My Amazing Adventures in Presales

By Gaurav Sharma

Presales is a vast topic and spans many industries. I have more than a decade’s experience of working in the Presales function in the Information Technology and Communications industry. My career progression has been
quite fast, owing to a gift of intelligence and a yearning to keep learning. In this book, I share my experiences and creative solutions that helped make the sale! As with any job, this field also has specializations, but there are many forks for your career as a Presales Professional. Being up to date, you can alter the course of your career in any direction.

Some people see Presales as boring bid management, others see it as a mix of many things, but I like to see it as a gateway to entrepreneurship. Being a job that aligns with other executives of a company, cut-throat politics is a common feature in this line of work. While it is detremental in the long run, it sharpens your mind and expands your thinking. Being optimistic is a critical factor of success in Presales, which results in ever growing accolades, all the while ensuring that you are an important member of the team. I give several accounts of working for clients in this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gaurav Sharma
• Release date: Apr 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005516246

Gaurav Sharma

Hello, I am an Indian author. Writing is something that excites me and helps me to communicate with the world. My first book is on narcissism because I have been targeted by narcissists all my life and I wish other innocent people to not suffer like me. Let's fight together to rid the Earth of greed, hatred and delusion. Hope you enjoy my work.

Book preview

My Amazing Adventures in Presales

by

Gaurav Sharma

Dedicated to my mother, Dr. Pushaplata Sharma

First Edition

April 2022

Copyright

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review. Trademarked names appear throughout this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, names are used in an editorial fashion, with no intention of infringement of the respective owner’s trademark. The information in this book is distributed on an 'as is' basis, without warranty. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author nor the publisher shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book. Some names and identifying details of people described in this book have been altered to protect their privacy. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering legal, investment, accounting or other professional services. While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specially disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional when appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, personal, or other damages.

Copyright © 2022 by Gaurav Sharma

All rights reserved.

My Amazing Adventures in Presales

Preface

Presales is a vast topic and spans many industries. I have more than a decade's experience of working in the Presales function in the Information Technology and Communications industry. My career progression has been quite fast, owing to a gift of intelligence and a yearning to keep learning. In this book, I share my experiences and creative solutions that helped make the sale! As with any job, this field also has specializations, but there are many forks for your career as a Presales Professional. Being up to date, you can alter the course of your career in any direction.

Some people see Presales as boring bid management, others see it as a mix of many things, but I like to see it as a gateway to entrepreneurship. Being a job that aligns with other executives of a company, cut-throat politics is a common feature in this line of work. While it is detrimental in the long run, it sharpens your mind and expands your thinking. Being optimistic is a critical factor of success in Presales, which results in ever growing accolades, al the while ensuring that you are an important member of the team. I give several accounts of working for clients in this book.

I have put more than 40 images that shed some light on various topics related to Presales. There are also sample presentation slides and even a sample proposal included, to help you get a better idea of what happens in the real world. I track my career journey and share what I have honed in about a decade. No real client or employer names are used and the sample presentations as well as proposals are based on a fictional scenario. But I have tried to keep the scenario as close as possible to reality.

Though this book is not about riding ostriches, but it depicts the adventurous ride that is Presales. It is at the cross-roads of various roles in a company and has many paradoxical responsibilities as a result. Honestly, I would not recommend any graduate to make it a life-long career. But it’s benefit is that it helps you excel in various functions, while accelerating your career on the fast track in the corporate world. This book is targeted at IT working professionals, individuals working in IT presales and also industry veterans, who like to read about fast-paced adventures.

