Prep the People, Not Just the Demo [14]
Leading PreSales | The Solution Engineering Leadership Show · 2026-05-18 · 6 min
Episode notes
Why your demo prep survived everything except the actual demo ️ Live webinar May 21: Tim & Jan on building a PreSales team that drives revenue — not just demos. serockstars.com/webinar Your SE ran a dry run, sent a strategy reminder, and built a tight agenda. Five minutes in, an AE went off-script and the whole flow collapsed. Why does this keep happening — and what can SE leaders actually do about it? What Nate and Ava discuss Why dry runs rehearse content but not behavior — and why that gap kills complex demos The "rules of engagement" conversation: scripting reactions, not just presentations Giving AEs an active role during demos instead of asking them to stay quiet The move Stop telling your AEs to be quiet. Give them a job — like owning the live question log — so their energy protects the demo flow instead of blowing it up. And build your rules of engagement into the dry run itself, not a Slack message after. Resources & Links: paths.to/presales Book a Discovery Call: calendly.com/serockstars-tim/discovery-call