Thanks a lot Fidumtec for the chance to write these words about my book. My name is Gabriela Serrano. I've been selling from different pre-sales positions since the year 2000. I've worked for big corporations and small to medium local organizations. I've been in contact with customers selling IT products and services, in direct sales and through partners, being in partner or vendor positions.
You can figure out I have quite a high quality picture of what usually happens when an organization wants to sell and customers want to buy the best solution for the lowest costs and risks for the organization.
You may say, "but she's never been in sales!". Wrong. I've never been charged for pure-selling tasks like calling a thousand times a customer until he finally signs a contract. Although, did help much when offering the right solution to compete at the right time, maybe calling as many times in order to better understand customer's needs, maybe receiving a call with a question such as "what can I do with this issue I have?", maybe suggesting a parallel project to guarantee success and improve margins. Both kind of tasks (sales and pre-sales) may have the same importance in those objectives.
Customers believe that sales representatives only want to sell without taking care about what they need (it’s not always that way!). They also need someone technical to be their "trusted advisor" (*). Technical staff members need to understand selling processes and concerns in order to improve margins and future sales, that returns into happy customers and less risks in projects.
(*) A trusted advisor is someone your customer may ask for advice because: usually trusts his/her savvy, and knows the advised solution will probably not be helpless, or risky if not informed. This trusted advisor concept is not something I wrote. This is my understanding of something I've learned many years ago. Although, I keep learning every day...
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