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I see more and more decision makers and stakeholders than before… bigger deals can be tough and take time to push through the business dependent on the level of pain… that said, if you see or people are being strung alone that could be down to XP or skills on how to manage the opp… the best sales folk will hold the customer to account, get them to agree upon actions and follow through, if they are taking the piss it might be time to qualify it out or escalate to someone that can help drive it… If you are sitting between the engineers and sales teams, it might be an idea to flag / record time spent in the presales phase and the resource its taking… some of the numbers and effort will be shocking… been there a few times! And it’s painful, I totally get where you are coming from, cheers

I’ve been on the engineering and pre sales sides, I’m back on the engineering side now. It’s difficult as an engineer because you’re the face of the company and the main contact point during the engagement but the client formed the relationship with the sales person, not you, so if they don’t like what you’re telling them (something is out of scope and needs a change order that will cost $) then they go around you back to sales and you have to deal with hearing everything second hand. It’s not always like this, but it’s happened enough that I’m keen to hear how others deal with it.

Interesting topic. I feel you. 😞

Mike, I live this every day, happy to talk and invite the community to a live discussion if you like

Agreed - I live it daily as well.