Build a Winning Presales Process in 2024: A Complete Guide

Is your sales team under constant stress and unsure how to close deals? Are you giving them hours of training, sharing motivational TED talks, and whatnot?

Though sales teams are directly proportional to closing deals, there is one more crucial step you need to ace if you want to take over 2024. It's building a fool-proof Presales process!

A robust Presales process plays a crucial role in achieving success for individual sales opportunities and the sales organization as a whole.

Let's quickly build together a strong Presales process and drive your bottom-line growth.

What is Presales Process?

A Presales process covers all the activities that happen before closing a deal. These activities include product and market research, prospecting and qualifying leads, crafting a unique selling proposition, and lead nurturing.

In other words, they identify, qualify, prepare, and nurture prospects before handing them off to the sales team. This helps the sales team focus on the hottest leads and close deals faster.

Who is Involved in the Presales Process?

The Presales process typically involves several key individuals and teams within a business. These include:

1. Presales Professionals
   Presales professionals are responsible for the overall presales process. They work closely with the sales team to identify potential customers, understand their needs, and provide them with the necessary information to make an informed decision.
2. ‍Sales Team  ‍
   The sales team works closely with Presales professionals throughout the B2B sales cycle to ensure that potential customers have the necessary information to make an informed decision. (Find out how to close more deals)‍
3. Marketing Team
   ‍The marketing team plays a critical role in the Presales process by developing marketing materials and campaigns to generate leads and create awareness of the product or service being offered. ‍
4. Product Development Team ‍
   The product development team works closely with Presales professionals to provide technical specifications, pricing information, and other details required in creating product demonstrations and other materials.‍
5. Customer Service team
   ‍The customer service team may be involved in the Presales process to provide information about customer needs and pain points.
   

Creating a Winning Presales Process in 2024

Similar to how the entire Universe revolves around five important elements of nature, master these five important steps that you need to achieve the best Presales process.

Step 1: Qualifying Leads

61% of companies rank lead generation as their number one challenge and we cannot deny it. Finding leads is challenging, and finding quality leads is even more challenging. That’s where pre-sales come in.

But with data analysis and lead evaluation expertise, Presales teams will ace lead generation. Sales teams leverage both sales technology and customer insights to create comprehensive profiles of their ideal clients, analyzing their behavior patterns to pinpoint the most promising opportunities for closure. The lead qualification process then enables the team to focus their efforts and resources on the leads with the greatest potential value.

Here's a quick cheat sheet that you can use for qualifying leads during Presales:

• Budget: Determine if the potential customer has the financial resources to make a purchase.
• Need: Understand the potential customer's pain points and determine if your product or service can address those needs.
• Authority: Identify the decision-makers within the potential customer's organization who have the authority to make purchasing decisions.
• Timeline: Determine the potential customer's timeframe for making a purchasing decision and whether it aligns with your company's sales cycle.
• Fit: Evaluate if the potential customer's needs align with the strengths of your product or service and if there is a good match between their requirements and your offerings.

Step 2: Discovery

Right on cue is customer discovery. This is an important step where the initial contact is made with the customer right after they've been qualified.

This is similar to a pre-screening interview where the Presales team tries to find out what the customer is looking for and their unique challenges. A strong Presales team will have expertise in understanding the business solutions and the customers' business needs. Without understanding these, learning how to best position their product or service solution is impossible, and the next step highly depends on this.

Also read: How to Run a Sales Discovery Process?

Step 3: Product Demonstration

The actual step for which your potential customers are waiting with all the skeptical glasses right on. But you can turn the skepticism into a beautiful smile by helping them visualize how the product or service can solve their specific needs and challenges. Showcasing interactive product demos with can help customers understand how products solve their challenges more clearly. Offer an interactive experience that keeps potential customers interested and invested in the sales process.

Pro tip: Today's business decision involves more than just a single buyer. There is an entire team of stakeholders who does not get easily convinced by just communicating verbally. What if you can show your product in action? Learn more about Storylane’s interactive product demos and how they can help you make a very good first impression.

Here's how Semrush uses Storylane's interactive product tours to showcase their platform 👇

Also read: Guide to product demonstration

Step 4: The Proposal and Approval

Now, the lead is qualified and validated! Hurray! Not yet. Here, we need to draft a proposal outlining the customer's primary pain points and a tailored solution.

In many instances, the Presales teams will need help to do this. They collaborate with the sales team to review and approve the proposal for the client—a crucial step for both Presales and sales. Remember how we discussed understanding customer needs to learn the pain points earlier? This is where all that hard work pays off. The Presales team will shape the proposal to address the customer's needs.

Step 5: Sales Handoff

Now, the Presales have completed all the work, and the foundation is extremely strong. But it is still not the time to retire. They also play an important role in customer retention by doing a proper sales handoff.

Once the deal is closed, pre-sales work with the sales team to ensure the implementation is successful and aligned with the proposal. It is like how the force lives even without the Jedi or the lightsaber! Presales continue to work on identifying future opportunities for growth, improving client satisfaction, and increasing retention.

Factors Influencing the Presales Process

Here are a few things you should be aware of and keep in mind when you’re creating your Presales process.

• Market trends: Market trends, changes in consumer behavior, shifts in demand, and new technologies influence how potential customers perceive a product or service.

• Competitive landscape: Potential customers always compare the product or service being offered to similar offerings from competitors.

• Customer needs and pain points: Understanding customer needs and pain points are critical to the presales process.

• Company culture: The company culture influences how presales professionals interact with potential customers and how they represent the company.

• Sales and marketing strategies: Sales and marketing strategies, including pricing, promotional activities, and marketing campaigns, can also impact the presales process.

• Internal processes: Internal processes, such as the availability of resources and the efficiency of internal communication, influence the nature of the Presales process.
  

Also read: 7 Most Popular Pre-sales Software Tools for 2024

Presales Process FAQs

1. What are pre-sales steps?

Pre-sales steps are all the groundwork laid before closing a sale. This involves tasks like qualifying leads, understanding their needs, showcasing your product's value, and crafting proposals.

2. What is the purpose of a presales process?

A presales process aims to streamline these pre-sale activities, ensuring your sales team focuses on qualified leads most likely to buy. This helps increase win rates, improve sales forecast accuracy, and shorten sales cycles.

3. Who's involved in the presales process?

The presales process can involve various people depending on company size. It often includes sales development reps (qualifying leads), solution architects (understanding needs), sales engineers (technical expertise), and account executives (closing deals).