YOU WON
THE POC.
AND LOST
THE DEAL.
You did the discovery. Built the right demo.
Answered every technical question.
Proved the technology worked.
So what did you actually win?
IDEAS
Two ideas are shaping
how I think about Presales.
01 / CONFIDENCE GENERATORS
SALES ENGINEERS ARE
CONFIDENCE GENERATORS.
Our job isn’t simply to prove that the technology works.
It’s to remove enough uncertainty for the customer to confidently move forward.
WHAT DOES THE CUSTOMER NEED
TO BECOME CONFIDENT ABOUT?
02 / WORKING THE DEAL
THE AE OWNS THE DEAL.
THAT DOESN’T MEAN
THE SE CAN IGNORE IT.
Understanding the deal makes our technical work more intentional.
WHAT DOES THIS DEAL
NEED FROM ME RIGHT NOW?
THEMES
Themes I keep coming back to.
The places where I keep testing these ideas.
DISCOVERY
Getting beyond requirements to understand what actually matters.
DEMOS & POCs
Creating evidence for a decision, not just proving that technology works.
PRESALES LEADERSHIP
Developing SEs who can think, not just execute.
SPEAKING
IDEAS WORTH TAKING
INTO THE ROOM.
I speak about Presales, technical selling and the role Sales Engineers play in customer decisions.
From Confidence Generators to Working the Deal, these talks give conferences, company events and Presales teams an idea worth discussing afterwards.
Latest thinking
You won the POC. So why did you lose the deal?
READ THE ARTICLE →: You won the POC. So why did you lose the deal?The technology worked. The evaluation succeeded. The customer still didn’t buy.
ABOUT
I’m Álvaro.
I’m a Sales Engineer and Presales Leader who has spent most of my career somewhere between technology, sales and communication.
I’ve worked as a developer, solution architect, Sales Engineer and Presales leader across companies including Axway, Splunk, IQVIA and Incode.
I’ve also worked as a Great Demo! Certified Facilitator.
I’ve won and lost enough opportunities to become obsessed with one question:
What actually makes a Sales Engineer valuable to a deal?
That’s the question I keep coming back to.