Yes, presales solutions are fundamentally sales—technical sales.

(Image generated by Zhipu AI. Prompt: In a minimalist, bright office, a refined middle-aged man in a casual blazer sits conversing with a young man in his twenties. Both are Chinese men.)

"CD, I've been reading a ton of articles online this week, and the more I read, the more confused I get."

Xiao Lin, a newly hired presales engineer, pushed open the door to the company's Chief Presales Officer's office, clutching a large notebook. He asked urgently:

"There are tons of articles about presales online, but they all say different things! Some say presales is a 'technical translator,' others say it's 'invisible sales,' and still others call it a 'solution designer,' 'consultant,' 'sales engineer,' 'technical support'... The most common saying I hear is: presales needs to understand both technology and sales, but which side should we lean toward? I'm totally lost. What exactly is our job? Is it technical, or is it sales?"

The man sitting in the office was CD. He was the company's Chief Presales Officer, at the same level as the Chief Architect in the R&D center. They didn't lead teams; they followed the technical career track, holding the highest rank in that track, equivalent to the Presales Director on the management track, and both reported to the VP of Solutions. Word had it that the company was even considering adding a "Master" level above them to further incentivize these chiefs. They each had their own private office.

CD set down his coffee cup, smiled, and gestured to the sofa. "Let's sit and talk. Let me ask you—when a customer buys a technology solution, what do they care about most?"

"Features? Price? Or results?" Xiao Lin ventured.

"None of those." CD shook his head. "What customers truly care about is whether the technology can solve their business problems and deliver tangible, bottom-line returns. The value of presales is to translate the customer's business problems into technical requirements, and then identify and design the right solution—both internally and with ecosystem partners. After that, we translate the technical language back into business outcomes and commercial value the customer can grasp. In essence, the presales process is a sales process."

Xiao Lin was even more puzzled. "Now I'm even more confused! So what's your conclusion—is presales technical, or is it sales?"

CD smiled slightly. "Don't rush. You're not busy right now, are you? Let's get to the bottom of this today and settle it once and for all. Here's the conclusion upfront: Presales solutions are neither purely technical nor purely sales—they are a deep fusion of the two. To put it in one sentence—the essence of presales solutions is technical selling.Presales solutions, or whatever you want to call the role, is fundamentally technical selling—a hybrid position that uses technical communication as the vehicle and successful sales as the goal."

Xiao Lin frowned. "But I'm a master's graduate from a 985 university! I studied hard for years, applied for a presales engineer position, and I'm doing technical work. How did I become one of those annoying salespeople? If you put it that way, I feel like I can't hold my head up in front of my friends and family. I'm thinking about quitting!"

CD laughed heartily. "Don't worry, young man. We're technical sellers—not the kind of salesperson you're imagining, the ones who don't know anything and just schmooze over meals and drinks to build relationships. When I say presales is technical selling, I'm describing the fundamental purpose and value of the role. I'm not saying we're the kind of sales you're thinking of. I'm just borrowing the literal meaning of the word 'selling'!"

Xiao Lin pressed on. "So what's the difference between this 'technical selling' you talk about and the roles that are actually called 'sales'?"

"The difference is this: sales delivers value, while we in presales—what I call technical selling—create value." CD drew a circle on the whiteboard. "Here's an analogy: if the customer is a patient, the salesperson is the pharmacist recommending a drug, and presales is the doctor who diagnoses and writes the prescription. Both have the same goal, but different paths."

1. The First Principle of Presales Solutions: From "Job Definition" to "Value Anchor"

Xiao Lin flipped through his study notes and muttered, "But HR told me my KPI is to support sales in closing deals. Doesn't that make this a sales role?"

CD countered, "If sales alone could close deals, why would presales even exist?"

"Because the technical solutions are too complex?"

"Because... the technical solution itself can drive sales?"

"Exactly!" CD tapped the whiteboard. "In one competitive bid, the customer wanted 5G base stations. But Huawei's presales team dug deeper and found the real pain point was the high cost of maintenance in remote areas. So they pivoted the solution to 'AI-powered automated inspection + remote maintenance,' ultimately saving the customer 40% of their maintenance labor. You see, presales isn't 'supporting sales'—it's using presales capability to redefine the customer's needs from a technical perspective."

Xiao Lin looked thoughtful. "So presales is really a 'hybrid' of technology and business?"

"More precisely, it's the commercial architect of technical value." CD smiled. "Let me test you—if a customer says 'your cloud solution is too expensive,' how would you respond?"

"I'd emphasize the technical advantages of our cloud services and compare features with competitors..."

