Sara Jones的动态

Buyer outcomes are 3 dimensional: personal outcomes, business outcomes, and procurement outcomes. Champions have personal outcomes they seek: promotions, personal quotas, etc Businesses have encompassing outcomes for the entire team: stock holder value, LTV:CAC, etc Procurement has security and financial outcomes: shorter term deals, GDPR, shelfware concerns, etc. Where I see the best success is using great 360 discovery to convey your value through the lens and language of each party involved. The more your offering creates overlap in the 3 desired outcomes the more likely the deal will work out.

I agree and it can be a noble role in that respect. But (from my many years in presales) there is often an intense pressure, and resultant friction, that arises when you try to create the best outcome for the eventual customer when it conflicts with the immediacy of the sales executive's overall account strategy of pursuing deals that favor the provider over the customer.

Sadly the buyer experience is the sum of the parts, so while pre-sales may have always used the outcomes lens…that may not be what the customer’s buyer experience was like overall.

So much goodness in this. Years ago I took a blank sheet of paper with some sales and service leaders and we drew together, what they wanted. We ideated and I drew. We created a demo of that vision in product and won the deal. Later the implementation lead asked for the drawings and stated, “they want what you drew.” Asking, Listening, and validating their words (sometimes with pictures) is key.

I think pre-sales profesionals sometimes need to be know enough about our prospects and products to: See challenges that customers havent yet seen, suggest sucesses that customers have not envisaged, and define impacts /transformations that customer have not yet imagined. If we want to really make a difference to our customers we need to think differently to them.

Well said! From my long tenure in pre-sales, one of the biggest challenges and imperatives for companies has been implementing an organizational, best practice and methodology strategy to ensure that sales and pre-sales are in lock step together for the common good of the customer and sales success. It's typically a huge investment fraught with trials and tribulations but if done right the huge reward should serve as the foundation for ongoing success.

Sara Jones, TOTALLY AGREE having grown up in PreSales...IMHO, It's Customer Success that doesn't have your notes, or isn't getting an introduction during the sales cycle, or is lacking a meaningful handoff.