SE Rockstars | PreSales Unleashed

Gründer und Geschäftsführer

Podcast Host

Erfinder

Buchautor

Sales Management Department | Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Zusammenarbeit mit Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jan Wieseke und seinem Team vom Sales Management Department der Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Regelmäßige, praxisorientierte Veranstaltungen für die Studierenden.

Gastlektor // Guest Lecturer

ARRtist Circus

April 19th 2024, the one festival for Europe's top talent in Sales and PreSales. A full day of inspirational content, expert speakers, collaborative workshops, keynotes, and networking. Once dusk breaks, we let loose with music and drinks. Bring your team!

Co-Host of the ARRtist Circus // PreSales Track

SAP Customer Experience

Support the people around me in the best possible way - every day. 
The success of others is my motivation.
I am grateful to have the opportunity to support the greatest PreSales team.

People Supporter in PreSales

PreSales Collective

2022 PSC Ambassador

Founding Member PreSales Collective - DACH Chapter

2Win!

Facilitator & Coach

CallidusCloud

Director Solution Engineering EMEA

Senior Sales Engineer

salesforce.com

Sales Engineer

Samhammer AG

Vice President eBusiness

Produktverantwortung für die Service-CRM-Lösung 1stAnswer (http://www.1stanswer.de), Projektmanagement, Projektleitung, Consulting, Key-Account-Management, Personalverantwortung

Produktmanager / Senior Consultant

Projektmanagement, Projektleitung, Consulting, Key-Account-Management, Personalverantwortung

Projektmanager / Senior Consultant

Deutsche Telekom

Projektmanagement im Finanzumfeld, Konzeption und Entwicklung von Finanzapplikationen, Teilprojektleitung in komplexen Projekte, Key-Account-Management, 2nd&3rd-Level-Support

Senior Consultant

Hallo, Jan hier 🤗. 

Zusammen mit Tim Brömme baue ich die Company für PreSales-Training, -Beratung und -Coaching in DACH. 

Als PreSales-Experten mit mehr als 25 Jahren Erfahrung helfen wir SaaS- und IT-Unternehmen, ihre PreSales-Performance zu entfesseln.

Wir unterstützen dich deine WinRates zu steigern, deine Sales Cycle zu verkürzen und dabei einfach Spaß in deiner Rolle zu haben. Egal, ob du Führungskraft oder PreSales Professional bist.

Wenn du dir Unterstützung bei deinen PreSales Themen wünschst, dann kontaktier mich jederzeit gerne oder buche dir einen Termin: https://calendly.com/janerikjank/30-minutes

----------

Was mich antreibt? Lebenslanges Lernen. Konstruktiver Austausch. Menschen unterstützen. 

Tim und ich teile unsere Erfahrungen, Learnings und F***Ups wöchentlich im PreSales Unleashed Podcast (https://https://www.linkedin.com/redir/suspicious-page?url=wonderl%2eink%2F%40presales%29%2e 

Ich freue mich auf den Austausch!

Jan-Erik Jank

CEO @ Alpha Presales | Teaching smart people to talk less and sell more. The smarter your sales engineers are, the more they need this.

I’m on LinkedIn to share stories and lessons from corporate sales training I do and sales kickoffs (SKOs) I speak at.

If you’re in Leadership, Sales, Pre-Sales, or Sales Enablement, you can follow me and get free value.

If you want to train your team to be better at Storytelling, check out Alpha GTM or Alpha Presales training.


--- HAPPY CUSTOMERS ---

✅ MongoDB (app dev)
✅ Optiv (cybersecurity)
✅ Exiger (supply chain / compliance)
✅ Paylocity (HR)
✅ Planful (finance)
✅ NICE (CcaaS)
✅ Eightfold (AI)
✅ OutSystems (dev tools)
✅ Keysight (manufacturing)
✅ Flexential (infrastructure)

--- RESULTS ---

“My sales rep doubled his number the quarter after you did training.”
— Ben, CEO, Iris

“I’m seeing more Alpha behavior happening. The SCs are stepping up in a bolder and more professional manner.”
— Jeff, Director of Solutions Consulting, Paylocity


--- HOW I CAN HELP YOU ---

• Sales Enablement - companies partner with us to supplement their in-house sales enablement. Storytelling is our most common training. We also have SKO workshops and are consistently ranked both #1 content and #1 speaker.

• Presales Leaders - SEs love Alpha Presales training because it’s specifically made for SEs. But most SE leaders don’t buy training for their SE team because they don’t have budget and are too proud to ask for help. If budget is your problem, just reach out. 90% of my clients don’t have budget and I help them get it. Your SEs deserve to feel appreciated and they don’t feel appreciated when your voice is the only one they hear from. 