Gaurav Sharma

April, 2022

Index

Chapter 1 ........................................................ Fast Steps

Chapter 2 ...................................................... Getting Wise

Chapter 3 .............................................. SLB: A Mythical Client

Chapter 4 ...................................................... Taking Form

Chapter 5 ....................................................... Going Deep

Chapter 6 ................................................. Presenting Your Best

Chapter 7 ................................................... Structures of Work

Chapter 8 ....................................................... Written Deals

Chapter 9 ..................................................... Subtle Nuances

Chapter 10 ................................................... The Road Ahead

Chapter 1

Fast Steps

I had started my career after completing my engineering and masters in business administration. My first job was an eye opener, to say the least. But reaching the interview venue was in itself an adventure. Me and some college friends set up a job interview that was for sales. It was in a company that offered mass communications services via SMS. The thing was that the interview was in Mumbai and our college was near Khandala (yes, the same Khandala of that famous Bollywood song). So we had to catch a public transport from that hill station (Khandala), while dressed in business attire - white shirt, black pants, amazing ties and some of us even wore coats. There were specific timings for long range buses, so we went ahead to the next town and got an India tuk-tuk called autorickshaw. Then, we being fresh business graduates in the land of improvisation - stopped a cargo truck on the highway and asked if he could take us to Mumbai for a small fee. Luckily, the truck driver agreed and we hopped on the truck, then got down near the nearest local train station to the venue. We rushed to the interview venue, as we were a bit late. To our surprise and amazement, the interview was in the style of Hollywood movies, a-la 'sell me this pen!'. So we went in one by one and sold the pen to the sales manager by various means - 'you need this pen, I have it, you need to write stuff, so buy it' or 'this pen is amazing, it writes in High Definition' or the age old 'buy the pen, plant it, and watch it grow into a tree that gives money beanstalk!'.

Thanks to our hard work and cleverness, most of us cleared the interview and got a starting package of about 11,000 Indian Rupees or about 150 US Dollars (per month). This was in January of 2010, just after the global recession. But we were all happy none-the-less, it was the first paid job for most of us. We were then trained in the products that the company sold, how to show it's working to the prospective clients and how to make a pitch. These sessions were important and later on in my career, I also conducted elaborate trainings for new team members in the company where I worked. After these sessions, it was time to make sales or get booted out. Yup, the good old sales target was dangling on our heads like a sword. We were divided up into various teams and I was the head of one of the teams. There were prizes to be won for the most sales in a quarter and even some accolades for best monthly performances. It was time to throw out theory from our brain and see what practically happens. The rule of sales is quite simple actually, it revolves around 2 things - greed and fear. And it works like a charm because human brains are wired for survival. If you come to think of it, a sales target is fear and the paycheck is greed. So the teams went out in the field to make on-foot sales, and territories were given to everyone. We had quite amazing mentors who sometimes gave good leads and had tons of experience selling the company's products like champs.

I was not very keen on doing on-foot sales and I was more focused on the technology that was being used, as well as the chance to apply the latest management techniques. I remember reading the latest Harvard Business Review articles and applying that to team formation, as well as sales strategy. Even though it was not my task, I did do some programming because I am also an engineer. The engineering problem was quite simple actually - send non-english SMSes to foreign countries. So I dug around online and found out that this could be done using the Python programming language, within a program called Open Office Calc. It is an open source spreadsheet software where in I populated a list and created a plugin for processing non-english characters. And it worked amazingly well, so well that the CEO came to meet me and congratulate me. I will always remember that moment and it serves me as a reminder that top management always appreciates good results. The whining of employees these days about not getting enough perks and not getting enough salary is from the lazy people who lack the drive to excel. But of course the risk of out shining others is that you make some hidden adversaries, who would like to take away what you have. That is the moment you start to get mature and understand who really are the rich people in the world, why they are rich, how money works and what is life. This is true for any first job, at whatever age. No one in this world is ever not blamed and no one in this world is blamed all the time, so take heart in that and strive to excel.

The software that I had created single handedly, was supposed to be created by team of 10-15 engineers in Hyderabad. There was some power play going on, such that the technology team manager did not want to make that non-english SMS sending software. This was an utter shock to me, because my thinking was simple - if you have the solution to a problem, just execute it. I had not yet ruffled any feathers in the corporate world and I accidentally ruffled some big feathers in that company. I was then targeted by the sales manager who pressurized me to make sales, which I luckily accomplished in a day! For that, I remember going to computer shops in an area called Lamington Road and selling mass SMS services. My pitch was simple - a print-out with exclamation marks, low rates and the lure to reach lakhs of people. So I went from shop to shop and one shop owner asked if students can be targeted with SMSes. I checked if we had mobile numbers of students and we did. So he said to target 100,000 students, I agreed and said it would be 5,000 Indian rupees. And the sale happened then and there, as I got the cheque from him. Later on the campaign was run and there were some problems with that, which I routed to the support team.

It was also interesting to note that my technical triumph lead the management team to hire more people with engineering background. Well, in the hope that they would also do something amazing, which some of them did do. But to my utter surprise, I got to know that they had a package of Rupees 20,000 per month. So I was a team leader and made less than my junior team members, which made me feel cheated, to say the least. However, I continued working and discovered that they did their business graduation from a Mumbai based college. I think that was the critical difference that decided my salary. But then again, later on I realized that some colleges have tie-ups with companies, which ensure they will hire a certain number of students. What is