As PreSales teams prepare to enter a new year, it’s important for leaders to take a step back and evaluate how they will communicate value at the executive level. Communicating value is essential to justifying not only your team and their effectiveness, but also laying the groundwork for executive understanding that your team does a whole lot more than demo. 

A few months ago, we had a valuable discussion with Ty Gardiner, Head of Value Consulting at Vivun, and Rich Piva, Director of Value Solutions Consulting at Coupa. We delved into the crucial topic of developing a framework to effectively communicate the value of the PreSales team internally. As you plan for next year, consider these key aspects when crafting a compelling value case for PreSales so that you can amplify PreSales’ voice in strategic initiatives, drive impactful change, and make a case to justify needed resources.

Understanding PreSales Value 

PreSales teams play a crucial role at the intersection of various cross-functional departments within an organization. By mapping out stakeholder groups and understanding their priorities, PreSales leaders can identify where their team holds the greatest influence. This knowledge enables them to articulate value on a wider scale, develop stronger lines of cross-functional communication, and uncover shared value opportunities for a greater impact. 

As leaders, it is vital to recognize the significance of PreSales and proactively build a value positioning plan that takes into account executive priorities. By aligning the plan to executive priorities it empowers the team to effectively communicate the benefits and value proposition and drives success. Building a robust value positioning plan for PreSales not only contributes to the organization’s growth and long-term success, but also enhances the overall customer experience.

Managing the Different Pieces of the Puzzle 

A successful value proposition for PreSales starts with integrating the team across the business. Ask yourself—if we suffer, who suffers too? When we are succeeding, how does that impact other teams? With that in mind, take into consideration the relationships that Presales already has with cross-functional departments and consider where they are strong and weak. 

Developing an impactful value plan means strengthening your efforts through mutual-action. After identifying your stakeholders, the next step is to uncover the shared value priorities to scale your team’s efforts. By understanding the overlap, teams can paint a broader picture of how your plan can accelerate and enable the organization to meet their strategic priorities. 

PreSales most commonly partners with Sales, Product, and Marketing, here are a few suggestions to consider when mapping out your Stakeholder groups. 

Sales—The PreSales team must be closely aligned with sales to ensure efficient and successful sales cycles. While sales reps are focused on winning deals, PreSales is responsible for delivering the right value proposition to close those deals.

Product—Take into account the connection to the product team—with the wealth of information the PreSales team holds, it’s imperative that the product org leverages those insights and together they form a cohesive structure for channeling product feedback.  

Marketing—There’s no doubt that PreSales works closely with Marketing, consider what internal PreSales initiatives can be utilized to strengthen & amplify your messaging externally. 

Making a Plan 

Start by fully understanding where your current team is positioned and have your end goal in mind. While it’s easier to focus on processes or capabilities, that alone won’t be enough. 

Mapping to the Future State is particularly important when it involves budget, internal approvals or sign-offs, implementations, etc. Consider what pieces of the future state align to organizational goals to strengthen your case, then leverage stakeholders to amplify your voice. 

Keep in mind that the path might evolve over time as strategic initiatives are not static—you have to be flexible. Those who succeed keep an open loop of communication in their process and draw a strong line between organizational-wide value and their future state goals. 

How Insights & Analytics Can Strengthen Your Plans  

As PreSales sets off to achieve their goals and strengthen their value case through these efforts, tools can help along the way. Data can not only help your team be nibble and guide conversations but also help highlight what’s working and what’s not with quantifiable metrics. 

Whether it be maximizing R&D efforts with field insights, driving more successful and efficient deal cycles, or communicating PreSales effectiveness internally, the right tools can strengthen your case for movement towards the goals. 

That’s how VivunOne can assist your team in your efforts by helping teams bring data and insight to the conversation—if you’d like to hear more about how Ty & Rich think about value positioning for PreSales teams, you can watch the full session or read the one-pager here.