• Sales Leaders - your sales reps don’t need another sales methodology. They just need to take control of the sale and stop doing whatever the client wants. Note: This doesn’t mean sales reps should be assholes. It means they should be leaders. That starts with the right process and right skills. 


P.S. I take all intro calls myself.  No sales pitch. We'll talk about what you want for your team, I'll tell you what we offer, and then if you think there's a fit, I’ll give you a quote or help you get budget for next year. 

Rew Dickinson

If you're trying to improve your Solutions Engineering (Presales) organization, you need to understand how SEs think. Here are 5 truths I've learned from training hundreds of SEs: 

1. Most SEs don't value money as much you think they do (at Alpha we have data to support this). 

2. SEs are naturally skeptical, so if you have an opinion, you'd better back it up with data. 

3. SEs despise looking unprepared or unintelligent. On the upside, this leads to better preparation. On the downside, it stops them from trying anything new because they despise the feeling of being a novice. 

4. Even if SEs are willing to try something new, they often won't because they are too worried about how their AE is going to react. NOTE: Sending chats/slacks telling SEs what to do during demos does not help.

5. SEs often value "being an expert" more than they value money. 

I had one SE tell me recently that, "I want to be right, more than I want to win the deal." 

---

If you're trying to make your SE team better, consider these 5 truths, and don't propose any changes without first: 

1. Being clear about why change is needed
2. Setting expectations with sales
3. Supporting SEs and telling them that you expect progress, not perfection. 


SE Leaders: For monthly tips on how to improve presales, join 200+ presales leaders who get our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eKaaGeZr

2025 Wrapped for Solutions Consultants!?

Pre-Sales SCs, SAs, SEs, what else?

li_at

JSESSIONID

Talks about #sales, #ventas, #presales, and #storytelling

Solutions Consulting (Presales) Wrapped 2025

CEO @ Alpha

This is a sales call from one of my clients. The worst part is that the Sales Rep had been at the company for 6 years but had made countless mistakes. Here are 5 mistakes I commonly see reps make, along with how to avoid them. 

---

1. Unimpressive intros. People don't care how many years you've been at the company. They want to know how you can help them. Talk about that. 

2. If the prospect reveals their pain and problems, don't jump to solutions, instead, validate them and make them feel heard. 

3. If you're talking for more than 2 minutes straight, it's usually because you're talking about how your product works. Stop doing that. Instead, either: 1) Ask questions, 2) Tell stories, 3) Validate what the prospect has said.

4. Never discount pricing without having a good reason, and never talk about pricing without talking about value. This is Sales 101. 

5. Ask yourself if your prospect knows how to sell your product internally? If they don't, then don't offer more information packets, demos and POCs, instead, help them build a business case. 

Summary: If you want to be more effective at sales, you should primarily be doing 3 things:
1. Asking questions
2. Telling stories
3. Validating what you heard

No alternative text description for this image

I love AI, but for goodness sake, can we stop calling them “hallucinations” and start calling them what they are? Lies.

Hallucinations sounds harmless, but they’re not. 

If you’re in Sales or Solutions Consulting and you regurgitate a hallucination and get called out on it, you immediately lose your credibility and trust. 

And that’s all we have as sales professionals. Credibility and trust. 



Let’s not downplay the risks of AI. With great power there is also great responsibility.

We just wrapped up 3 days of virtual training with Planful’s Solutions Consulting team, and this group blew me away...

They sell to CFOs, Accountants and Financial Planning teams, so they need to know their stuff. But as my good friend Dave Duffett says, “Knowing your stuff is not enough.” 

What I love about this team is that they know their stuff, but they also know how to communicate and tell the story of why their solution is valuable to prospects. 

With this team of Americans, Canadians, Brits, and Germans, we focused on improving demos with better storytelling. 

It’s all about speaking the language of business outcomes, not just features and capabilities. 

It's no surprise that Planful is one of the fastest-growing FP&A platforms in the market.

P.S. They're hiring for BD and Engineering!

Not long ago, I purchased the Presales Navigation System by Dmitri Lee on Kindle and I'm so glad I did because it is probably the most readable sales book I've found...

Since I travel a lot for work, I often don't have the time to read for long periods of time, so I pull up books on my Kindle between flights and read a chapter or two. Dmitri's book is perfect for this because the chapters are short, concise, and almost always have a relevant story about his time in the trenches in presales. 

