<\/p>\n
\u201cClueless\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTechnically inept\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cLying\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cManipulative\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cUntrustworthy\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnnoying\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGreedy\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cVerbose\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPushy\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSelf-centered\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cUnethical\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cADD\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These are just some of the descriptions of salespeople that presales folks have posted on LinkedIn. And here are how presales people describe themselves on LinkedIn:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAuthentic\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTrusted advisor\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHighly competent\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cExpert\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCustomer Focused\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cProblem solver\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCollaborative\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHonest\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHighly skilled\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cConsultative\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Yes, a great many of the LinkedIn posts by presales folks tout their technical acumen, authenticity, being a \u201ctrusted advisor,\u201d and other skills and attributes. Many of these claims are true for a portion of the presales population. However, some of the negative characteristics assigned to salespeople are <\/span>also<\/span><\/i> found in presales.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Wait. What?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n How is this possible? Well, first, we need to stop the name-calling.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe salesman knows nothing of what he is selling save that he is charging a great deal too much for it.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2013 Oscar Wilde<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Granted, there are many salespeople who live up (or down, depending on your perspective) to the frequently used descriptors offered by presales people, including those above, plus being \u201ccoin operated,\u201d clueless about their products and technology, interested only in getting the order, and so on.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, there are also <\/span>many<\/span><\/i> excellent sales folks who have <\/span>earned<\/span><\/i> the same qualities typically assigned to presales.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n They earnestly believe in their products and services. They are (sufficiently and frequently surprisingly) technically and product savvy. They are excellent team players who deeply respect their colleagues in presales, customer success, development, marketing, legal, accounting, and all the other vendor disciplines. They embrace the doctrine of buyer enablement. They live to see their customers succeed over the long term.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I was facilitating a Great Demo! Workshop at a customer site, when I made a humorous, but disparaging remark about \u201ctypical salespeople.\u201d One of the participants, a salesperson, took offense and called me out for my comments. He pointed out that \u201cThese generalizations can be very hurtful and unfair\u2026\u201d and he was right! <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He made me realize that I need to evaluate each person on their own merits. We should all do the same and stop systematically bashing salespeople.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Along similar lines, many presales folks have a perception that doing sales is easy. This couldn\u2019t be farther from the truth!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEvery sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, and no trust.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2013 Zig Ziglar<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If you have never been in sales, it is difficult (if not impossible) to understand exactly how hard the discipline is. It is not just living under the sword of Damocles in the form of the constant pressure to achieve the quota. That\u2019s just the tip of the proverbial sword.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Doing sales requires executing multiple overlapping, multi-threaded project management exercises. Each sales opportunity is a project with its own timeline, players, challenges, pitfalls, advances, delays, and outcomes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s use a demo as an example event. A good, experienced salesperson working on a large opportunity may invest hours preparing, researching, setting calls and meetings, doing discovery, and prepping their team for the demo. The corresponding presales player may invest a few hours to consume the discovery information and prep the demo, and an hour or two to deliver it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Presales\u2019 perspective is often, \u201cI did the heavy lifting, now it\u2019s all set up for the salesperson to close the business.\u201d That is, very frankly, na\u00efve.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Was the demo sufficient proof? Are there other prospective concerns that need to be addressed? Are the competition\u2019s products perceived as a better fit? Is a privacy, security, and\/or data review needed? Is the proposal correct? Has a business case been generated? Are the legal agreements acceptable? Is the prospect\u2019s purchasing team demanding unfavorable terms?