PreSales isn’t just about demos and POCs—it’s the engine that accelerates deals and fuels revenue.
Early on, I learned the hard way: reactive PreSales teams don’t scale, don’t win, and don’t help sales hit their number.
Here’s how I transformed PreSales into a strategic growth driver—one that aligns with sales, speeds up pipeline conversion, and delivers real impact.
The Wake-Up Call: When Activity Doesn’t Equal Results
A few years ago, I was leading a PreSales team at a high-growth SaaS company. On paper, we were doing everything right:
- 12 Solution Consultants supporting 30+ AEs
- 50+ demos and POCs running every month
- A pipeline full of enterprise opportunities
But when I dug deeper, the cracks started to show:
- 80% of our demos never progressed beyond initial engagement.
- POCs were running for months with no clear success criteria.
- Technical stakeholders were rarely involved in the buying process.
- Our team was stretched thin, burning out, and frustrated.
The VP of Sales and I sat down to review the numbers. While the pipeline looked healthy, the conversion rates told a different story. We realised that our PreSales team wasn’t just overworked—they were misaligned. We were spending too much time on unqualified opportunities and not enough time driving real deals forward.
It was clear: We needed to stop being a demo factory and start being a deal accelerator.
The Transformation: Building a Strategic PreSales Engine
To fix this, I implemented a strategic framework that aligned PreSales with sales goals, improved pipeline quality, and delivered measurable results. Here’s how we did it:
1. Ruthless Qualification: Stop Wasting Time on the Wrong Deals
The first step was to ensure that every opportunity we touched was worth our time. I worked with SDRs and AEs to implement a rigorous qualification process before any technical engagement.
Key Actions:
Developed a Technical Qualification Framework with clear criteria:
- Is there a defined business problem?
- Is there budget or a clear funding process?
- Are the right stakeholders engaged?
Required SDRs to document technical pain points before scheduling demos.
Partnered with AEs to ensure alignment on deal strategy before POCs.
Result: We reduced the number of demos by 30%, but the ones we ran had a 65% higher conversion rate.
2. Solution Workshops: Shift from Features to Business Outcomes
Instead of running generic product demos, we transformed our approach into interactive solution workshops. These sessions focused on mapping our capabilities to the customer’s specific business challenges.
Key Actions:
Standardised a Solution Workshop Framework:
- First 15 minutes: Validate business context and goals.
- Middle 30 minutes: Map technical capabilities to business outcomes.
- Final 15 minutes: Define next steps and evaluation criteria.
Trained Solution Consultants to lead with discovery and storytelling, not features.
Required AEs to bring at least one technical stakeholder to every workshop.
Result: Our demo-to-POC conversion rate increased by 50%, and customers consistently rated our workshops as the most valuable part of their evaluation process.
3. POC Governance: Turn Science Projects into Sales Accelerators
POCs were one of our biggest time sinks. They often dragged on for months with no clear decision-making process. To fix this, we implemented strict POC governance.
Key Actions:
Established POC Success Criteria before starting any trial:
- What business problem are we solving?
- What does success look like?
- Who owns the decision?
Limited POCs to 4-6 weeks with weekly check-ins.
Required executive sponsor alignment before starting any POC.
Result: POC-to-close rates improved from 20% to 45%, and average sales cycles shortened by 8 weeks.
4. Sales Partnership: Aligning PreSales with Sales Leadership
As a PreSales leader, I see myself as a strategic partner to the VP of Sales. Our success is intertwined, and alignment is critical.
Key Actions:
- Held weekly pipeline reviews with the VP of Sales to prioritise high-impact opportunities.
- Co-developed account strategies with AEs to ensure technical alignment.
- Created shared KPIs for PreSales and Sales, including win rates, POC success rates, and pipeline velocity.
Result: Forecast accuracy improved to 85%, and the VP of Sales consistently cited PreSales as a key driver of regional success.
The Results: By the Numbers
After implementing this framework, the impact was clear:
- Demo-to-POC conversion rate: ↑ 65%
- POC-to-close rate: ↑ 125%
- Average sales cycle duration: ↓ 8 weeks
- Solution Consultant satisfaction: ↑ 40%
But the most important result? We became a trusted partner to sales, driving real business outcomes instead of just running demos.
The PreSales Leadership Playbook
If you’re a PreSales leader looking to build a high-performing team that aligns with sales and delivers results, here’s your playbook:
1. Ruthless Qualification
- Partner with SDRs and AEs to ensure only qualified opportunities enter the pipeline.
- Use a technical qualification framework to assess urgency, budget, and stakeholder alignment.
2. Solution Workshops
- Shift from feature demos to interactive workshops that map capabilities to business outcomes.
- Standardize a framework for discovery, storytelling, and next steps.
3. POC Governance
- Define success criteria, timelines, and stakeholder alignment before starting any POC.
- Limit POCs to 4-6 weeks and hold weekly progress reviews.
4. Sales Partnership
- Align with the VP of Sales on pipeline priorities and shared KPIs.
- Co-develop account strategies and ensure technical alignment at every stage.
Why This Matters
As a PreSales leader, your role isn’t just to support sales—it’s to drive sales. By aligning your team with sales goals, focusing on high-impact opportunities, and delivering measurable results, you can become an indispensable partner to your VP of Sales and a key driver of regional success.
Remember: PreSales isn’t a demo factory. It’s a strategic engine that accelerates deals and delivers value.
