presales workshop

7/23/2019 Presales Workshop

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Pre-sales Workshop


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Contents

Presales Process Overview1

Roles & Responsibilities2

Writing a Winning Proposal3

A Generic Framework5

Post-RFP stage4


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What is presales

A set of activities normally carried outbefore a customer is acquired

A typical sales cycles

Suspect Prospect/Opportunity

Lead

Presales involvement in these phasesdiffers from situation to situation


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What is Presales

Happens along with a salesperson before a sale closes

It is sales supportIt is also about being a technicaland business consultant


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A Typical Sales Process

Product Knowledge

Prospecting

Approach

eeds Assessment

!ustomer Presentation

"ales !lose#ollow-up


6/31

Presales Involvement

Product Knowledge

Prospecting

Approach

eeds Assessment

!ustomer Presentation

"ales !lose#ollow-up


7/31

What is not presales

"earching for new suspects$prospects or leads

%ualifying prospects&eciding and planning to approach

prospects

egotiating with customer in closinga deal


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What is not presales

&eveloping relationship withcustomers

!alling for a meeting with thecustomer

&eciding the price of a deal

!ollecting feedback from thecustomer


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Presales in IT

!ompanies looking for vendors toimplement software solutions call forproposals

"upport for "ales in closing a deal

'any times a technical and businessconsultant for the potential customer

!rucial link between "ales$ !ustomerand &elivery

eeds a blend of technical$ businessand soft skills


10/31

Presales in IT

eeds to work having the (big picture)in mind * winning the deal for thecompany as well as customer delight

Presales role could be specific to

account$ territory$ technologies andpartners

Plays an important role in makingproposals for +#Ps and +#Is


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Why Presales

Increasing comple,ity in customer)sbusiness requirements in terms ofvariety in technology$ number ofcomponents or modules$ security and

infrastructure needs!ustomer delight is more than

matching customer needs with a righttechnical solution !ustomers e,pect

vendors to partner with them inmeeting their evolving business needs


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Why Presales

.idding process is a comple, and avery formal one$ with strict adherenceto procedures and timelines

.idding process involves intelligent

negotiation on price$ scope of work$schedule and other contractrequirements

/herefore is too important to be done

without committed and dedicatedprofessionals


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Without Presales

'aking proposals may either end-upwith delivery heads or worse$ withsales

"ales will not have the depth of

technical knowledge to provide asolution

&elivery heads may not have skills tomatch customer)s business needs

with the right technical solution.oth the teams could be short on

bandwidth to take full responsibility


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Place of Presales

PresalesCustomer

Sales

Services


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Presales in career growth

A great opportunity to know up closethe market and the business ofsoftware$ and what (sells)

0pportunity to get a systemic view of

many things that makes up anorgani1ation and it)s business

0pportunity to get to know differentcross-sections of customer and

technology solutions


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People with a technical backgroundcan add lot of value by bringing intheir e,perience and thereby benefitfrom it

Working in presales can also be seenas a choice for shifting tomanagement career path

0pportunity to learn a variety of skills

including client liaison$ managingcross-functional teams$ leadership$consulting skills


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In larger organi1ations$ presalesgives a very good opportunity tonetwork with all the right people

"ince presales is demanding on bothtechnical and business knowledge andmanagement skills$ it)s the right placefor a challenging 2ob


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Presales is different

Any specific sales engagement istemporary

therefore the corresponding sales-presales engagement is also

temporary/he same is true for the other

cascading engagements betweenpresales and others down the line

/he engagement on an average lastsfor about a month * from the start ofthe +#P to the end of the +#P


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Place of presale

Where does a presale person belongto

Practices

Center of Excellence or Technologies

Accounts Territory

Partners

Sales Sometimes from the project itself


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Common Attitude and Perceptions