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And great salespeople don\u2019t leave the project once the sale is completed. They have set expectations that need to be fulfilled, requiring excellent coordination with implementation, training, and customer success. Sales folks who are also account managers know that their easiest sales consist of expansion into existing, happy, successful customers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Opportunity complexity has been increasing, as well. Buying committees today often include six to ten members, and internal prospect politics complicate the process. Combine long sales cycles of six to eighteen months, in many cases, with sales win rates of twenty to forty percent, and your sales team is facing challenging odds, indeed.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Imagine investing a <\/span>year<\/span><\/i> in a sales process that ends with a loss to a competitor or a No Decision outcome. I\u2019ve lived this personally; it was quite common when selling into pharma research to find your prospect had just been acquired by another pharma house, and the entire project was put on hold or cancelled. Ouch.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Combine these challenges with the omnipresent pressure to achieve quota, and you have a difficult journey. It would be like being the captain of a ship, sailing for months to a faraway land, purchasing cargo, and navigating back to your home port, all in the <\/span>hope<\/span><\/i> that your cargo will still be in demand and be sufficiently valuable to turn a profit.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And there are no guarantees that you <\/span>will<\/span><\/i> make a profit! For SaaS companies, only 60-70% of sales staff meet or exceed their quota. This means that one-third<\/span>\u00a0of all SaaS salespeople are <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> bringing in the big bucks in commission that many presales teams often assume they are enjoying. These folks may in fact be earning much <\/span>less<\/span><\/i> than their presales counterparts.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So, sales is a difficult discipline, and it takes courage, persistence, and intelligence to execute successfully. Please understand this and pause the assumption that presales folks have the toughest role. <\/span>Every<\/span><\/i> job at a vendor is tough when you are serious and passionate about it!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What other personality attributes would you expect in a salesperson?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSales are prima donnas; marketing is clueless.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2013 Me\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I drafted that quote when I was in an \u201cin-between\u201d role, overseas, doing a combination of high-level presales, sales, and customer success. It sure seemed like that to me at the time!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Yes, there are definitely prima donnas in sales. Intriguingly, I don\u2019t see a strong correlation between the best sales performers and prima donnas; it seems that the prima donna personality may be relatively independent of actual success!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But here\u2019s another angle: are there prima donnas in presales? Oh, yes. It is a personality trait that is, sadly, broadly distributed!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Any presales player who fancies themselves as the \u201cgo-to\u201d person for a product, technology, presentation, or demo is a candidate. Anyone who perceives themselves \u201cat the top of their game\u201d may also be suffering presales\u2019 hubris. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And working with prima donnas in <\/span>any<\/span><\/i> discipline takes some extra effort. Sadly, I am unaware of any real solutions (but we all seem to quietly rejoice when a prima donna takes a fall!).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Are there other personality attributes that we typically assign to one discipline vs another?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “I restore myself when I’m alone.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2013 Marilyn Monroe<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There is an ongoing generalization that salespeople are predominantly extroverts and presales are introverts. While this may be true of the broad population, there are many exceptions to this claim.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As salespeople, many of us are willing to be \u201con\u201d during a sales call, a discovery conversation, giving a presentation, or delivering a demo, but we <\/span>also<\/span><\/i> prefer to retire afterwards to the peace and quiet of one\u2019s office or a similar Fortress of Solitude.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Many of us are not deep relationship builders. Many of us don\u2019t golf or thrive on taking clients out to expensive dinners. Many of us focus intently on working with our buyers, buyers\u2019 teams, and our own teams to enable our prospects to realize the rewards and value of implementing and adopting our solutions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So, please don\u2019t assume that because someone is in sales, they must be an extrovert. In fact, an AI Overview offers, \u201cWhile there’s\u202fno definitive percentage, research suggests that the most effective salespeople are often\u202f<\/span>ambiverts<\/span><\/a>\u202f(those who score halfway between extreme extroversion and introversion).\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Next, what impact does experience have on being a salesperson?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t build a reputation on what you are going to do.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2013 Henry Ford<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One of the biggest complaints I hear from presales folks is how they must \u201cteach new salespeople\u201d all about their products, market, customers, processes, etc. This is a fair complaint: thank goodness it doesn\u2019t (*ahem*) cut both ways!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m sure, for example, that brand new presales staff emerge from their freshly hired cocoons fully fledged and deeply knowledgeable, ready to engage with the most challenging prospects immediately.\u00a0<\/span>Stop Bashing Salespeople<\/h3>\n
Sales Is a Tough Role<\/h3>\n
Prima Donnas Are Everywhere<\/h3>\n
Introverts vs Extroverts<\/h3>\n
Everyone Was New Once<\/h3>\n