Presales is a unique role.  It is often referred to as a sales engineer or solution architect and is part of the sales organization.  The U.S. Bureau of labor describes the work environment of a sales engineer as "stressful conditions because their income and job security depend on commission from successfully completing sales".  Most sales engineers will work long and irregular hours to meet sales goals and client needs.  However, this also describes what makes sales engineering fun and unique!  Unlike most corporate jobs that have a typical workday of  9 am to 5 pm  / 5 days a week, presales allow for a more dynamic and flexible workday.  In addition, presales never has the same day twice, as each day brings new engagements, new challenges and new solutions to changing business problems.  If any of this sounds exciting, then maybe presales is for you.

If you are interested in jumping into presales here are five things that need to excite you:

• Entrepreneurial mindset - Each day will be very different than the last day. As you navigate the day, you will need to solve customer’s problems by reaching out to other parts of the business and creating unique solutions.

• Public Speaking / Presenting - Presales will give you a platform to present consistently. Some of the presentations will involve product demonstrations, pilot results, and technical white-boarding. As you become more specialized in a specific technology, you will be asked to present in front of a public forum to help present through leadership talks.

• Passionate about technology - Being in Presales involves showing value to customers on how the product technology can be applied in solving a business problem.  Therefore, Presales engineers tend to get excited about learning new technology and understanding how it can be applied to solve problems.

• Inconsistent work schedule - Presales is not a typical  9 am to 5 pm job.  There are days where you might be on a call with a customer in the UK and the next day with California.  This is part of what makes Presales unique since each day brings new customers to meet and help work within solving their challenges. 

After reading this, if you feel like you are ready to jump into presales then read my blog post on  Getting up-to-speed with Sales Engineering (my list of resources)  to help you get started!