One of the main challenges in pre-sales performance evaluation is the lack of clear and consistent goals and metrics that align with the business objectives and the customer journey. Pre-sales activities can vary widely depending on the industry, product, market, and customer segment, and may include tasks such as prospecting, discovery, demos, proposals, proof of concepts, and technical support. However, not all of these tasks are equally important or relevant for every deal, and some of them may not have a direct impact on revenue or customer satisfaction. Therefore, it is essential to define and track the key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect the value and effectiveness of pre-sales activities, such as lead quality, conversion rate, win rate, deal size, sales cycle, customer feedback, and retention.
If expectations aren't clear, results become hazy at best. Leaderboard position matters and should be considered, but the SE role is about a lot more than attached revenue. Clear, succinct expectations need to be crystallized at the leadership level and enforced by FLMs and down to ICs in 1:1s and regular check-ins. The important thing is to layer in something that the SE has more impact over than closing revenue, since deals can fall of the rails even if the SE has done everything as best they can. Separating out Technical Validation from closed revenue can deliver more specific outcomes for SEs, tie their outcomes to something more within their control, and enhance AE/SE relationships at the same time.
There is comfort and value in being tied to goals/metrics/APIs. However, in PreSales the beauty and value of the role is the Subjective as much as the Objective. Trust, strong relationships, and striving toward accomplishing internal and external clients' outcomes (many of which can not necessarily be tied to a Metric), are equally important as what can be tracked on a spreadsheet or CRM tool.
In pre-sales performance evaluation, some common challenges include balancing the quantity and quality of leads, managing time effectively, aligning with the sales team, handling rejection, and adapting to market changes. Overcoming these challenges requires effective time management, clear communication, collaboration, resilience, and staying updated with market trends. It's about finding a balance, staying focused, and continuously improving to deliver value and drive success in pre-sales efforts.
3 Key KPIs + 1 'secret sauce' indicator Presales' ultimate goal is securing the right business. KPIs are necessary, providing evidence of progress, but they aren't sufficient on their own, as they don't capture the health of your team. 3 key KPIs. Win rate: should increase over time Average deal size: should increase over time Deal duration: should decrease over time. Team morale is your 'secret sauce'. Regularly assess your team's confidence, motivation, and learning during 1:1s. This holistic approach to performance evaluation ensures not just quota attainment, but a thriving, engaged presales team.
Defining KPIs is important but pointless unless there is an objective measurement process. When I was involved in the development of pre-sales talent, we found it useful to focus on the measurable ability to perform key tasks in a controlled environment.
Another challenge in pre-sales performance evaluation is the lack of reliable and accessible data and tools that can capture and analyze pre-sales activities and outcomes. Pre-sales professionals often use multiple platforms and systems to manage their workflows, such as CRM, email, calendars, webinars, and collaboration tools. However, these platforms may not be integrated or synchronized, and may not provide enough visibility or granularity into the pre-sales process. For example, CRM data may not reflect the actual time spent on pre-sales activities, the quality of interactions, or the customer sentiment. Moreover, pre-sales professionals may not have the time or incentive to update or document their activities and results, leading to data gaps and inaccuracies. Therefore, it is important to invest in data collection and automation tools that can streamline and standardize pre-sales workflows, and provide insights and reports on pre-sales performance.
Data and tools are key. You need to find a healthy medium between the tools and data you personally want, and those that are accepted by the peer teams in your company. Typically there will be a CRM tool used by your sales teams, look at how you can extend that tool and start to track the data to demonstrate positive impact through your activities. This will help to establish a common language across the organization, and reduce the issue of people misinterpreting insights.
Respect your team's time. Remember, for an individual contributor on the team, every minute spent on reporting is a minute away from value-creating work or some well-deserved rest. 60 minutes / SE / week for a team of 5 = 1200 minutes / month. What could your team have learned or built with 20 additional hours in a month? As an SE leader, encourage as much as automation as you can. Set KPIs and metrics that are meaningful to your team's growth and deliver insights, not just for your upward reporting. Key input from your SEs should be opportunity health (red/yellow/green) and why. Tools tracking activities and integrating them into CRMs are plentiful. Call notes, conversation intelligence and sentiment analysis are improving.
A third challenge in pre-sales performance evaluation is the lack of regular and constructive feedback and coaching that can help pre-sales professionals improve their skills and performance. Pre-sales professionals often work in cross-functional teams and collaborate with multiple stakeholders, such as marketing, sales, product, and customer success. However, they may not receive enough feedback or recognition from their peers, managers, or customers, or they may receive conflicting or vague feedback that does not help them identify their strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, they may not have access to adequate training or mentoring programs that can help them develop their technical, business, and communication skills, and keep up with the latest trends and best practices in their industry. Therefore, it is essential to establish a culture of feedback and coaching that can foster continuous learning and improvement among pre-sales professionals.
