#161 Empowering the Rise of the Modern Solutions Consultant

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Notes:

Presentations by Sales Engineers are mainly geared toward technical aspects of the products/services and how they can be applied to a specific customer problem. Presenting your proposals in an informative and straightforward manner is critical to success.

However, Sales Engineers must keep their presentations simple for non-specialists who might not be familiar with their fields of expertise. But is there any way we can master the art of presentations and deliver a show without boring our audience? That’s why we have our guest Thomas Edwards on the podcast today.

Thomas Edwards is a Solution Consultant and Enablement Specialist for Financial SaaS Solutions with expertise in automating and controlling the entire financial close process for large firms. As a Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA CGMA), he has a strong background in finance and accounting.

Key Takeaways:

How Tom started The Modern SC blog from being an implementation consultant
The importance of reviewing and monitoring his progress
What he noticed about presales people that enticed him to get into presales
How Tom implements reflective learning
Why asking for feedback is so crucial
How can you enable Sales Engineers, solutions consultant, and teams
What’s lacking in Sales Engineer enablement or training
How to implement change in an organization
How to automate SE tasks
How to improve presentation skills for Sales Engineers
The 10-20-30 Principle of Presentation

Quotes:

10:47 “People learn in very different ways but for me personally all the way throughout my career that’s something I’ve found that’s been so important to me because that means you’re conscious of what you need to improve on. You can even turn these things into goals, how can I set myself a goal so I can ensure that I am away from that, and that I am elevating my game for continuous improvement.” – Thomas Edwards

11:53 “I think it’s very easy for a lot of people, to just not really think about what they’re doing and just keep doing what they know whereas if you’re continually challenging your way of doing things you’re continuously thinking about, example if you are conscious that you are interrupting your clients or your customers, that in itself will make you aware of it and less likely to interrupt you in the future. – Thomas Edwards

12:40 “Feedback is great, but if you’re not aware and you don’t believe or you don’t want to change, you will not change. There’s being aware and then wanting to change. Be open to feedback.” – Ramzi Marjaba

20:18 “It’s so easy to think I’m a bit stuck here, or I’m not progressing and to be able to look back at that and see what my questions, what are my thoughts 2 or 3 years ago, and you can see that progression. Absolutely, I can see what a huge confidence boost that must be.” – Thomas Edwards

24:10 “Reporting just gives you that insight of how you’ve grown and that confidence, that really translates into like a presales process world as well… back it up with the data, rather than back it up with a gut feeling.” – Thomas Edwards

26:17 “Making any kind of change in an organization, you’ve really got to be communicative of benefits to reduce that resistance to change.” – Thomas Edwards

27:43 “If you turn a measure into a target, it will have dire unintended consequences, and it basically makes that measure useful.” – Thomas Edwards

28:53 “By being able to communicate benefits, it shows goal congruence across an organization, so people at the bottom are fighting for the same goal as the people at the top because they understand what that benefit is.” – Thomas Edwards

29:11 “I think any kind of organizational change, you’ve got to always treat it like a sales cycle. you’ve got to communicate the benefit, get people really invested and signed up, otherwise, that change isn’t gonna happen.” – Thomas Edwards

32:48 “Too much information is the same as no information, in some cases.” – Thomas Edwards

47:10 “It’s all about getting across value really, really succinctly.” – Thomas Edwards

“The more that we can automate means the more value the solutions consultant can deliver.” – Thomas Edwards