Chapter 1: Software: How Can It Be Sold Well?

1.1 The market is growing but the product is not selling?
1.2 Software is the business itself
1.3 Presales Saves Software Companies
1.4 Is pre-sales sales or technology?
1.5 Presales is the core of software companies.

Chapter 2 Who is Presales?

2.1 I am the technical representative of our company!
2.2 Strategists and Communication Hubs
2.3 External speakers who are popular
2.4 What are the attractions of pre-sales work?
2.5 Pre-Sales Framework
__Survey & Interviews with 20 Pre-Sales Leaders
__On-site Interview I Google Myung-Hoon Chung

Chapter 3: Pre-Sales Activities: A Case Study

3.1 Preliminary Preparation and Verification
__3.1.1 The dolphin's transformation attempt! Why on earth?
__3.1.2 What does Dolphin Bank want?
__3.1.3 Three pieces of information needed to establish a response strategy
__3.1.4 Is this really a sales opportunity for us?
3.2 Evaluation Response
__3.2.1 Product Introduction Seminar
__3.2.2 Utilizing the construction case
__3.2.3 Developing solutions through technical meetings
__3.2.4 Responding to Information Requests
__3.2.5 Discovery Workshop
__3.2.6 Competitive Analysis
__3.2.7 Proof of concept in progress
3.3 Proposed work
__3.3.1 Consortium Composition
__3.3.2 Alliances and Negotiations
__3.3.3 Proposal Presentation
3.4 Sales Success and Support
__3.4.1 Sales Success
__3.4.2 Project Preparation
__On-site Interview II AWS Kang In-ho

Chapter 4: Building a Performance-Driven Pre-Sales Team

4.1 Team Goals
4.2 Team composition and talent development
__4.2.1 What is an appropriate team size?
__4.2.2 Who is suitable for pre-sales?
__4.2.3 What and how to learn?
4.3 Securing excellent talent
__4.3.1 Understanding Applicant Tendencies
__4.3.2 How to prepare for an effective interview?
4.4 Utilizing Pre-Sales Resources
__4.4.1 Validating Sales Opportunities from a Technical Perspective
__4.4.2 Step-by-step efficient resource allocation
__4.4.3 Give pre-sales a weapon to use
__4.4.4 Processing, is it the answer to everything?
4.5 Performance Measurement and Compensation
4.6 How do global companies manage their teams?
__On-site Interview III Microsoft Lee Wan-geun

Chapter 5: Developing Professional Presales Skills

5.1 Expertise
__5.1.1 Technology Leadership
__5.1.2 Data preparation techniques
__5.1.3 Domain Knowledge
__5.1.4 Measuring My Pre-Sales Skills
5.2 Communication
__5.2.1 Conducting meetings and workshops
__5.2.2 Persuasive Presentation
__5.2.3 Various communication technologies
__5.2.4 Interview Preparation
5.3 Troubleshooting
__5.3.1 Problem Analysis
__5.3.2 Collaboration and Escalation
__5.3.3 A more proactive approach
5.4 Establishing a Technology Strategy
__5.4.1 The Big Picture of Strategy Formulation
__5.4.2 Developing a Data-Driven Strategy
__5.4.3 SWOT Analysis
__5.4.4 New Product Launch Plan
5.5 Understanding Your Customers
__5.5.1 Active Listening
__5.5.2 Let's put ourselves in the customer's shoes through role-playing.
Field Interview IV: Cloudera Kim Ho-jung

Chapter 6: Now Digital Presales

6.1 What is digital presales?
6.2 Digital Competency Preparation
__6.2.1 Preparing Digital Content
__6.2.2 Using Generative AI
__6.2.3 Enabling Digital Interaction
__6.2.4 Enhanced Online Presence
6.3 Building a Demo Automation and Self-Onboarding Platform

| What this book covers |

- Definition, value, and detailed activities of pre-sales
- Skills needed for pre-sales and how to prepare
- Career growth and prospects as a pre-sales professional
- The structure and operation of a global software company's pre-sales organization.

| Target audience for this book |

This is a must-read for IT professionals (software developers/engineers/consultants) contemplating their next career path for personal growth, those aspiring to play a key role in a global software company, job seekers seeking a visionary IT position that AI cannot replace, those preparing to start a software business, those aspiring to become a C-level executive at an IT company, and those new to pre-sales.

