[Part 1/3]: Building a high-performing presales team

Whether you're a seasoned leader or an aspiring one, mastering the art of presales team building is the cornerstone of sustainable growth and long-term success. High-performing teams are not only efficient but are also the driving force behind innovation, collaboration, and achieving extraordinary results.

To build high-performing teams, three key aspects are crucial: trust, clear goals, and collaboration. Trust and psychological safety allow team members to communicate openly, take risks, and provide feedback without fear, encouraging innovation and growth. Clear goals and alignment ensure that everyone works towards a shared mission with well-defined roles and responsibilities, keeping efforts coordinated and purposeful. Collaboration and accountability further strengthen team performance, as members work together effectively and hold each other accountable for achieving results. Together, these elements drive consistent success and high performance.

It’s essential for leaders to carefully identify and understand the small but meaningful achievements within their team before announcing them in a team forum. By recognising these milestones, leaders validate the efforts that contribute to progress, even if the results aren’t immediately grand. Celebrating these wins strengthens morale, creates a culture of appreciation, and motivates the team to keep pushing forward. When leaders transparently communicate these achievements, it not only strengthens team unity but also reinforces the idea that every step, no matter how small, contributes to the organisation’s broader success. This approach drives sustained momentum, instills confidence, and ultimately fuels higher performance across the organisation.

This blog will explore the positive actions you can take to continuously raise the bar toward building high-performing teams, from encouraging collaboration to celebrating small wins. Along the way, it will also touch on the negative behaviours and practices that must be eliminated, helping you identify and overcome barriers that could hinder your team’s growth and success.

In today’s competitive high-tech landscape, simply maintaining the status quo is no longer enough, and there’s no room for the complacency of the Dunning-Kruger effect, where individuals may overestimate their abilities while neglecting the need for growth. To stay ahead, teams must constantly push the needle upward, recognising that continuous improvement is essential, even when it feels like you’re doing everything perfectly. An open mind is crucial in this process, as it allows you to embrace new ideas, adapt to evolving challenges, and drive the progress needed to outperform the competition.

Learning something new on the platform you’re operating in is a great step, but it’s not enough to translate technical knowledge into securing the largest deals. True success in presales goes beyond mastering the technical aspects; it requires presales finesse—or as the Germans call it, “Fingerspitzengefühl”. This term refers to having an intuitive, almost instinctive sensitivity to the nuances of a situation, which is crucial in presales. It’s the ability to read the room, anticipate customer needs, and tailor your approach with precision to build trust and deliver the right solution at the right time. Without this subtle touch, even the most advanced technical skills can fall short of winning big.

It is the presales leader’s job to identify the key drivers that propel the team forward, and it is quintessential that the leader possesses a deeper understanding of these dynamics than the team. This knowledge allows the leader to guide each member towards growth, identifying the small but critical steps that demonstrate value and highlight success. By clearly showcasing what makes everyone win, the leader not only ensures that the team understands the importance of each action but also provides them with opportunities to learn from the process. Additionally, it is the leader’s responsibility to identify a “guinea pig”—a team member or use case that is best suited to illustrate these concepts in real-time. Through this example, the leader can demonstrate the path to success, fostering a learning environment that encourages the entire team to adapt and improve based on the outcomes.

This is the leader’s chance to shine as a coach, showing why they’re trusted to guide the team. By offering clear direction and support, they earn respect and inspire growth, ensuring they are looked up to, not undermined.

You won’t create a high-performing team by staying on the same path, especially if you’ve inherited a team or are expanding it. Often, this leads to stagnation. To break free, a dramatic change is needed — even if time is tight. Balancing the challenge of inheriting and growing a team with the urgency to drive higher performance is crucial. Without bold action, teams fall into repetitive patterns that stifle innovation and growth. High-performing teams thrive on continuous improvement, fresh perspectives, and stepping beyond comfort zones. To unlock your team’s full potential, you must act quickly, embrace change, and implement new strategies to adapt to both inherited challenges and expansion.

Coaching focused on motivating individuals to deliver tailored, simplified solutions that address each customer’s unique needs. After implementing these customised approaches, the team received positive feedback, with customers appreciating the thoughtful and straightforward solutions provided. In a team meeting, the feedback was shared to emphasise that it’s the small, impactful touches and simplification that truly differentiate them from competitors—not speaking negatively about the competition. This approach reinforces that delivering value through thoughtful action is the key to standing out in the market.

Positive reinforcement is a critical tool in achieving lasting behavioral change, especially when addressing areas for improvement. Research shows that for every instance of negative criticism, it takes at least five instances of positive feedback to create a balanced environment where individuals feel motivated and open to growth. By focusing on what team members are doing well and reinforcing those behaviours, leaders can gradually guide individuals toward improvement without discouraging them. This balance between positive reinforcement and constructive criticism fosters a supportive atmosphere that drives continuous development and change.

