Everyone in the SaaS sales world has one thing in common: They are focused on closing as many deals as possible.
That said, actually getting deals done, especially in 2023, is not easy. It requires hard work and dedication from everyone on the team: SDRs, reps, marketing, and of course, presales.
While presales usually works behind the scenes, they play a critical role in helping prospects understand the value of your product and getting them to sign on the dotted line.
But how exactly can you make sure that your presales strategy has what it takes to support your sales process and ultimately assist in driving revenue for your company?
Well, we just happen to have a few ideas in mind.
Join us as we break down everything you need to know about building a winning presales strategy.
What is the presales process?
Wait just a minute there, friend!
Before we dive right into all the nitty gritty details, let’s make sure we’ve got the basics down pat.
When we talk about the presales process, we mean all of the work and activities that go into a deal before it’s closed.
Typically, presales pros are familiar with both the target audience and the more technical aspects of the product.
And when it comes to their role on the GTM team, their job is to educate buyers about the ins and outs of the product. They are responsible for creating product demos and other product collaterals, addressing technical concerns buyers may have, explaining how the product will fit into the buyer’s current tech stack, and assisting with product implementation.
Presales can bring SaaS companies tons of value when it comes to helping them target a very knowledgeable customer base.
Best practices for defining an effective presales strategy
That’s all fine and good.
But putting a winning presales strategy in place is no easy task.
To define an effective presales strategy, you need to make sure your process allows for collaboration between the sales and presales teams so they can each meet their targets.
On top of this, you need to define clear communication to make sure the entire GTM team remains aligned.
Here are some other best practices for defining a presales strategy:
Set clear objectives
Before you even dream of rolling out your presales strategy, you need to understand what you want to achieve.
You need to consider what specific goals or targets to strive for, rather than just taking a shot in the dark. Because this can make it hard to stay on track and understand how close you are to reaching your goals.
To do this, it’s a good idea to set clear KPIs and communicate them across your team as well as throughout the organization.
Then, you’ll need to make sure that these goals align with the overall business goals for your company.
Gather market intelligence and target the right audience
You know it just as well as we do. Not every buyer is a match for your product.
That’s why it’s essential to make sure you are targeting buyers that are relevant for your business.
Otherwise, you’re just aiming with no clear sense of direction.
So, this means you need to do some market research to pinpoint what the ideal buyer persona is for your product. Understand what industry they’re in, what their role is at their company, and what pain points they might have.
On top of this, it’s essential to constantly monitor the competitive landscape to ensure that you know how to differentiate your product. Because at the end of the day, you need to be able to explain why your product leaves the competition’s solutions in the dust.
Craft compelling product collaterals
Your presales strategy is only as good as your product collaterals.
One of the presales team’s key responsibilities is to make the product demos and other product collaterals so that the sales team has everything they need to close deals.
These collaterals need to be personalized to show how your product will address prospects’ specific challenges.
Leverage technology and other tools
Let’s not sugar coat it.
A winning presales strategy takes time, careful planning and consideration, and solid execution.
And one way to make sure you get it right when it comes to the execution is ensuring your presales team has everything they need to succeed.
One tool to make sure they have in their arsenals is a demo platform (like Walnut) to help them easily create winning interactive demos that the sales team can use to close more deals and ultimately drive more money for the company.
Personalize, personalize, personalize
If this subheading didn’t give it away, we just want to reiterate that we are firm believers in using personalization to set your product collateral apart.
Tailoring your interactive product demos based on your customers’ needs, pains, and goals will not only help buyers get a sense of what it would be like to actually use your product, but also keep buyers engaged because you’ll show them the parts of the product that are relevant to them and skip anything unnecessary.
On top of this, it shows that your team took the time to get to know the buyer’s needs, which can help make your brand stand out among the competition.
Handle objections
You can also leverage your presales efforts to help your team better handle objections.
Often, objections come up when prospects don’t understand the full value of your product. But if you take advantage of your presales, you can just show them everything that your product brings to the table.
If your presales team can make interactive demos that showcase specific functionalities or aspects of your product, you have them on hand to address any questions or concerns that may come up. These demos can be used by your sales team on a call or they can send buyers a link to see it on their own time.
Collaborate with marketing
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it as many times as it takes: Keep marketing in the loop!
And we swear that we’re not just saying this because we are marketing content writers.
Without marketing, your presales team would be creating demos for people that have never heard about your product and have no reason to trust your brand.
That is why you need to make sure that your presales team is always collaborating with marketing.
For example, presales has access to in-depth analytics and data on how buyers interacted with demos. So, marketing can use these insights to better target prospects going forward. And marketing can tap into presales’ technical expertise to offer your target audience background information about your product to help bring leads with higher buying intent.
At the end of the day, when both teams work together, your presales and marketing will gain an edge.
Look for ways to optimize the presales process
It’s at this point that you’re gonna want to refer back to those KPIs you set at the beginning.
Based on how close (or far off) you were from hitting those targets, you need to try to understand what went right (or horribly, horribly wrong) and make adjustments accordingly.
This will help you make sure that you are constantly finding ways to optimize your presales process.
Because let’s face it, there’s nothing more absurd than doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
(Except drinking matcha and claiming that it tastes good. Seriously people, it tastes like grass.)
Using interactive demos to take your presales strategy to the next level
Everybody needs a good support system.
And that’s exactly what presales is.
(When you get it right, of course.)
Without the technical know-how that presales brings to the table, it would be much more challenging for your sales team to educate buyers about your product and handle any of their more product-related questions or concerns.
So, when defining your strategy, it’s critical to give your presales team everything they need to be able to support your sales process.
With an interactive demo platform (like Walnut), your presales team will be able to create winning interactive product demos for your sales team.
Think about it this way. An interactive demo platform is the support that your presales team needs to support your sales process.
(Ok, we took it a little too far there, but you get what we mean.)
Wanna take your presales strategy up a notch? Well, all you need to do to make that happen is click the “Get started” button.
