A Complete Guide to Effective Technical Sales Enablement
Most people think all presales people are the same. That couldn't be farther from the truth. Stop using a one-size-fits all approach to enabling everyone. It doesn't work.
Let’s face it, most corporate training is a waste of time. This is particularly problematic in presales because everyone comes from a different background and frequently they come to the job at varying skill levels.
One of the biggest mistakes in presales enablement is using the same sales enablement program for everyone. A better approach is to carefully understand each individual’s background, measure their skillset, and then develop a plan for their professional development. This ensures a more effective presales enablement program that meets the team where they are and takes them to where they need to be.
The first step to effectively enable your presales team is to have a clear picture of your goal for the team as well as their individual goals. Many Solutions Consulting teams aspire to be their client’s “Trusted Advisor.” A Trusted Advisor is the opposite of a pushy and aggressive salesperson. They are thoughtful, non-aggressive, consultant-style people that help the client solve their problem. This is a good target to aim for, especially if your solutions consultants do both pre-sales and post-sales work.
Now that you understand your goal, the next step is to determine where your team is. This will help you devise an enablement plan that takes them from where they are to where you want them to be (i.e. Trusted Advisors). Think of this as doing discovery, except you get to do discovery on your own team!
Each team member will have different strengths, weaknesses, and backgrounds. Backgrounds are especially important because people are often a collection of habits. These habits have been building up for years, and often these habits are not the habits that will make you successful in a “sales” position. For example, being an overly detail-oriented perfectionist can sometimes be a bad habit in sales. Some of these habits can be broken with strong presales enablement and coaching, but others require specialized training.
You’re at the final step, which is to develop the plan and work it. Even if your goal is the same (Trusted Advisor) every presales practitioner will be starting at a different place and thus will require a different plan.
Let’s consider the two most common starting points for presales practitioners and how the plans would differ for each. We’ll look at Consultants and Engineers as an example.
Consultants tend to have a leg up on Engineers when it comes to soft skills like empathy, listening, and emotional intelligence in general. However, most consultants are often conditioned to never take strong opinions because they don’t want to risk being wrong. This habit can usually be spotted when an individual uses fancy buzzwords or says things like “it depends” too often. To effectively enable these team members to be Trusted Leaders, teach them that it’s okay to form an opinion, even if it’s possible that you might be wrong.
Forming an opinion helps the customer make a decision more quickly and moves the sale along, whereas saying “it depends'' and being vague creates indecision and no action. Not taking action is an easy way to guarantee failure, a lost deal, and wasted time. If you manage a team of sales engineers, try to create a safe environment where taking an opinion and being bold is rewarded. If you don’t do this, these sales engineers will struggle to provide true value to your prospects.
An enablement plan for a consultant may include:
While people that come from consulting often excel in client-service, people that come from engineering often excel in problem-solving and technical expertise. They are usually capable of solving problems faster than the client can even articulate what the problem is! Sometimes this superpower can get them into trouble though.
Have you ever seen an engineer that is so smart that they didn’t give the prospect time to talk? They just jumped to the solution because they knew how to solve it? Even if the solution is right, this presents problems because unless the prospect “feels heard” they won’t trust you or your solution. Often engineers don’t need any help with problem-solving, they just need to learn the power of staying quiet, using silence, and letting the customer talk. As the saying goes, leaders listen first, and speak last.
An enablement plan for an engineer may include:
Every presales professional and every presales organization is different. To have a more effective sales enablement problem, first, consider your goal, then consider your people, and then devise a tailored plan to help everyone reach their full potential.
Unlike traditional presales training that teaches engineers how to give demos, Alpha Presales training teaches engineers how to take ownership of the sale. We’ll help you take your sales engineers to the next level with workshops that improve their Leadership, Discovery, and Storytelling capabilities. Book a call with Alpha Presales and help your team get to the next level.
Let’s face it, most corporate training is a waste of time. This is particularly problematic in presales because everyone comes from a different background and frequently they come to the job at varying skill levels.
One of the biggest mistakes in presales enablement is using the same sales enablement program for everyone. A better approach is to carefully understand each individual’s background, measure their skillset, and then develop a plan for their professional development. This ensures a more effective presales enablement program that meets the team where they are and takes them to where they need to be.
The first step to effectively enable your presales team is to have a clear picture of your goal for the team as well as their individual goals. Many Solutions Consulting teams aspire to be their client’s “Trusted Advisor.” A Trusted Advisor is the opposite of a pushy and aggressive salesperson. They are thoughtful, non-aggressive, consultant-style people that help the client solve their problem. This is a good target to aim for, especially if your solutions consultants do both pre-sales and post-sales work.
Now that you understand your goal, the next step is to determine where your team is. This will help you devise an enablement plan that takes them from where they are to where you want them to be (i.e. Trusted Advisors). Think of this as doing discovery, except you get to do discovery on your own team!
Each team member will have different strengths, weaknesses, and backgrounds. Backgrounds are especially important because people are often a collection of habits. These habits have been building up for years, and often these habits are not the habits that will make you successful in a “sales” position. For example, being an overly detail-oriented perfectionist can sometimes be a bad habit in sales. Some of these habits can be broken with strong presales enablement and coaching, but others require specialized training.
You’re at the final step, which is to develop the plan and work it. Even if your goal is the same (Trusted Advisor) every presales practitioner will be starting at a different place and thus will require a different plan.
Let’s consider the two most common starting points for presales practitioners and how the plans would differ for each. We’ll look at Consultants and Engineers as an example.
Consultants tend to have a leg up on Engineers when it comes to soft skills like empathy, listening, and emotional intelligence in general. However, most consultants are often conditioned to never take strong opinions because they don’t want to risk being wrong. This habit can usually be spotted when an individual uses fancy buzzwords or says things like “it depends” too often. To effectively enable these team members to be Trusted Leaders, teach them that it’s okay to form an opinion, even if it’s possible that you might be wrong.
Forming an opinion helps the customer make a decision more quickly and moves the sale along, whereas saying “it depends'' and being vague creates indecision and no action. Not taking action is an easy way to guarantee failure, a lost deal, and wasted time. If you manage a team of sales engineers, try to create a safe environment where taking an opinion and being bold is rewarded. If you don’t do this, these sales engineers will struggle to provide true value to your prospects.
An enablement plan for a consultant may include:
While people that come from consulting often excel in client-service, people that come from engineering often excel in problem-solving and technical expertise. They are usually capable of solving problems faster than the client can even articulate what the problem is! Sometimes this superpower can get them into trouble though.
Have you ever seen an engineer that is so smart that they didn’t give the prospect time to talk? They just jumped to the solution because they knew how to solve it? Even if the solution is right, this presents problems because unless the prospect “feels heard” they won’t trust you or your solution. Often engineers don’t need any help with problem-solving, they just need to learn the power of staying quiet, using silence, and letting the customer talk. As the saying goes, leaders listen first, and speak last.
An enablement plan for an engineer may include:
Every presales professional and every presales organization is different. To have a more effective sales enablement problem, first, consider your goal, then consider your people, and then devise a tailored plan to help everyone reach their full potential.
Unlike traditional presales training that teaches engineers how to give demos, Alpha Presales training teaches engineers how to take ownership of the sale. We’ll help you take your sales engineers to the next level with workshops that improve their Leadership, Discovery, and Storytelling capabilities. Book a call with Alpha Presales and help your team get to the next level.
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