Iris Blog - Presales with Purpose: 10 Shifts Toward Transformational Tech Selling

Presales Isn’t Just Changing. It’s Evolving.Presales and Solution Engineering teams are at a pivotal moment. These roles were once defined by repetitive requests, but today’s tech stack creates space to think more strategically about business impact, outcomes, and long-term value.That shift is what inspired this piece.We teamed up with Satish Giri, a sales engineering leader, to explore ten often-overlooked ways presales teams can elevate their impact. From building scalable assets to driving adoption after the sale, these ideas reflect where the function is heading and how to stay ahead of it.Whether you’re deep in the field, leading a team, or just getting started, we hope this guide helps you see new possibilities in your work.One of the most rewarding parts of working with sales engineers at Iris has been learning directly from the field and building alongside the people doing the work.

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According to the 2025 Sales Engineering Compensation & Workload Report by Consensus, 70% of B2B deals now require pre-sales involvement.

As technology continues to advance and sales cycles grow more intricate, Presales and Solution Engineering teams find themselves at a defining point in their evolution.

Once bogged down by repetitive tasks, the modern tech stack ecosystem has liberated these professionals, affording them newfound bandwidth. However, this freedom presents a fresh set of challenges subtle yet significant problems that are often overlooked. Experts urge a shift in focus from traditional responsibilities to more strategic, value-driven activities that align with the future of technology sales.

Join Ben Hills (Founder & CEO of Iris), Evie Secilmis (Content Marketing Manager at Iris) and me, each bringing hands on field insights as we uncover 10 often-overlooked focus areas where Presales and Solution Engineering teams can make a real impact :

Strategy & Positioning

1. Shifting from Showmanship to Strategy

Transition from basic feature demos to facilitating strategic, value-centric conversations. With more time, immerse yourself in the customer's business priorities aligning solutions with their long-term goals and positioning yourself as a trusted advisor in their digital transformation journey.

Modern recording tools also shine when it comes to delivering quick, focused walkthroughs and spotlighting key product features for instant impact.

2. From Surface-Level Insight to Strategic Expertise

Commit to mastering the broader industry landscape, not just the technical requirements at hand. Develop deep expertise in market trends, conduct comprehensive competitive analysis across all key players, and stay ahead of regulatory shifts that influence your customer's strategy. This positions you as a trusted advisor, not just a service provider.

Leverage AI-powered visualization tools to elevate your insights transforming complex data into clear, actionable intelligence that resonates.

3. Becoming the Trusted Advisor in Emerging Tech

Dedicate time to research and understand the implications of emerging technologies like generative AI, quantum computing, and the metaverse for your customers' industries. Position yourself as a forward-thinking partner who can guide them through future technological shifts.

4. Making the Business Case That Closes Deals

Develop strong skills in value engineering and ROI analysis. Work with customers to build a compelling business case that clearly articulates the financial benefits of your solution, speaking the language of the CFO.

Post-Sale & Customer Success

5. Maximizing Post-Sale Impact: Driving Adoption, Loyalty, and Growth

Proactively engage with customers post-sale to ensure successful implementation and adoption of the proposed solution. This fosters long-term relationships, identifies upsell and cross-sell opportunities, and provides invaluable feedback for product development. Leveraging modern recording tools to send short, interactive video messages offers a fresh, impactful way to engage customers and build lasting relationships.

6. Reimagining POCs: From Technical Validation to Business Value

Reframe POCs to focus on demonstrating tangible business outcomes and a clear return on investment. Collaborate with customers to define success metrics that align with their strategic objectives, not just technical validation.

Process & Tooling

7. Data-Driven Presales: Elevate Every Customer Interaction

Tap into your data analytics ecosystem to uncover deep insights into customer behavior, engagement trends, and buying intent then use this intelligence to tailor demos, anticipate objections, and deliver a highly personalized presales journey.

8. Build Once, Win Often: Creating Assets That Drive Efficiency and Impact

With more time, create and scale reusable assets such as best-practice guides, industry-specific demo videos, and technical playbooks. This empowers account executives to handle more initial technical queries, freeing up presales for more complex opportunities.

9. Personalization at Scale: Transforming Demos

Leverage AI-powered demo automation platforms to create personalized and interactive demonstration experiences at scale. Tailor the narrative and focus on the specific pain points and interests of each stakeholder.

10. Smarter Workflows, Stronger Connections

Embrace AI-powered tools to automate repetitive tasks, gain deeper insights, and free up time for more strategic work. Focus on developing the uniquely human skills of critical thinking, creativity, and building genuine relationships that AI cannot replicate.

By proactively tackling often-overlooked challenges, Tech Presales and Solution Engineering professionals can redefine their role as strategic contributors to revenue and customer value. Teams can start by hosting a “Demo Debrief” to shift focus from features to outcomes, redefining key metrics like SE involvement at discovery, win rates with value-based POCs.

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