"Not enough." CD interrupted. "You need to run the numbers for the customer: What's the three-year maintenance cost of their legacy system? How much will IT resource utilization improve after migration? How much loss will reduced failure rates prevent? Ultimately, what's the return on this investment? Convince the customer this is a sound investment. That's how customers actually make decisions. And that's the language of a professional presales solution—or professional technical selling. It's not the salesperson's line: 'Don't worry, I'll go back and get you the best discount. You'll be happy with the price!'"

2. The Dual Fusion of Technology and Sales: Resolving the Role's Core Tension

On Technical Depth vs. Commercial Acumen

"But the presales mentor assigned to me has me learning Python and product implementation principles every day. Every time he checks my progress, he only asks about technical details. What does that have to do with sales?"

CD said, "Here's an example: Does a 5G presales engineer at a telecom equipment company need to understand Massive MIMO principles? Yes! But when they meet with customers, they only say, 'Single base station coverage expands by 30%, and the number of cell towers drops by 20%.' Technology is the foundation; commercial value is the building the customer actually sees."

He pulled up a Microsoft Azure case study on his phone and showed it to Xiao Lin. "Look, Microsoft's solution architects have to pass their technical expert certifications. But when they meet customers, they only talk about 'After migrating to the cloud, global infrastructure compliance costs dropped by 76%.' Technology is armor, not a cage."

On Solution Design vs. Relationship Building

"But in the last project, the salesperson asked me to play golf with the client's VP. Is that part of presales work?"

"Yes and no." CD thought for a moment. "The key is whether that golf game helped you, as a technical expert, build deeper trust with the customer—and whether you used the opportunity to communicate technical and value content. Generally speaking, look at how SAP defines its presales roles: solution consultants focus on the technical solution, while account managers own relationship management. In any country in the world, target customers aren't just available for vendors to meet whenever they want, right? The value of the salesperson's customer relationships is to create access—so that other people in the company, especially presales, can meet the customer and have meaningful conversations with the right stakeholders. It shouldn't be (just) a relationship based on under-the-table dealings. The secret to collaboration is this: presales must use the technical solution to create a 'hook' that makes the customer want to meet. For example, in a smart logistics project, presales discovered the customer's inventory data was scattered across six different systems. They immediately designed a data middle-platform solution. The salesperson used that pain point to get a meeting with the decision-makers, and presales seized that meeting to persuade the customer's leadership with that differentiated value proposition."

"So the technical solution is the hammer that breaks the ice?"

"First it's a hook, then a hammer! Like Amazon AWS presales—they always ask in the first conversation: 'Do you know how much faster your peers' IT systems respond after migrating to the cloud?'—Technical value is the most effective relationship lubricant."

On Short-Term Deal Closure vs. Long-Term Value

"But my performance review still measures how many projects I supported this quarter..."

"That's the hardest part of presales solutions." CD opened IBM's annual report. "Their presales teams are evaluated on two tracks: short-term project support volume + long-term customer technology planning engagement. For example, a banking customer initially only purchased servers. But the presales team kept publishing white papers like 'Financial Industry Disaster Recovery Architecture.' Two years later, they drove a bank-wide disaster recovery system upgrade—the essence of presales solutions is cultivating the customer's technical trust. As technical sellers, our long-term goal should be to become the customer's trusted advisor—what Westerners call a Trusted Advisor."

3. International Practice: The "Three Roles" of Presales Solutions

Xiao Lin asked again, "Why are presales teams at these big companies so good at finding their positioning?"

"Because they break presales solutions down into three roles." CD wrote on the whiteboard:

Role One: The Technical Detective—Uncovering Pain Points from Business Details

"Siemens Industrial Software's presales have a killer move: they walk into factories wearing AR glasses, scanning equipment in real time to generate digital twins. The customer thinks they're showing off, but they're actually collecting data on production line bottlenecks. In the final presentation, they simply say: 'By optimizing the third work section, throughput can increase by 18%.' The first lesson of presales solutions is mining gold from the customer's own site."

Role Two: The Value Director—Turning Technical Specs into a Business Plan

"Salesforce presales never explain 'multi-tenant architecture.' Instead, they say, 'Your branch offices can open new accounts at zero cost, just like opening a franchise convenience store.' And look at Google Cloud's approach—when customers question the value of big data analytics, they don't show a technical framework. They tell the complete story of a retail brand that used customer profile analysis to boost promotion conversion rates by 26%."

Role Three: The Boundary Sentinel—Knowing Exactly When to Push and When to Pull Back

"Cisco's presales are experts in SD-WAN solutions. But when a customer asks, 'Can it be compatible with our 10-year-old routers?' they immediately pull out a compatibility list: 'These five devices need firmware upgrades, and our engineers can provide on-site support.' The professionalism of presales solutions lies precisely in knowing where to hold the line and where to call for backup."