Inside the Mind of a

Pre-Sales Engineer

MarketingMoves interviews Richard Stokes

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Contact David Loubser

dloubser@marketingmoves.com
+44 1932 253 352
 MarketingMoves interviews Richard Stokes

Richard Stokes
A senior Pre- and Post-Sales leader

Richard has over twenty years experience in enterprise

software in pre-sales, Account Management, Customer Success
and Consulting. He sets up and leads commercially focused
technical teams to achieve exceptional performance levels.
He loves being innovative and creative (and leading teams who
are too). His goal: Outstanding, distinctive customer
engagement that gets results.

David Loubser
Pre-Sales recruitment consultant
MarketingMoves

Bringing a technical recruitment background to MarketingMoves,

David is your go-to for technical pre-sales and sales
engineering recruitment, worldwide. Though he recruits across
multiple technology sectors, David’s prime focus is Cloud &
DevOps, IT Security, eCommerce and Fintech.
Email: dloubser@marketingmoves.com
Mobile: 07387 108015

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 MarketingMoves interviews Richard Stokes

We hear from clients time and again about how difficult it can be to hire the top 10% of
pre-sales professionals. The kind who:

• make a real impact on the bottom line

• improve customer experience through the sales process
• share in depth customer and technical knowledge
• inform marketing and sales strategy, product messaging and development with
actionable insights

In short, only the best pre-sales professionals.

At MarketingMoves, we’ve long sought out only the best marketers in technology. Now with
the driving force of our pre-sales recruitment specialist, David Loubser, we’re seeking the
same excellence in technical pre-sales.

We’ve turned to an innovative and energic senior pre-sales leader, Richard Stokes, in this
guide on how to identify what makes a great pre-sales professional. Whether you are looking
to hire a strong player to your team or you are one and want to up your game, we’re sure
you’ll come away with some valuable, actionable pre-sales insights.

We’ll cover:

1. What is Pre-Sales and how does it differ to Sales?

2. What makes a great Pre-Sales professional?

3. How can Pre-Sales support Product and Marketing teams?

4. How hard is it to find strong Pre-Sales talent?

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 MarketingMoves interviews Richard Stokes

What is Pre-Sales and how does it differ to Sales?

Pre-Sales as a profession has developed The Pre-Sales Engineer’s primary
in technology sales environments where responsibility is to be the solution or
the product or service offering and the technology expert. He or she is the
customer buying processes are complex. trusted advisor to the customer. He/she
understands the problem the customer is
We can compare it to selling trying to solve and explains how to solve
a car, you only need one it with his/her company’s
person – the product is easy technology.
to understand, there’s only
one decision maker and the Of course, it’s not that black
purchase is straightforward and white. This is team
and short. selling. Both Sales and
Pre-Sales need to :
Whereas when selling a
• build relationships with the
complex IT solution, you
customer
are often selling to
multiple parts of the • understand the sales
business and multiple types process and where they are
of stakeholders are involved in it
in the decision. There is often • understand how the
a complex selection process that current activity is focused on moving
the customer runs to select the right them to the next stage
vendor and solution. • know the solution, and how to
differentiate it from the competition
In a sales opportunity, the Sales Rep’s
primary responsible is managing the sales • have an appreciation for the business
process end to end and the relationship case for the customer buying the
with the customer. technology.

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 MarketingMoves interviews Richard Stokes