Coaching skills are a NON-NEGOTIABLE for first-line SE leaders, and should be a key factor in evaluating their suitability for the role! This ensures that the team maintains a focus on continuous skill development, which is crucial in sales. Coaching PLUS call reviews creates a positive feedback loop that leads to tangible improvements, greater confidence, and better ideas. Managers should prioritize time in their calendars for coaching and call reviews. BONUS: carve out a weekly Practice Hour where the team can practice together! This can be a real game-changer in building confidence, generating ideas, and improving the quality of your sales engagements!
People think of coaching and feedback as an event. It is not an event, it needs to be always-on. Without a culture of always-on feedback and coaching, you're letting your team down. Be open to feedback, and be willing to share feedback. Bi-directional is important. Two ways that I've done this: 1. Best Thing / Worst Thing - note the thing that went the best and the thing you think went the worst from every call you have. Do more of the "best" things and do less of the "worst" things. Talk about them in 1:1s and with peers. 2. Regular shadowing - not just between manager and IC, but also between peers. We can all learn from each other, all the time. Incorporate best thing/worst thing into these calls. Now there's an easy dialogue.
A fourth challenge in pre-sales performance evaluation is the lack of alignment and collaboration among the different teams and functions involved in the pre-sales process. Pre-sales professionals often act as the bridge between marketing and sales, and need to coordinate and communicate with both teams to ensure a smooth and consistent customer experience. However, they may face challenges such as siloed information, misaligned incentives, conflicting priorities, or unclear roles and responsibilities. For example, marketing may generate leads that are not qualified or relevant for sales, sales may not follow up or close the deals generated by pre-sales, or pre-sales may not have enough input or support from product or technical teams. These challenges can result in inefficiencies, delays, errors, or missed opportunities in the pre-sales process. Therefore, it is crucial to align and collaborate with the other teams and functions involved in the pre-sales process, and establish clear expectations, processes, and feedback mechanisms.
<<< This AI-generated answer can be improved. I provide 7 points. Lack of alignment and collaboration is a process issue. Improving this requires a multi-faceted approach 1. Establish clear roles and responsibilities 2. Regular cross-functional meetings: especially important for SE leaders 3. Joint goal setting: SEs are a specialized sales function and SE leaders should be involved in sales strategy 4. Effective knowledge sharing: encourage BDRs, AEs, SEs, CSMs, Support to share info in the same systems. Eliminate silos. 5. Recognition and celebration of success: this helps with team bonding 6. Culture of feedback: ICs will tell you what is and what is not working 7. SE leaders setting an example in communication and collaboration
A fifth challenge in pre-sales performance evaluation is the lack of innovation and differentiation that can help pre-sales professionals stand out from the competition and create value for the customers. Pre-sales professionals often face a highly competitive and dynamic market, where customers have access to more information, options, and alternatives than ever before. Therefore, they need to constantly innovate and differentiate themselves from the competitors, and deliver personalized, engaging, and compelling pre-sales experiences that can address the customer's pain points, needs, and goals. However, they may face challenges such as limited resources, time constraints, or rigid processes that prevent them from experimenting, testing, or adapting their pre-sales strategies and tactics. For example, they may rely on generic or outdated demos, proposals, or presentations that do not resonate with the customer's context or preferences. Therefore, it is vital to encourage and enable innovation and differentiation among pre-sales professionals, and provide them with the tools, resources, and flexibility to create and deliver customized and value-added pre-sales solutions.
It is vitally important that your presales metrics change with evolving organisational goals. Goal congruence is key. KPI’s in a lot of presales orgs are shared with other functions e.g. revenue generated is shared with sales. Presales leaders should challenge to offer some KPIs on how that revenue was generated. Did we win well? Were we efficient? Was the customer experience great? Offer a viewpoint and data point others are not. Measure it and move the needle on it.
It's worth distinguishing between the effectiveness of the pre-sales process and the individuals involved. Often the people involved in pre-sales will also be involved in the sales and post-sales phases. Considering sales as an "end-to-end" set of activities and being clear about the boundaries between phases, the participation of team members in each phase, and the measurement of contribution to revenue creation at each phase leads to a more structured approach to performance evaluation.
Explore the use of financial performance indicators alongside non financial performance indicators. FPI’s provide a historical focus. They’re easy to collect as data is readily available but they offer no guarantee of future performance. NFPI’s offer a great insight into likely future performance. They can be hard to collect and are infinite in their possibilities so use wisely. NFPI’s when mixed with FPI’s give a great balanced view of performance.