PreSales Collective Code of Conduct
Thank you for being part of our community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation.
By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that best suited to the medium. This is a great medium with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation.
Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violates these rules.
The Ground Rules
PreSales Collective is an inclusive community, where everyone can feel welcome and safe. We want every member to know the power of their words, and to feel the joy and responsibility that comes with that power.
This responsibility includes a few important mandates, below. Members who break these rules may have their posts or comments deleted, be immediately suspended. If the behavior repeats, it may result in a permanent ban.
1. Give more than you take.
Our mission is to support you on your journey as a PreSales professional. One of the most important ways we do that is by giving you a voice — a place to share your ideas, ask questions, and find answers.
Our collective personal and professional growth requires that we work together to build the highest quality PreSales community possible. Please do your part to maintain a quality environment by striving to give more than you take.
Rather than worrying about what you can get from the community or how you can leverage it for your own gain, focus on generously sharing your knowledge and experience.
2. No abuse, harassment, or disrespect.
Everyone is welcome here. Abuse, harassment, and microaggressions are not — in annotations, discussions, webinars, or private messages.
If you ever feel abused or harassed, or witness such behavior, please flag the item immediately, or report it to a PreSales Collective staff member at info@presalescollective.com.
3. No spam, promotion, or selling.
This community is a safe place for learning, growing, and sharing. It’s a place where you can be vulnerable and transparent. That’s not possible if members attempt to use it to sell.
Do not create posts that promote your solutions or solutions with which you’re affiliated.
Vendor Discussions
Vendor discussions
There are a large number of high competence, highly opinionated PreSales professionals in The Collective eager to share their thoughts on how to solve various sales and customer success challenges. Discussions around vendors and tooling will invariably (and welcomely) arise. These are some standards as relates to these discussions.
Commentary BY Vendors
In our community we have a number of professionals from various PreSales solutions and/or consultancies.
This is not an accident, and is not only because some of these organizations run fantastically effective PreSales organizations whose learnings are well deserved by the group, but because as sell-side specialists of certain problems, they have good information to share (it’s their market, after all).
That being said, it is important that vendor staff are mindful of their tone and approach when answering questions that touch on their space. By no means do we want to limit the ability of someone who works at a given vendor to propose how their particular solution could help with a problem. But it needs to be done in a way that is appropriate and relevant. No one likes a shill. So be particularly mindful of that, and bias away from selling. Use it as an opportunity to tighten down your “consultative hat” and put away your “closing cannon” :)
When considering if a communication aligns with this standard, read it and think “Is there value in this aside from being a billboard for my offering?” and “Would others who read this who aren’t concerned about this offering learn something from this answer?” If the answer to either is no, don’t send it. E.g., “Happy to chat offline about XYZ” is just a public solicitation to both the asker, and others, and will get you (and probably your org) banned. Want to promote your org? Answer questions in a helpful and exhaustive way and make sure your signature line merchandises your role and org. Are you wondering what’s ok versus not? Well, if you feel tempted to write “Full disclosure, I work here” then it’s PROBABLY offsides.
As in, vendors, don't reply-all about your solution. It's never going to play well.
Similarly, direct outreach to individuals who raise particular problems may be warranted, in a respectful, consultative manner. But commentary (not promotion) on a topic should be public first, and followed by private outreach. Trying to set demos/sales calls with people asking questions will get you banned. Forwarding a thread to a sales person in your company will get you banned. Outreach that doesn’t align to these standards should be reported to PreSales Collective community management (info@presalescollective.com )
In the case where a vendor perceives a factual inaccuracy that is not a matter of opinion (e.g., “XYZ vendor doesn’t support integration with Office 365” and in fact, they do, please reach out to community management for assistance. Again: don't reply-all about your solution. It's never going to play well.
Commentary ON Vendors
With that said on commentary by vendors, when commenting on vendors, please be constructive in any criticism. There are members of this community who put their heart and soul into their solutions, and while open to feedback, surely would not appreciate their solution being kicked around. Think about it like the Golden Rule: how would you like someone to talk about your solution in a public forum?
Every once in a great while, members will provide outdated or false information about a product that is factually incorrect. In these instances, community management can send out corrections upon request. Examples of correctable items could be a claim of a lack of a certain API that has since been added, or a complaint about a missing feature that actually exists. Don’t send these out yourself (you will be banned).
Commentary by Consultants
We have a number of talented consultants in our community, and they are often wealths of knowledge. Their participation by adding pertinent, actionable commentary to questions is a welcome part of the community and a fantastic way to build reputation.
That said, commentary by consultants that smells of lead generation behavior will be viewed negatively and lead to removal from the community. “I’ve had a number of clients deal with this situation and would be happy to connect directly” is an advertisement and will get you removed. Similarly, content-free +1ing (prohibited elsewhere in standards as well) and “that’s awesome!” will lead to you being moderated or removed as well. Using your email signature as a billboard is not what this community is for.
4. Respect people’s privacy.
Members may not ask for introductions or research email addresses and phone numbers. Don’t talk about other people or disclose others’ private information and data.
Members are also not permitted to use information shared on PreSales Collective to sell to other members via other channels. If you witness that behavior, please report it.
5. Debate ideas, not people.
In pursuit of our mission, we allow controversial ideas to be posted, but we expect informed and thoughtful responses from our community members.
Attacking the person behind the idea does nothing to benefit yourself, or anybody else in the community. You are welcome to present opposing viewpoints, opinions or data.
You can expect that your own viewpoints may sometimes be challenged, but never that you yourself will be attacked.
6. Avoid inflammatory topics.
Don’t drag politics, religion, or similar topics into your discussions. Accept that we all have different beliefs, and enjoy the diversity that brings to our community.
Here’s how to get the most from the community:
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Action – Be active. Ask questions. Answer other people’s questions. Get involved. Don’t just read. Do. Test new ideas. Share your experiences.
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Mutual Support – Don’t just go it alone. Let’s grow together. This is a positive and encouraging group, where you can get whatever support you need.
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Depth and transparency – There’s no need to posture or pretend. Here, you can be real. The only way we can grow and create impact is if we’re honest about our challenges, issues, wins and our failures.
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Continual growth – We should never feel we’ve “arrived.” There’s always more to learn. There’s always a new way to do things.
By asking questions and joining discussions, you can provide support and help one another grow. By being transparent in sharing your experiences (good and bad), we can get past the surface-level ideas you see in most blogs and books.
Going deep to solve problems together helps us all grow and develop as sales professionals. And it’s what sets this community apart.