Motivational Drivers Can you give me an idea of the level

of detail Richard?
There’s a fundamental difference in
motivational drivers between Sales To give you an idea, if you are selling
and Pre-Sales. an ERP solution there will be a part of
The Sales Rep has an individual target and the sales cycle where a group from the
50% of his/her salary is directly linked to Finance department will want to have a
achieving it. There are usually significant deep dive session on how they will han-
additional rewards and recognition for over dle various (often complex) scenarios in
achieving. Sales Reps live and die by their the system.
number. Pre-Sales are typically on a There might be a room full people
team target, with around 30% bonus firing questions.
linked to it. Sales is a higher risk,
higher reward ‘What if X?’
profession. ‘How do I handle Y?’
‘What options are there to deal with Z?’
Headspace ‘We don’t want to do it that way. Can
you change it to work in the way I
There is also a fundamental want?’
difference in headspace.
If the presales engineer doesn’t know
A Sales person will know their solution and his/her stuff the wheels will quickly
key differentiators from the competition, but come off. The same will be the case if
will lack the depth of knowledge of he/she can’t explain it simply.
Pre-Sales. Sales cannot afford to be bogged
down in the deeper technical aspects of the
solution, and take their eyes of the
commercial process and stakeholders they
are managing, working out who supports
them, who doesn’t and what the key block
moving to the next stage.
Pre-sales must operate on a higher level of
detail.

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 MarketingMoves interviews Richard Stokes

What makes a great Pre-Sales professional?

There are 4 main areas in which a Pre-Sales person can really excel:

1. What you know

Depth of knowledge is a given or you have
no calling card to talk to customers.

But product knowledge is not enough, you

need to understand the context of what
you’re selling – the business function and
industry you’re selling into.

EXAMPLE

A pre-sales expert in financial

services would need to understand
the dynamics of the industry and
finance department processes. They
might have been an accountant
earlier in their career.

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 MarketingMoves interviews Richard Stokes

What makes a great Pre-Sales professional?

There are 4 main areas in which a Pre-Sales person can really excel:

2. How you do your job

In other words, how you engage with the customer – your soft skills. The best pre-sales people
are master communicators, they:

Carry out discovery effectively,
researching customers and drilling down
into problems to develop a strong
understanding.
Make the complex simple and easy to follow.
Communicate solutions to the customer in
a compelling way.
Use visual techniques like sketching and
whiteboarding.
Don’t spend too much demo time going
from screen to screen in the software,
instead they discuss what the solution
means in context so customers see why it’s
important.
Maintain the right level of detail.

Are creative, using techniques like Challenge a customer by teaching them

storytelling to give a presentation flow.
Make their customers imagine a world with
their solution and build bridges by drawing
on success stories from customers similar to
their prospective clients.
Make a presentation interactive, managing
the room and monitoring audience reactions.
something they didn’t know, giving a
customer a fresh perspective and expanded
thinking. E.g. with the advent of SaaS
models, it was necessary to challenge
customer thinking in the way they want to
buy.
Encourage an audience to ask questions,
handling objections where appropriate
without losing the flow of their presentation.

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 MarketingMoves interviews Richard Stokes

What makes a great Pre-Sales professional?

There are 4 main areas in which a Pre-Sales person can really excel:

3. Who you know and how you’re known

The best Pre-Sales people are very

well-connected. They have strong
relationships with their customers and
partners and may belong to external
bodies.

For example, a financial expert might be

part of the Association of Chartered
Certified Accountants (ACCA).
The very best Pre-Sales professionals have
They also have strong connections within
a strong personal brand and actively manage
their own company.
their social media presence and speak at
events as a thought leader. This gives them a
A great Pre-Sales Engineer draws on his/
certain authority and presence when they go
her network for information, ideas and
to meet customers.
help in order to be effective. By being
closely connected with customers a great
These days, customers will look you up on
Pre-Sales Engineer is armed with all sort of
LinkedIn beforehand and you want them to
useful customer stories to tell.
be excited to meet you. Sharing interesting
articles on your area of expertise is a great
way to start. If you can progress to writing
blogs you are on to a winner!

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 MarketingMoves interviews Richard Stokes

What makes a great Pre-Sales professional?

There are 4 main areas in which a Pre-Sales person can really excel:

4. What you do

Finally a big differentiator separating

the Pre-Sales talent from the rest is what
they do. The best Pre-Sales I know do a
number of things differently.

