Presales Collective

On the PreSales Podcast, Mattie Stremic connects with Allison Macalik and Gizelle Panton to discuss why “Mentorship Matters." Allison Macalik, Lead Solutions Engineer and Team Lead at Salesforce, and Gizelle Panton, Solutions Engineer at LinkedIn, share about their mentorship relationship, how to successfully mentor, and the importance of mentorship in career development. Gizelle and Allison were paired when Gizelle enrolled in the PreSales Foundations enablement course and have stayed connected ever since.  Learn more about how to approach mentorship and why it makes all the difference in your personal and professional growth. 

Jeff Stewart, Field CTO at SolarWinds, discusses PreSales Metrics that highlight team and individual performance, sales, productivity, and business impact. They delve into the future of measuring solutions data, emphasizing the importance of accurate data in assessing performance. The conversation explores security incident responses, optimizing pre-sales activities for success, and evaluating team performance metrics beyond simple ratios.

Meghan Noel, Global Vice President of PreSales at Amplitude, discusses running PreSales like a business. Topics include elevating Solutions teams, viewing pre-sales as revenue drivers, creating a detailed capacity model, and balancing hidden activities in pre-sales roles for operational improvements and impact recognition.

On the PreSales Podcast, Mattie Stremic and Akanksha Sehgal connect on "Building a Solutions Academy." Akanksha, Director of Global Solution Engineering at VMware, discusses the importance of entry-level or academy programs and provides tactical advice on how to build an academy program. Learn More about PreSales Academy: www.presalesacademy.com 

Jamal Reimer, an expert in closing eight-figure deals, shares insights on the complexities of navigating big organizations and the importance of teamwork in sealing massive deals. He emphasizes engaging with high-level executives, establishing credibility, and leveraging value engineering to succeed in enterprise sales.

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Paul Harris connect on "The Intriguing Similarities between Professional Athletes and Solutions Professionals." Paul, Principal Solution Architect at Loftware & PreSales Collective Ambassador, talks about how PreSales onboarding and development should be treated like top athletes. Paul discusses that development is a two-way street between player and coach, with a focus on continuous development and seeking the extra margin. 

On the PreSales Podcast, Mattie Stremic hosts Winny Delcin and Nina Berger on the topic of “Meet the PreSales Academy Team.” Winny, Training Program Manager, and Nina, Career Services Manager, are two of the newest members of the PreSales Collective team and are heavily involved in the day-to-day of PreSales Academy. In this episode, we learn more about Winny and Nina, their backgrounds, why they love PSA, and how to get more involved in helping the next generation of Solutions professionals.

On the PreSales Podcast, Mattie Stremic connects with James Kaikis to discuss “Two Years & 125 Episodes Later”. The podcast has experienced incredible success over the last several years with almost 167,000 listens, an immense amount of topics, and guests from all around the world. For this episode, Mattie asked James to discuss the history of this podcast, how elevated voices to the profession, and the lessons he’s learned over the years.

On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Garin Hess connect on "How a Buyer Enablement Approach to Deal Review Improves Forecasting." Garin, Author of Selling Is Hard. Buying Is Harder: How Buyer Enablement Drives Digital Sales and Shortens the Sales Cycle and CEO/Founder of Consensus, discusses how sales teams need to make buying easier by equipping champions to sell within their organization. Garin also provides stories and very tactical advice to deal review that will better forecasting within an organization. 

Research shows that what buyers want most from vendors are product demos. But what type of demo should we deliver at each stage of the buyer journey? ‍Many PreSales professionals categorize demos into two types: the standard demo and the technical demo. ‍In reality, there are six critical types of demos that most stakeholders in the buying group must go through to reach a decision. Knowing what the buyer is thinking and the problems they are trying to solve at each stage of the buying process is key to understanding what type of demo to deliver. In this webinar, we discuss the six essential types of demos, their recommended content, recommended length, and who should be leading them. We'll also discuss the role demo automation can play--where it is useful and where you should avoid it. J Hear from Garin Hess, author of "Selling is Hard. Buying is Harder." and Founder of Consensus on leveraging each of the demo types to make your PreSales team more effective. Sign up or sign in at www.presalescollective.com