What is Presales
Post on 11-Nov-2014
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Transcript
Pre-sales Workshop
Contents
Presales Process Overview1
Roles & Responsibilities2
Writing a Winning Proposal3
A Generic Framework5
Post-RFP stage4
What is presales
A set of activities normally carried out before a customer is acquired
A typical sales cycles Suspect Prospect/Opportunity Lead
Presales involvement in these phases differs from situation to situation
What is Presales
Happens along with a sales person before a sale closes
It is sales support It is also about being a technical and business consultant
A Typical Sales Process
Product Knowledge ProspectingApproachNeeds AssessmentCustomer PresentationSales CloseFollow-up
Presales Involvement
Product Knowledge ProspectingApproachNeeds AssessmentCustomer PresentationSales CloseFollow-up
What is not presales
Searching for new suspects, prospects or leads
Qualifying prospects Deciding and planning to approach
prospects Negotiating with customer in closing
a deal
What is not presales
Developing relationship with customers
Calling for a meeting with the customer
Deciding the price of a deal Collecting feedback from the
customer
Presales in IT
Companies looking for vendors to implement software solutions call for proposals
Support for Sales in closing a deal Many times a technical and business
consultant for the potential customer Crucial link between Sales, Customer
and Delivery Needs a blend of technical, business
and soft skills
Presales in IT
Needs to work having the ‘big picture’ in mind – winning the deal for the company as well as customer delight
Presales role could be specific to account, territory, technologies and partners
Plays an important role in making proposals for RFPs and RFIs
Why Presales
Increasing complexity in customer’s business requirements in terms of variety in technology, number of components or modules, security and infrastructure needs
Customer delight is more than matching customer needs with a right technical solution. Customers expect vendors to partner with them in meeting their evolving business needs
Why Presales
Bidding process is a complex and a very formal one, with strict adherence to procedures and timelines
Bidding process involves intelligent negotiation on price, scope of work, schedule and other contract requirements
Therefore is too important to be done without committed and dedicated professionals
Without Presales
Making proposals may either end-up with delivery heads or worse, with sales
Sales will not have the depth of technical knowledge to provide a solution
Delivery heads may not have skills to match customer’s business needs with the right technical solution
Both the teams could be short on bandwidth to take full responsibility
Place of Presales
PresalesCustomer
Sales
Services
Presales in career growth
A great opportunity to know up close the market and the business of software, and what ‘sells’
Opportunity to get a systemic view of many things that makes up an organization and it’s business
Opportunity to get to know different cross-sections of customer and technology solutions
Presales in career growth
People with a technical background can add lot of value by bringing in their experience and thereby benefit from it
Working in presales can also be seen as a choice for shifting to management career path
Opportunity to learn a variety of skills including client liaison, managing cross-functional teams, leadership, consulting skills
Presales in career growth
In larger organizations, presales gives a very good opportunity to network with all the right people
Since presales is demanding on both technical and business knowledge and management skills, it’s the right place for a challenging job
Presales is different
Any specific sales engagement is temporary
therefore the corresponding sales-presales engagement is also temporary
The same is true for the other cascading engagements between presales and others down the line
The engagement on an average lasts for about a month – from the start of the RFP to the end of the RFP
Place of presale
Where does a presale person belong to Practices Center of Excellence or Technologies Accounts Territory Partners Sales Sometimes from the project itself
Common Attitude and PerceptionsI am on bench. So they picked me up
to do this job…This is mainly a ‘cut-copy-paste’ job.
Why do they need me ?In any case, winning depends entirely
on the sales team and the top management…
After all, I am a technical person… I don’t know or want to be a sales person
I don’t see the results immediately, it usually takes months before I hear…
Common Attitude and Perceptions
We are non-billable resources. Obviously we don’t get enough resources to do the job
I am not trained for this job…There’s just not enough and right
information around to write this proposal…
There’s hardly enough time to do this work… Why can’t they inform me much ahead ?
How do I grow in my career in this path ?
Common Problems
Presales work is not assigned the right resources
Not enough training is givenPresales work needs many temporary
resources and therefore gets less commitment
People who are on bench are assigned
Proposal can have too many technical components and therefore may need involvement of many people
Common Problems
May face ownership problemsDemanding on technical, business
and soft skills all at onceEvery RFP response ‘suffers’ from
extreme time constraints
Presales Process
Winning a Deal
Opening Game
• Market Analysis• Strategic Planning• Account Planning• Branding
Middle Game
• Account Management• Relationship Management• Opportunity Management• Pursuit Management
End Game • Proposal Management• Presentation• Negotiation
Mark
et
Clie
nt
Deal
• RFP Issue• Pre-Bid
Conference• Clarifications
on RFP• Modifications
to RFP• Identify
resources to work on RFP
• Finalise reqmts
• Shortlist vendors
• Finalise Evaluation Criteria
• Finalise Budget
• Customer presentation by vendor
• Prepare Proposal according to RFP guidelines
Pre-RFP RFP Proposal Post-RFP
• Customer Visits
• Demo of Capabilities
• Presentation• Evaluation
Presales Stages
Presales Stages
Roles Customer Sales person Presales person Finance Solution Architect Domain Expert Technical Consultant Account Manager
www.themegallery.com
• Finalise reqmts• Shortlist vendors• Finalise Evaluation Criteria• Finalise Budget
• Issue RFP• Arrange pre-bid conference• Provide clarifications
• Receive proposal • Request for site visit and/or demo• Evaluate and finalize vendor
• Make customer presentation showcasing services, products and strengths
• Receive RFP• Seek clarification on RFP• Get commitment from internal resources• Keep mgmt informed
• Assist presales with inputs from customer and about customer• Add commercials to the proposal
• Arrange for Customer visit• Arrange for demo and presentation
• Provide inputs as needed
• Receive RFP• Identify resources to work on RFP• Form cross-functional team• Seek clarifications
• prepare proposal by working with cross-functional teams or by taking inputs from them
• Assist sales in customer visit, demo and presentation
• Provide inputs as needed (case studies, testimonials)
• Provide inputs as needed (questions to customers on business needs, technical specs, etc)
• Provide inputs as needed (technical solutions, relevant case studies, etc)
• Provide inputs as needed (inputs for demo)
Del
iver
y
Sal
esP
resa
les
Cus
tom
er
Pre-RFP RFP Proposal Post-RFP
Presales Stages
Information Flow
Customer
Sales
Pre sales
Delivery
• Business Reqmts
• Technical Reqmts
• Constraints• Evaluation
Criteria• RFP• Clarifications
• Provide infn on products, services
• present success stories
• seek further infn on customer
• RFP• Infn on
customer constraints, preferences, priorities
• Competitor infn
• RFP Clarifications
• questions on RFP
• questions on customer
• status update
• Response to RFP
• questions on business and technical reqmts
• questions on customer constraints,
Evaluation Criteria• assumptions,
customer problems, etc
• seek to understand business and technical reqmts to form a solution
• seek to • understand solution provided
Discussion
Use the IFD to discuss about The gaps in information flow The inefficiencies What kind of information loss happens Identify areas of potential risks The choice of medium and its suitability
Session 1 -Summary
What did we learn
Questions
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