I am on bench "o they picked me up

to do this 2ob3

/his is mainly a (cut-copy-paste)2obWhy do they need me 4

In any case$ winning dependsentirelyon the sales teamand the topmanagement3

After all$ I am a technical person3 I

don)t know or want to be a salesperson

I don)t see the results immediately$ it

usually takes months before I hear3


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Common Attitude and Perceptions

We are non-billableresources

0bviously we don)t get enoughresources to do the 2ob

I am not trainedfor this 2ob3

/here)s 2ust not enough and rightinformationaround to write thisproposal3

/here)s hardly enough timeto do this

work3 Why can)t they inform memuch ahead 4

How do I grow in my career in thispath 4


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Common Prolems

Presales work is not assigned the

right resources

ot enough training is given

Presales work needs many temporary

resources and therefore gets lesscommitment

People who are on bench are assigned

Proposal can have too many technicalcomponents and therefore may needinvolvement of many people


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Common Prolems

'ay face ownership problems

&emanding on technical$ business andsoft skills all at once

5very +#P response (suffers) from

e,treme time constraints


24/31

Presales Process


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Winning a !eal

Opening Game

"ar#et

Client

!e

al


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$%P Issue Pre&'id

Conference Clarifications

on $%P "odifications

to $%P Identify

resources to

wor# on $%P

%inalisere(mts

Shortlistvendors

%inaliseEvaluationCriteria

%inalise'udget

Customerpresentationy vendor

PrepareProposalaccording to$%Pguidelines

Pre&$%P $%P Proposal Post&$%P

Customer)isits

!emo ofCapailities

Presentation Evaluation

Presales Stages


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Presales Stages

+oles

Customer

Sales person

Presales person

Finance Solution Arcitect

!omain "#pert

$ecnical ConsultantAccount %ana&er


28/31

www*themegallery*com

#inalise reqmts"hortlist vendors#inalise 5valuation!riteria#inalise .udget

Issue +#PArrange pre-bid

conferenceProvideclarifications

+eceive proposal +equest for site visitand6or demo5valuate and finali1evendor

'ake customerpresentationshowcasing services$products andstrengths

+eceive +#P"eek clarification on+#P7et commitmentfrom internalresourcesKeep mgmtinformed

Assist presales withinputs from customerand about customerAdd commercials tothe proposal

Arrange for!ustomer visitArrange for demoand presentation

Provide inputs asneeded

+eceive +#PIdentify resources towork on +#P

#orm cross-functional team"eek clarifications

prepare proposal byworking with cross-functional teams or

by taking inputs fromthem

Assist sales incustomer visit$ demoand presentation

Provide inputs asneeded 8case studies$testimonials9

Provide inputs asneeded 8questions tocustomers onbusiness needs$technical specs$ etc9

Provide inputs asneeded 8technicalsolutions$ relevantcase studies$ etc9

Provide inputs asneeded 8inputs fordemo9

!

elivery

Sale

s

Pre

sales

Customer

Pre'(FP (FP Proposal Post'(FP

Presales Stages


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Information %low

Customer

Sales

Presales

!elivery

'usiness$e(mts

Technical$e(mts

Constraints Evaluation

Criteria $%P Clarifications

Provide infnon products+

services present

successstories

see# furtherinfn oncustomer

$%P Infn on

customerconstraints+preferences+priorities

Competitorinfn

$%P

Clarifications

(uestions on$%P

(uestions oncustomer

status update

$esponse to$%P

(uestions onusiness andtechnicalre(mts

(uestions oncustomerconstraints+

EvaluationCriteria

assumptions+customerprolems+ etc

see# tounderstandusiness andtechnicalre(mts toform asolution

see# to understand

solutionprovided


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!iscussion

:se the I#& to discuss about

$e &aps in in)ormation )lo*

$e ine))iciencies

+at ,ind o) in)ormation loss appens

-denti)y areas o) potential ris,s $e coice o) medium and its suita.ility


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Session , &Summary

What did we learn

%uestions

presales workshop

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