In every team, someone will resist participation. While their stance should be acknowledged, the focus must remain on those willing to collaborate and maintain momentum. This raises the question: is their argument constructive or merely disruptive? Understanding the intent is crucial, as healthy debate drives improvement, while resistance for its own sake hinders progress.

It’s important to first understand their perspective and identify whether their resistance stems from legitimate concerns or a reluctance to adapt. If their input offers value, engage them in a constructive dialogue to integrate their insights. However, if the resistance is purely disruptive, set clear expectations for their participation and the impact of their behavior on the team’s progress. In some cases, coaching or providing direct feedback may help, but if the behaviour persists, it may be necessary to reassess their role within the team to maintain overall performance and harmony.

Great and experienced leaders should always be able to encourage someone resistant to change to explore other roles within the company that better align with their strengths and interests.

For a presales leader, substance is key to any strategy and must be communicated clearly. Without a solid, well-researched foundation, even the best plans risk falling short and eroding customer trust.

After multiple attempts to clearly articulate the substance of a strategy, it becomes evident that not everyone will have the capacity to grasp the nuances required for effective execution. In such cases, it’s essential to recognise that further efforts may not yield better understanding. For the sake of both team progress and the individual’s own professional development, it may be necessary for them to seek opportunities better aligned with their strengths. A presales leader must prioritise the overall success of the team and ensure that every member is capable of contributing meaningfully to strategic goals.

In a lean and small team, there is no room for additional passengers who aren’t fully contributing to the mission. Every team member must be fully engaged, taking ownership of their role and pulling their weight. When resources are tight, and the team is small, each person’s efforts directly impact the collective success. There’s simply no place for individuals who aren’t fully committed or aligned with the goals. For the team to thrive, it’s crucial that everyone actively contributes and brings value, as every action counts when the stakes are high and the margin for inefficiency is slim.

Encouraging healthy competition within a team can elevate performance while maintaining unity. The answer lies in positive, constructive competition—setting clear benchmarks and issuing friendly challenges to motivate team members to push themselves and the team forward. Peer recognition systems and incentives for surpassing collective goals can further inspire this constructive competition. To continuously raise the bar, it’s also important to set ambitious or even hard-to-achieve expectations. These stretch goals push individuals out of their comfort zones, challenge them to think creatively, and strive for higher levels of performance. While difficult, these goals foster resilience and innovation, helping the team collectively reach new heights.

To build a high-performing team, it’s essential to first understand the strengths and weaknesses of each team member. Spend time with them individually to get a clear sense of their capabilities and challenges, so you know which strings to pull to maximise their potential. Equally important is the delivery of feedback—always provide constructive feedback for improvement in a 1-on-1 setting rather than in front of the entire team. This approach not only protects the individual’s confidence but also develops a culture of trust and personal growth, ensuring that each member feels supported while they develop and improve.

As a presales leader, it's important to encourage international collaboration and “champion” your regional team members' achievements across disconnected teams, creating a sense of unity and shared success that transcends geographic boundaries.

Achieving all of the above on your own is simply impossible. The intricate balance of understanding individual strengths and weaknesses, delivering personalised feedback, driving international collaboration, and celebrating achievements across teams requires collective effort and support. As a leader, it’s crucial to recognise that success lies in empowering your team, leaning on their unique skills, and nurturing a culture of collaboration. No one can do it alone—true progress happens when everyone contributes, lifts each other up, and works together towards shared goals. Leadership is about guiding, not carrying the weight of every task.

Building a high-performing presales team is no small feat—it’s a massive task that touches on countless aspects, from individual coaching to continuous team development. With each member requiring personal attention, the process demands patience and a deep understanding of behavioral change, such as the proven method of delivering at least five positive feedbacks to drive even the smallest improvements. This is why supplementing your efforts with advanced behavioral presales training during team offsites can be a game-changer. These focused training sessions provide targeted techniques that accelerate development, empowering your team to sharpen their skills and elevate performance faster than traditional methods. With the right training, your team will be better equipped to embrace challenges and exceed expectations.

Once you have achieved the status of a high-performing team, tasks and requests that once seemed impossible will become far more manageable. The team’s enhanced capabilities, refined processes, and strengthened collaboration will allow them to tackle challenges with confidence and efficiency. What may have appeared daunting in the past will now be approached with the assurance that your team has the skill, cohesion, and resilience to succeed—transforming what once seemed like a mountain into a piece of cake.

Improve your team's success now