Pre-sales & solution leadership
Pre-sales and solution leadership
In enterprise technology, deals are usually won or lost in pre-sales. That is where the customer decides whether they believe the solution, the risk and the people in front of them.
I have led pre-sales and solution teams in enterprise software, including as Head of Pre-Sales, and I work with technology businesses on pre-sales strategy, capability and leadership on a fractional or interim basis.
What strong pre-sales changes
- Fewer deals lost late for reasons nobody saw coming.
- Demos that answer the customer's problem, not the product roadmap.
- Qualification that protects the team's time.
- Solutions that can actually be delivered at the price sold.
- Bids that read like a decision, not a brochure.
- A clean handover from sales to delivery.
Head of Pre-Sales, in practice
The role sits between sales, product and delivery, and is accountable for solution credibility and deal quality. It means owning the technical and commercial shape of a deal, not just supporting the salesperson.
I have run that function, built and led the team behind it, and worked directly on the enterprise deals that depended on it.
Pre-sales strategy
Pre-sales strategy is about where you deploy scarce technical expertise and what standard you hold. Which opportunities justify a full solution effort, what qualification has to be true first, and what reusable assets stop the team rebuilding the same answer every time.
Done well, it lifts win rates and reduces cost of sale at the same time.
Solutions Director and solution leadership
Solution leadership is the discipline of turning a customer's problem into a solution that is credible, deliverable and commercially sound.
It requires enough technology depth to be trusted and enough commercial judgement to know which trade-offs matter. I can provide that leadership as a fractional or interim appointment during growth, transformation or a gap in the team.
Sales engineering leadership
Sales engineering teams often carry more of the deal than their remit suggests. The leadership work is clarity: what good looks like, how the team engages, how they are measured and how they develop.
I work hands-on with teams, coaching through live opportunities rather than from a slide deck.
Enterprise solution sales and bids
Complex enterprise sales bring procurement, security, integration, governance and multiple stakeholders. I have led bids and deal shaping through that environment across ERP, cloud and digital transformation.
Where needed I lead bids alongside your team rather than reviewing them from the outside.
Building and selling an AI product
As Head of Pre-Sales at Capita / AdvT, I led product and development for a small internal team of five, building a conversational interface that replaced traditional static reporting, sitting on top of the existing database while keeping data secure and governed.
It was validated early with customers, several of whom became the first paying deals, and moved from internal capability to a sellable product, helping win multiple new multi-million-pound opportunities.
Let’s talk it through.
If enterprise deals are stalling at the solution stage, or your pre-sales function needs senior leadership for a period, tell me what is happening in your deals and I will give you a straight view.