The part I like best is that Dmitri talks a lot about Leadership. This is perfectly aligned with our philosophy at Alpha Presales. Our motto has always been "Be a Leader" and Leadership is the Number 1 skill we train. 

The SE's job is to Be a Leader. To lead and guide clients to the best possible outcomes. 

Thank you, Dmitri, for helping advance the narrative around Leadership. This is a great book for any presales pro. Buy it here:

Open article: Presales Navigation System: COMPASS, SAIL and ANCHOR A Framework for Winning Deals with Clarity, Momentum, and Truth by amazon.com

Presales Navigation System: COMPASS, SAIL and ANCHOR A Framework for Winning Deals with Clarity, Momentum, and Truth

Should you bring food to your onsite sales meetings? If you do, you immediately look like a “salesperson” (eye-roll). Is it worth it? Here’s my breakdown on when to take food to sales meetings and when not to.

- - -

When I have a big group, I’ll generally bring food because it lightens the mood and creates a more personal connection with people.

But when you do this, you immediately give off “salesperson” vibes, which is a risk. 

In fact, I watched one of my clients ask his buyer for an in-person meeting and when he said “I’ll bring food,” she laughed at him and said, “all you salespeople are the same.” 

For this reason, I typically don’t bring food to 1-on-1 meetings because it can seem like you’re trying to buy the business (getting lunch or coffee is a different story).

If you’re going to bring food, I’m a big fan of making it thoughtful…

For example:
This picture was taken in Munich, Germany when I was there doing some sales training this week. 

I brought Reese’s Trees from the USA because Germans love Reese’s but they’re extremely hard to find in Germany. Everyone was very excited when I broke out the bag of goodies.

So- are you team food? Or team no food? 


P.S. If you lead a Sales or Presales team and want to help your team get better at “sales” without being “salesy,” join 300+ leaders who get my newsletter. Link in bio.

I didn't have a Black Friday deal, so I decided to make one up. $500 to whoever does this...

---
The Problem: 

There is someone at your company who is planning your SKO. It's brutal. Think wedding planning. But worse. Tons of product updates, strategic initiatives, and speakers who will be drinking the night before. Rough. 

The Solution: 

I'm speaking at 4 SKOs in January. There are 2 ways I help companies with this: 

1. Interactive Keynote Sessions - I give you a 45-90 minute banger of a session where the sales team is learning a new skill like storytelling, working together, and competing. It's a nice alternative to lectures and fireside chats from people who have never done sales before. 

2. Team Sales Workshops - you work together as a team and learn Storytelling, Storytelling for Discovery, Presales, or Client Leadership skills that help you take control of the sale and win. 

How You Can Help: 

If you send this to your SKO planning team and book me for SKO, I will give you one of those big fat checks for $500.00 to thank you for making the intro. I'm here to help. 

P.S. What do you think of ChatGPT's rendition of me holding a $500 check? It doesn't seem to listen very well, does it?

Sales: "What do you do if you don't have enough time to cover everything in a meeting/demo?" 

This is a tough situation to be in, but the solution is to ask questions and listen. Here are the 3 questions I would ask, and why. 

---

1. What would make this meeting/demo a success for you? 

-> Why: Because if you don't ask this, you don't know what your client is looking for. You're merely guessing.

---

2. I'm confident that we can deliver everything you're looking for, but if you could only get ONE thing, what would it be and why? 

-> Why: Because if you don't ask this, you waste time talking about things that aren't that important to your client. 

---

3. How are you going to decide between the different options that are available to you?

-> Why: Because if you don't ask this, you have no idea how the client is going to evaluate you. It's like taking a graduate course and not knowing which is most important: the homework, attendance, or the final exam. 

---

When I'm short on time in a sales meeting/demo, I start here. 

Usually, the best thing you can do in sales is listen. 

What would you do?

Every December 4th, I get flashbacks to high school, driving a beat-up Hyundai Elantra, listening to Jay-Z - The Black Album on cassette tape. 

Why December 4th? 

Because that's Jay-Z's birthday, and if you're like me, you can still hear Jay's mom, Gloria Carter, blasting through your speakers saying..."Shawn Carter was born December 4th..."

So this December 4th, I decided to drop a new album, "The Sales Album," modified, of course, by my career in sales.

---"December 4th"---

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘴 '𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦
𝘚𝘰 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭'𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘯

𝘚𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘪𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨
𝘈𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘐'𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘦
𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦 

𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦, 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘌, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮
𝘈𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯

𝘈𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘐 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦
𝘐 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘰𝘵𝘢 𝘪𝘯 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 

𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦, 𝘐 𝘢𝘪𝘯'𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳

𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘐'𝘮 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦
𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥

𝘐 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬, 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘬 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥

𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯...

