Presales Expert, Cross Solutions and Industry

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ROLE DESCRIPTION

The Presales Expert Job Profile can take 3 different paths:

• Presales Solution Expert
• Presales Customer Solution Manager
• Enterprise Architect

Presales Solution Expert Role: The Presales Solution Expert identifies, understands, and defines customer needs in order to develop and maintain standard product demonstrations and materials to close business and increase revenue. Provides additional support to account executives and conducts demonstrations for strategic purposes, including tradeshows and SAPPHIRE. The Presales Expert is considered one of the most knowledgeable Presales persons on a given solution in the Business unit they support.

Deal Execution / Demonstration Lead Tasks:

• Responsible for highly complex / visible pre-sales and/or post-sales support of company products/systems.
• Provides advanced-level technical support to complex sales presentations and product demonstrations.
• Provides answers to customer / internal SAP team inquiries concerning advanced solution topics.
• Provides software development and consultation to prospective customers.
• Will participate in demo system design, planning and spec-out configuration requirements if needed.
• Participate in new product release input, testing and training of peers.

Strategic Tasks:

• Quickly establishes oneself as the thought leader of the VAT and fine tunes account strategy.
• Guides team in creation of overall theme & competitive differentiation (value wedges)
• Executes vigorous dry runs on strategic deals and customer engagements.
• Effectively transitions engagement to implementation partner / Field Services
• Is proactive in sharing their knowledge with the greater presales community through Solution Hubs or other enterprise social media where collaboration takes place.

Presales Customer Solutions Manager Role:

• The Presales Customer Solutions Manager (PCSM) leads and manages all Presales engagements for a given set of opportunities aligned to a group of sales teams. S/he works with the sales teams to support sales strategies by engaging the appropriate Presales team. A Presales Customer Solutions Manager must possess strong solution selling and value-based selling skills, and be able to mentor and coach the assigned presales team members in support of sales cycles.

Deal Execution Tasks:

• Be the single point of contact for Sales into the Presales organization in support of their sales opportunities.
• Collaborate with sales management and sales account executives to plan account strategies through participation in informal and formal account reviews.
• Work directly with each Sales AE to assess the right time to engage presales resources and approve/deny the use of presales specialists in those sales opportunities.
• Assign the right presales team members to work each qualified sales opportunity in their territory (assign the VAT team).
• When appropriate, assign a Solution Captain to an opportunity.
• Maintain intimate knowledge and status of each sales opportunity where Presales team members are being used and raise “red-flags” to the Sales Management when obstacle’s arise in the account.
• Personally get engaged in supporting the key deals in the territory through customer interactions and presentations where qualified.
• Utilize CRM and other Presales BI reports to provide feedback to sales on the effectiveness of Presales in supporting their accounts.
• Enforce consistent presales processes, including CRM-based opportunity management, dry-runs and discovery sessions, to ensure superior demos and presentations.
• Monitor the impact of each presales team member throughout each sales cycle in order to fairly compensate each once the deal closes.
• Maintain high-level knowledge of SAP’s entire solution suite and key competitors.

Business Development Tasks:

• Collaborate with the sales team to identify whitespace opportunities.
• Be resourceful and creative in using Design Thinking processes to expand deals and create new opportunities in dormant accounts.

Enterprise Architect Role:

• The Enterprise Architect is a senior presales position who provides direct support to the sales and presales in the development and execution of strategies for SAP’s Innovation platform of solutions in complex and strategic sales opportunities.
• As a solution expert, he/she will provide advanced solution knowledge and assist the local presales with qualifying customer technical needs, developing and presenting customer solutions and architecture roadmap, assisting with proposals and demos. The Architect must also possess strong solution selling and value-based selling skills, and Design Thinking skills. He/she often will hold Solution Captain/Lead role on complex opportunity and ensure that the various presales members working on the deal are coordinating their efforts to maximum impact, and that the solution strategy fits with the customer needs. The architect also ser