Firstly they look at things more

holistically and support business
development activity, develop partners
and train Sales Reps. They help out their
colleagues, sharing ideas, collateral and
clever ways of working.

Secondly they spend a high proportion

of their time with customers. They have
a real knack for short, efficient prep time
and can quickly adapt and tailor their
presentations and demonstrations to
individual customers.

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 MarketingMoves interviews Richard Stokes
What does Pre-Sales mean to the Product and Marketing Functions?
How can Pre-Sales support Product and Marketing teams?
Product
Pre-Sales talk to customers
regularly so can give
effective feedback.
For example, which part
of the software is clunky
or requires multiple clicks,
making it hard to present.
Those are some great clues
on how to improve the
solution such as priorities
on what needs to be
included in the future
software roadmap.
If they are communicating
effectively with Product
Development teams,
Pre-Sales can also talk
carefully about the kind of
changes coming in future,
which might be relevant to
prospective
customers. The SaaS
industry, for instance, is
changing faster than ever
before – often with new
functionality every quarter.
Marketing
Similarly Pre-Sales and Marketing need to be closely
connected and communicate regularly. Pre-Sales need to
keep up to date with the latest collateral and messaging
around solutions.
Pre-Sales are a valuable source of Will X sales
feedback for Marketing and can material resonate
provide a useful sense check. with prospects?
The Marketing team won’t be experts in
the solutions, so Pre-Sales can bring perspective in
their deeper knowledge and regular customer
engagement. This way both can ensure that there is
consistent messaging through the channel, from the
promotional events, email and social media campaigns that
generate leads for sales, through to the sales presentations
and demonstrations that close the deal.
I presented the new
CFO Top 5 priorities CFOs just don’t
deck to X at a Finance use that language.
gathering last week It needs to be in
and it went down a plainer English.
storm!
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 MarketingMoves interviews Richard Stokes
How hard is it to find strong Pre-Sales talent?
It can be very difficult to find the right blend of deep knowledge and excellent
communication skills. When hiring there are three basic areas I look for:
i) Context
It depends on the role but knowledge of
the domain area is typical. For example
it is useful for a Marketing Cloud Solution
Pre-Sales Engineer to have experience or
qualifications in marketing and be in the
marketing function of a business. This
contextual knowledge might also be of a
particular industry, Financial Services for
example.
ii) System technical knowledge
Detailed technical knowledge of a
solution from different possible
perspectives is a must. This is often from
a training or consulting background but
sometimes as a user. This is ideally in the
solution or technology that you sell but it
could be in something similar or a direct
competitor.
iii) Pre-Sales skills
I look for the skills and experience which
I described in the “How” part of What
Makes a Great Pre-Sales Person?
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I typically look for at least two out of
three and then dive deep to assess the
candidates’ potential and ability to learn
in the other one.
Strength in only one area makes it
more difficult for a Pre-Sales Engineer to
be successful in a short time. In any hire
a clear idea of the likely time to value is
very important.
I strongly believe that a creative
approach to hiring can yield some great
results. If you can hire someone who is
strong in two areas out of the three you
may get the chance to bring someone in
with a different background and a new
perspective for your team. It may take
a little longer in terms of time to value
but a slightly longer term view can reap
great benefits.
 MarketingMoves interviews Richard Stokes

MarketingMoves are a global search and selection company specializing in

recruiting only the best marketers and pre-sales professionals, only for
technology, worldwide.

With a well-established and respected reputation throughout the technology sector,

we have successfully worked with over 400 leading technology companies from
start-ups to multi-nationals.

We have made it our business to get to know talented individuals on a

world-wide scale who can deliver against challenging marketing and sales
objectives set by world-class IT companies.

Hiring the right people can be a tough decision, but with MarketingMoves as your
global recruitment partner, we can guarantee to make the experience smoother and
more rewarding for you or your business.

Contact the MarketingMoves team on +441932253352.

Or get in touch with David directly on dloubser@marketingmoves.com

or (+44) 07387 108015.

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