---

What would you add to verse 2? 

What were you listening to on the way to high school? 


P.S. Get my monthly newsletter for presales and sales teams (SEs, AEs, and Sales Leaders): https://lnkd.in/eKaaGeZr

It’s not too late to close Q4 deals. I closed $110,000 of business this month using this strategy, and another $30,000+ earlier this year with it.

It’s how to use a companies fiscal year to your advantage, so they spend all of their “leftover” money with you. 

This helps them spend their budget so they don’t lose it, and helps you hit quota or exceed it.

Sales leaders, I recommend having all your sales reps do this for:
1- all existing customers 
2- "warm" prospects who are interested but haven’t yet bought. 



P.S. if there is anyone who wants Sales or Presales training next year, and has money to spend this year, I am all ears ;)

Every person in sales has done it... the prospect is talking, and we're thinking about what we're going to say next. But did you know that only 7% of our communication is the words we say? The other 93% is non-verbal. This post will help you with the other 93% so you can be a more effective communicator. 

---

In my sales training courses, we talk a lot about non-verbal communication and confidence. 

I use this game to demonstrate the value of confidence. Save this post and play the game in your weekly team meeting or SKO breakout. 

---

The game is called "Expert Panel." 

It will help you with the 93% of communication that isn't your words. 

How to Play:

1. Pick 3 volunteers to be experts. One expert will give "good" advice, one will give "bad" advice, and one will give "REALLY BAD" advice. 

2. Give the experts a topic to talk about (e.g., “The best way to get rich quick", "How to get through airport security the fastest", "Tips for losing 15 pounds in 15 days", etc.)

3. One at a time, each expert delivers a 60-second monologue with total and complete confidence. It doesn't matter if you are telling the truth or lies, you must speak CONFIDENTLY. 

4. Each expert can build on or contradict what came before.

5. Keep the tone serious, even when the content is absurd.

6. Afterwards, the team votes on which expert appeared most credible based on tone and body language (not words). 

The game is valuable for salespeople because most of us focus so much on our words that we forget what we're saying with our tone and presence.

Have fun with it.

People buy confidence.

The greatest thing I ever did for my professional career was to stop using the snooze button. When I did I: 

- Got more sleep
- Got more done
- Made more money
- Still napped when I needed to
- And drank coffee when I couldn't

The snooze button killed 10-30 minutes of my day, and waking up still sucked. 

So I started setting my alarm for 10-30 minutes later and got more sleep as a result.

We play this game in my sales training workshops because most people are too busy thinking about what THEY'RE going to say instead of LISTENING to the CLIENT. 

This game trains you to listen. It's great for Sales Reps, SEs, and Managers to play. Save this and play it as an icebreaker in your weekly team meeting or SKO breakout. 

---

The game is called "1 word story." (Clever, I know)

How to Play:

1. Create teams of 3-5 players.

2. Someone will start telling a story by saying ONE word only.

3. The next person adds ONE word to the story. 

4. Each player continues the story, adding only ONE word. 

NOTE: Only add words that make sense for the story!

The game is hard because you can't think about what you want to say next, you have to just listen. It's also hard because you will get the urge to add more than one word and control the story. You can't do that either. 

This game teaches us to do what all great salespeople do– listen.

We just wrapped up a week of virtual training with Netwrix, and what a team!
Average tenure: 7.5 years! Highly technical. Former security professionals who know their stuff inside and out.

Normally, deeply technical SEs struggle with storytelling. But not this group! They were packed with great stories, we just had to surface them.

I knew that this group was special because I watched their sales calls beforehand and I saw guys like Dakota already telling stories without even realizing it. The raw material was there. 

Here's how we unlocked it:
- Alpha Storytelling Methodology and playbook
- Guided instruction + group activities
- Focus on translating 7.5+ years of technical expertise into client value

What makes an SE team valuable isn't technical acumen alone. It's their ability to communicate that acumen in a way that gets clients to see value and take action. This team can do both. 

Thank you, Ian and team, for investing in your people and making sure your SEs' voices are heard.

THIS is Solutions Engineering.

P.S. If you want to get better at storytelling and other professional sales skills join the Alpha GTM newsletter where we publish valuable free content once a month: https://lnkd.in/eKaaGeZr

When I was a sales rep, I kept a spreadsheet and every December I would buy gifts for my SEs, CSMs, Legal, and other sales partners. I learned this after being a CSM and SE and realizing that sales reps get all the glory and sales support teams are rarely thanked for all their hard work.
 
