What Actually Makes an A+ Pre-Sales Engineer?
Reflections from the shift to management, dozens of interviews, and years in the room
Somewhere along the way, the job changed.
When I was an individual contributor, success felt personal — my preparation, my demos, my ability to solve problems in the room. If something went wrong, I could usually outwork it myself.
As a manager, that illusion disappears quickly.
Today, the most important parts of my role are very clear:
Hiring new systems engineers
Coaching the middle of the road
Unleashing the truly exceptional ones
I still spend a significant amount of time on process improvement.
I write internal memos. I build presentations.
I think deeply about structure, consistency, and how information moves through the organization.
That work still matters.
But over time, I’ve learned why it matters — and what it can’t replace.
Process Is Leverage — Not a Substitute
Process is force multiplication.
Good process:
removes friction
creates clarity
scales what already works
Bad process:
slows decisions
rewards mediocrity
gives cover to inaction
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Process never turns an average engineer into an exceptional one.
It only amplifies what’s already there.
Great engineers use process as a runway.
Average ones use it as a safety net.
As a manager, you don’t stop caring about process — you become ruthless about what it exists to enable.
The Interview Reality Check
Over the last five months, I’ve interviewed roughly three dozen candidates.
On paper, many looked strong:
recognizable companies
familiar platforms
solid delivery
And yet — very few stood out.
Not because they weren’t competent.
But because competence isn’t rare anymore.
What is rare are the “diamonds in the rough” — people who consistently show:
bias toward action
comfort with ambiguity
speed of thought and communication
intolerance for wasted motion
instinctive focus on customer pain
Those traits don’t jump off a résumé.
They emerge in conversation — or they don’t.
Speed Is the Unfair Advantage
One of the most influential ideas shaping my thinking around performance comes from Codie Sanchez, who relentlessly emphasizes a simple truth:
Speed creates momentum. Momentum creates opportunity.
The best pre-sales engineers compress the distance between:
insight and action
question and response
idea and execution
They don’t confuse thinking with working.
They make decisions with incomplete information — then iterate. They’d rather move, learn, and correct than wait for certainty that never comes.
In pre-sales, speed looks like:
proposing a direction early
putting something imperfect in front of the customer
responding in hours instead of days
It’s not recklessness. It’s calculated velocity.
Specs Don’t Close Deals — Pain Does
One of the most consistent mistakes I still see is leading with technology instead of humanity.
Customers don’t buy specs.
They don’t buy feature lists.
They don’t buy architectures in isolation.
They buy:
relief
confidence
and the feeling that someone actually understands their problem
A+ pre-sales engineers start with empathy and earn the right to talk about technology later. They translate complexity into relevance. They speak in outcomes, not capabilities.
I wrote about this before: Blog: Specs Don't Close Deals
Trust isn’t built by being impressive.
It’s built by being aligned.
Communication Is a Performance Signal
There’s a pattern that’s become impossible for me to ignore:
How someone communicates is usually how they work.
Top performers:
speak clearly
use fewer words
answer directly
follow up and follow through immediately
respect time
They don’t hedge every sentence. They don’t hide behind jargon.
Fast, precise communication is almost always a proxy for clear thinking — and decisive execution.
The Part Too Many Engineers Treat as “Post-Sale”
There’s a moment after the deal closes when technology stops being the differentiator.
The contract is signed.
The architecture is agreed upon.
The specs are locked.
From that point on, the customer is no longer evaluating the product.
They’re evaluating you.
I learned this watching customer service outside of tech — airlines in particular. Two people can experience the same delay, the same disruption, the same bad outcome… and walk away feeling completely different.
The difference isn’t resolution.
It’s empathy, ownership, and presence.
That lesson translates directly to A+ SE behavior post-sale.
A+ SEs Become the First Call
Average engineers disappear after signature.
Good engineers stay involved when asked.
A+ engineers quietly become:
the first person the customer calls when something breaks
the one copied when things get political
the person they text instead of opening a ticket
Not because it’s their job — but because they earned that trust.
They show up during:
outages
confusion
missed expectations
uncomfortable conversations
They don’t deflect. They don’t go silent. They don’t hide behind process.
They say: I see it. I’m with you. Here’s what we know. Here’s what I’ll do next.
That’s customer intimacy. And it’s incredibly hard to displace.
What I Look for in A+ Engineers
Across interviews, deal reviews, and post-sale moments, the same traits keep repeating:
bias toward action
empathy before expertise
speed of thought and response
comfort with discomfort
intolerance for wasted time
deep respect for the customer’s reality
These aren’t learned in a certification class.
They’re behaviors. Practiced daily.
Final Thought
Being an A+ pre-sales engineer isn’t about knowing more.
It’s about:
moving faster when others hesitate
caring more when others disengage
and showing up when it’s inconvenient
Specs are safe. Process is leverage.
Speed creates momentum. Empathy builds trust.
But real customer service — human, accountable, present — is what makes you unforgettable.
And in this job, being unforgettable is everything.
Dmitry Gorbatov
© 2025 Dmitry Gorbatov | #dmitrywashere