HP Client Relationship & Pre-Sales 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A prospect says your HP solution is too expensive compared to a competitor. What is the best pre-sales response?
- Immediately offer a discount to match the competitor
- Quantify the total cost of ownership and business value HP delivers over time (Correct answer)
- Agree the competitor is cheaper and suggest a smaller HP product
- Escalate the pricing objection to your manager without responding
Correct answer: Quantify the total cost of ownership and business value HP delivers over time
Demonstrating total cost of ownership (TCO) and business value shifts the conversation from price to long-term return on investment.
Question 2: Which HP tool is primarily used during pre-sales to model infrastructure configurations and generate accurate quotes?
- HP Service Manager
- HP Product Configurator / HP Sales Builder for Windows (Correct answer)
- HP ALM
- HP SiteScope
Correct answer: HP Product Configurator / HP Sales Builder for Windows
HP Sales Builder for Windows (and similar configurator tools) allows pre-sales professionals to build valid hardware/software configurations and generate customer-ready quotes.
Question 3: When a client's IT environment has a mix of HP and competitor hardware, which HP pre-sales approach best addresses their heterogeneous needs?
- Insist the client replace all competitor hardware immediately
- Position HP's open standards and partner ecosystem to integrate with existing investments (Correct answer)
- Decline to engage until the environment is fully HP
- Propose a forklift upgrade of all infrastructure at once
Correct answer: Position HP's open standards and partner ecosystem to integrate with existing investments
HP emphasizes open standards and ecosystem partnerships that allow integration with multi-vendor environments, reducing risk for the client.
Question 4: A client requests an on-site proof of concept (PoC) for an HP storage solution. What is the primary goal of the PoC stage?
- To generate revenue from professional services fees
- To validate that the proposed solution meets the client's specific technical and business requirements (Correct answer)
- To train the client's staff on HP administration
- To negotiate final contract terms
Correct answer: To validate that the proposed solution meets the client's specific technical and business requirements
A PoC's purpose is to prove the solution addresses the client's actual requirements in their environment, reducing perceived risk and building confidence.
Question 5: In HP's SPIN Selling-influenced approach, what does the 'I' in SPIN stand for?
- Integration
- Implication (Correct answer)
- Investment
- Implementation
Correct answer: Implication
SPIN stands for Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-Payoff; Implication questions explore the consequences of the prospect's problems to increase urgency.
Question 6: Which of the following best describes an HP executive briefing center (EBC) engagement?
- A cold-call sales meeting held at the client's site
- A structured, high-level session at an HP facility designed to align client executives with HP's vision and solutions (Correct answer)
- A technical hands-on lab for junior IT staff
- A post-sale support review meeting
Correct answer: A structured, high-level session at an HP facility designed to align client executives with HP's vision and solutions
HP EBCs are strategically designed venues where senior HP and client executives align on business strategy and explore how HP's portfolio addresses enterprise goals.
Question 7: A client expresses concern about data security when migrating workloads to HP GreenLake cloud services. What pre-sales action is most appropriate?
- Tell the client security is the client's responsibility post-sale
- Present HP's shared responsibility model, compliance certifications, and built-in security features (Correct answer)
- Suggest the client choose an on-premises option to avoid the conversation
- Promise custom security features not yet on the roadmap
Correct answer: Present HP's shared responsibility model, compliance certifications, and built-in security features
Presenting HP GreenLake's compliance certifications and shared responsibility model directly addresses security concerns with factual, documented evidence.
HP Client Relationship & Pre-Sales 2
A prospect says your HP solution is too expensive compared to a competitor.
What is the best pre-sales response?