1- Solutions Engineers (SEs) -> I literally could not close a deal without them. Derek, Brandon, Ben, Angad, Philip, Nick...SEs are the secret weapon to enterprise sales. They get paid fairly well, but probably not as much as they should, given the amount of work they do. 

2- Customer Success -> Yet again, I couldn't have done my job without Tarun. He was the glue that kept my accounts successful, happy, renewing, and expanding. Same with Iana, Steph, Ryan, Eric, and others. 

3- Legal -> Good thing Eileen and I both liked wine. She probably needed it to not go crazy putting up with my shenanigans. Legal is always the last person we thank for getting the job done, but without them, we could never get something closed. 

Pro Tip: I recommend keeping a spreadsheet, and then when you find out random facts about people, you note them in the spreadsheet so you don't forget them by December. For example, I bought Eddie Vedder merch for Pearl Jam fans, unique whisky and wine for others, Amazon gift cards, and just straight cash for others.

graphical user interface, application, table, Excel

We had Bob Ross join us for sales training last week. Can you spot him (her)?

The hardest part about being a virtual (high velocity) Solutions Consulting team is that you usually don’t get to sit in on discovery calls.

That’s why most SCs in this situation would just talk about their product the whole time. 

Not this team!

They’re pros- they did such a great job of setting the table before jumping into the demo, getting the prospect to open up about their needs, telling stories, doing discovery on the fly, and closing things out with clear value to the customer. 

In fact, after our training the SC leader got a note from one of the sales reps telling her how amazing Bob Ross’s demo was! 

Keep up the great work team!

We play this game in my sales training courses. The problem it solves is that most salespeople are too busy thinking about what they're going to say next that they don't listen. You can't do that in this game, you have to listen. Save this and play it in your weekly team meeting or SKO breakout. 

---

The game is called "Alphabet Story" (Clever, I know)

How to Play:

1. Create groups of 3-8 people.

2. Tell a story, but each new line must start with the next letter of the alphabet. 

Example: 

Person 1: “A dragon appeared in the break room.”
Person 2: “But nobody seemed surprised.”
Person 3: “Clearly, this happens every Monday.”
...

Keep going through the alphabet — if someone gets stuck, the group helps out.

The game is helpful because it teaches you to do what all great salespeople do– listen.

All of my clients want to know how my other clients are using AI. Here's one way. Steal this How To so you can personalize your solution to your audience and stand out in a sea of vendors who all sound the same. 

P.S. I'm heading to NYC today to listen to a panel discussion by Austin Meyer at OpenAI, Ryan Lempa at Figma, Jeff Black at Gong, and the Sales Engineers of New York (SENY). I'll do another post on what I learn from them.

---

How to use AI to personalize your solution to your audience and stand out: 

Let's say you're selling a Financial Planning software platform. You likely sell to multiple industries, including Retailers, Manufacturers, Insurance companies and others.

So even though you're selling the same solution, how it is used by your customers is completely different. 

For example, a Retailer like Starbucks operates 30,000+ stores and has to do financial planning around leases, real estate, and everything else. 

But an Insurance company like Progressive doesn't have to do any of that. They have to worry about actuaries, risk, and pricing policies. 

So you could be selling/demoing the exact same Financial Planning solution to them, but how you personalize the value to them should be completely different (but most people don't do this). 

Most sales reps and sales engineers don't think about this because they're experts in their product, not experts in their customer's industry. 

That's where you can use AI to help you. 

Go to your favorite AI and ask this question: 

"I'm selling [Product] to [Industry], what is unique about how they do [What Your Product Helps With] that other industries don't have to deal with?"

Here's a real example I put into ChatGPT: 
"I'm selling Oracle to an Insurance company, what is unique about how they do Financial Planning that other industries don't have to deal with?"

Then you turn that response into a question to learn more about the customer's business in your meeting with them: 

Here's an example question for selling to an insurance company:
"The financial planning process is different for insurance than it is for most companies because you have to integrate actuarial forecasts and other things, so can you help me understand a little more about the nuances of how your team brings all of that together today?”

Then listen. Learn. Figure out how you can help, because that's what sales is all about. 

How are you using AI?

GTM Director @ OpenAI

Global Solutions Leader at Figma

Head of Global Sales Engineering at Gong

Sales Engineers of New York (SENY)

2025 Wrapped?! Sorry Salespeople, we still have a month left to go.

What did we miss on your 2025 wrapped?

taplio

The Battle

Jan-Erik Jank

Rew Dickinson

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreRew Dickinson's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Jan-Erik Jank

Rew Dickinson

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Rew Dickinson's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreRew Dickinson's LinkedIn Performance