This book is also essential for software company executives seeking to improve sales and profits, managers hoping to grow their team's sales capabilities, managers curious about the structure and operation of presales organizations at global software companies, sales professionals curious about synergy with presales, and HR managers seeking to recruit the best presales talent.

- Software sales professionals: Those who want to learn strategies that reflect the latest technology trends and market demands.
- Pre-sales professionals: Those who want to further strengthen their capabilities and find effective ways to respond to customers.
- Business executives and managers: Those who understand the importance of technical sales and want to maximize the operation and performance of their pre-sales team.
- Those seeking IT and software-related positions: Those who wish to increase their understanding of pre-sales work and receive assistance in career development.

| What is PreSales? |

This refers to a job that responds to customers' technical requests before selling software.
The main focus of the activity is 'pre-sale response', but some 'post-sale support activities' are also undertaken with the goal of customer re-subscription/dissemination.
Pre-sales, also known by various names like solution architect, solution engineer, or sales engineer, achieve software sales and customer success through technical skills and customer service capabilities.

| Structure of this book |

Chapter 1: "Software: How Can We Sell It?"
It explains the current state of the software industry, driven by AI and digital innovation, and the trend of software becoming a business in itself.
And we'll explore why pre-sales is necessary for software companies responding to this trend.

Chapter 2: "Who is Presales?"
Let's take a closer look at the details and characteristics of pre-sales.
Discover the unique appeal of pre-sales, a company that actively serves as a technical representative, strategist, communications hub, and external speaker for software companies.
We will also explore a presales framework to successfully complete presales activities.

Chapter 3: Pre-Sales Activities: A Case Study of Success
It covers almost every pre-sales activity based on real-life examples, and contains information and know-how that can be utilized for each activity.
In particular, the Dolphin Bank case was created as a virtual scenario by weaving together the author's experiences in the field.
Therefore, although the company names and characters appearing in this article are fictitious, they are all based on real cases.

Chapter 4: Building a High-Performing Pre-Sales Team
We cover the things to consider and examples to reference when forming a pre-sales team.
It covers pre-sales team goal setting, organizational structure, talent recruitment and development methods, efficient resource utilization, performance measurement and compensation methods, and organizational operation cases of global software companies.

Chapter 5: Developing Professional Presales Skills
Describes the five competencies that pre-sales professionals must possess.
In particular, it contains vivid know-how related to 'expertise', 'communication', 'problem solving', 'technology strategy development', and 'customer understanding' selected by current pre-sales experts who participated in surveys and interviews, as well as what I acquired during my professional training course.

Chapter 6: "Now It's Digital Presales"
First, let's look at how customer purchasing patterns are changing due to digital innovation.
And it explains how to prepare digital capabilities (content, interaction, online presence) to support rapid information collection and flexible purchasing methods, such as B2C business that customers want, utilizing generative AI in pre-sales work, and building demo automation and self-onboarding platforms.

[Author's Note]

This book guides individual readers through the definition of presales and the preparations needed to become a presales professional.
Additionally, it provides software companies with the value of pre-sales, organizational structure and operational strategies, and talent recruitment methods.
In particular, we describe advanced cases of global software companies that have established pre-sales.

While writing this book, I tried to vividly capture my 20 years of pre-sales experience and know-how.
To help readers understand, I have included as many real-world case studies as possible, not just theory, and have polished the writing to make it easy for anyone to read.
Additionally, we consulted extensive overseas data to ensure more accurate information.

It was very difficult to find information and statistics on the domestic pre-sales market.
To address this, we conducted surveys, interviews, and reviews with approximately 20 current pre-sales, sales, developers, consultants, planners, and C-level executives.
We've analyzed the data they provided over a long period of time to compose the content, and we've tried to provide an objective perspective by borrowing their insights.

Although there were challenges along the way, I enjoyed the process, as I was able to provide readers with content that is not readily available in Korea.
I hope this book will be helpful to individuals and businesses interested in presales.