The pre-sales consultant position is known by different names in different firms. In some, the corporate development roles tackle this aspect of the business as well, while in others they might split this role based on each functional component into a separate position. In a few firms, given this is a role with a lot of responsibility, they may just have the lead architect perform this role, or create the role of a "lead consulting architect" that performs both the lead architect role and the pre-sales consultant or corporate development function (though this latter role also involves doing a quite a bit of internal consulting and some amount of M&A work - both sourcing potential acquisition targets and once these have been identified and targeted, helping do due diligence on the deal, bringing the deal to fruition, and finally also helping with post-merger integration and company product portfolio rationalization).
In my experience, a pre-sales consultant does the following things:
a. visits customers and prospective customers along with product managers and presents products, product ideas, company innovations and leading edge thinking to them, b. responds to RFPs, RFQs and RFIs in consultation with architects and systems engineers, c. performs bid defenses, d. conducts sales training for various products, e. staffs booths in trade shows and conferences, f. presents company positions in conferences etc
A typical pre-sales consultant's day might look something like this:
0700: get to work, look through email
0730: work on the assigned sections of the currently "hot" RFP
till to get it done on time. identify questions or sections
1100 that require input from other Subject Matter Experts
(SMEs), reach out to them to get these answered
1100: meet with product managers and architects and learn of
till potential new product pitches to be made to clients,
1300 review presentation ideas and the deck, potentially also
creating some slides yourself
1300: prepare for a bid-defense on another RFP tomorrow at a
till client site, conferring with other SMEs as needed. refine
1500 story, rehearse to make the pitch perfect
1500: attend the daily review of RFP section updates with the
till rest of the team, take away a log of key changes to be
1700 implemented
1700: look forward. mine RFP responses to extract common
till sections or "boiler plate" material that can be used in
1830 other RFPs. work with product managers and lead architects
on competitive landscaping
1930: typically RFP deadlines are very tight, and people work
till over-time trying to get all this done on time.
...
In my experience, a pre-sales consultant does the following things:
a. visits customers and prospective customers along with product managers and presents products, product ideas, company innovations and leading edge thinking to them, b. responds to RFPs, RFQs and RFIs in consultation with architects and systems engineers, c. performs bid defenses, d. conducts sales training for various products, e. staffs booths in trade shows and conferences, f. presents company positions in conferences etc
A typical pre-sales consultant's day might look something like this:
0700: get to work, look through email
0730: work on the assigned sections of the currently "hot" RFP
till to get it done on time. identify questions or sections
1100 that require input from other Subject Matter Experts
(SMEs), reach out to them to get these answered
1100: meet with product managers and architects and learn of
till potential new product pitches to be made to clients,
1300 review presentation ideas and the deck, potentially also
creating some slides yourself
1300: prepare for a bid-defense on another RFP tomorrow at a
till client site, conferring with other SMEs as needed. refine
1500 story, rehearse to make the pitch perfect
1500: attend the daily review of RFP section updates with the
till rest of the team, take away a log of key changes to be
1700 implemented
1700: look forward. mine RFP responses to extract common
till sections or "boiler plate" material that can be used in
1830 other RFPs. work with product managers and lead architects
on competitive landscaping
1930: typically RFP deadlines are very tight, and people work
till over-time trying to get all this done on time.
...
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