It was somewhere on the drive between Bergen and Lofoten, on the last trip of our exchange term in Norway when Tim and I discussed some of our future life plans. At some point I was sure and said I want to start in a sales role and here is why:
Social aspect
I always had a large social network with bubbles coming out of various circles. I have always enjoyed meeting new people, building up and especially nurturing a relationship over a long time. I identified this as one of my biggest strengths and hence, wanted to build my first professional experiences on this strength.
Enjoying the spotlight
Additionally, I have always enjoyed presenting, public speaking, or even teaching to some extent and was never shy of the spotlight. One of the skills I was looking to cultivate is not only stage presence, but especially how to inspire someone, how to make them curious, or basically, how to sell them something.
That’s me demoing a cloud solution
Becoming a closer
Last but not least, what attracted me was the challenge of not only inspiring someone but to get them over the finish line. To negotiate, influence, and persuade, essentially how to close them.
Start in the Academy
Right out of university, I got to attend SAP’s Presales Academy. A 5.5 months program in California dedicated to molding us, 33 people from 17 countries, into Solution Engineers. Getting recorded and receiving feedback every week while pitching as creatively as possible what we’ve learned from basic presentation skills, finance, and whiteboarding, to hardcore enterprise software solution sales including engaging demos. Getting challenged week by week while having a buttload of fun was really more than you could expect from a corporate program.
Storytelling as an intro in traditional Austrian Lederhosen before pitching software.
Coming back to Austria
Right, when I came back I got to prove myself in week two in front of a customer, Austria’s largest public corporation. From then on I was in the field as a solution engineer for business analytics and financial planning software.
Stay excited for Part II — Presales or how I became the rabbit guy
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