HP Client Relationship & Pre-Sales 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: During a discovery call, a client mentions their backup windows are causing production slowdowns. Which HP solution family should a pre-sales professional highlight first?
- HP Networking switches
- HP StoreOnce with Catalyst deduplication software (Correct answer)
- HP ProLiant entry-level servers
- HP DesignJet printers
Correct answer: HP StoreOnce with Catalyst deduplication software
HP StoreOnce with Catalyst performs deduplication at source, dramatically shrinking backup data and reducing the backup window's impact on production networks.
Question 2: A prospect is evaluating three vendors including HP. They ask for customer references. What is the ideal pre-sales response?
- Decline to provide references until a contract is signed
- Provide relevant references from similar industries and use cases, coordinated with HP's reference program (Correct answer)
- Give the prospect any customer contact without coordination
- Tell the prospect references are not necessary
Correct answer: Provide relevant references from similar industries and use cases, coordinated with HP's reference program
HP's formal reference program ensures references are properly matched to the prospect's industry and use case, protecting both customer privacy and deal integrity.
Question 3: A large healthcare client wants to modernize infrastructure while meeting HIPAA requirements. Which HP pre-sales step is essential early in the sales cycle?
- Skip compliance discussion until after the purchase order
- Engage HP's compliance and security specialists to map HIPAA requirements to HP solutions from the start (Correct answer)
- Tell the client HP products are automatically HIPAA compliant without review
- Recommend they hire a third-party consultant instead
Correct answer: Engage HP's compliance and security specialists to map HIPAA requirements to HP solutions from the start
Involving HP compliance specialists early ensures the proposed solution is architected to meet regulatory requirements, avoiding costly redesigns later.
Question 4: What does a 'champion' represent in HP's enterprise sales methodology?
- The competitor's top salesperson
- An internal client advocate who actively promotes HP's solution within the prospect organization (Correct answer)
- The HP account manager assigned to the deal
- The IT staff member who will administer the product
Correct answer: An internal client advocate who actively promotes HP's solution within the prospect organization
A champion is an internal stakeholder at the prospect who believes in HP's solution and actively works to influence the buying decision in HP's favor.
Question 5: When preparing a Statement of Work (SOW) for an HP Professional Services engagement, what must be explicitly defined to prevent scope creep?
- The HP salesperson's commission rate
- Deliverables, acceptance criteria, timelines, and out-of-scope items (Correct answer)
- The client's internal org chart
- HP's product roadmap for the next five years
Correct answer: Deliverables, acceptance criteria, timelines, and out-of-scope items
A well-defined SOW includes explicit deliverables, acceptance criteria, and out-of-scope items to create clear mutual expectations and prevent scope creep.
Question 6: Which metric is most useful when presenting HP compute solutions to a client focused on data center energy efficiency?
- Warranty duration
- Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) improvement and watts-per-transaction (Correct answer)
- Number of drive bays
- Screen resolution
Correct answer: Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) improvement and watts-per-transaction
PUE and watts-per-transaction directly quantify energy efficiency gains, which translate to measurable operational cost savings for the client.
Question 7: An HP partner is presenting a solution to a client but lacks a specific technical certification. What should they do?
- Proceed and hope the client doesn't ask technical questions
- Bring in an HP-certified pre-sales technical resource or HP systems engineer to support the engagement (Correct answer)
- Decline the opportunity
- Fabricate credentials
Correct answer: Bring in an HP-certified pre-sales technical resource or HP systems engineer to support the engagement
HP's partner ecosystem includes access to HP systems engineers and technical resources specifically to support partners in complex engagements requiring specialized expertise.
HP Client Relationship & Pre-Sales 3
During a discovery call, a client mentions their backup windows are causing production slowdowns.
Which HP solution family should a pre-sales professional highlight first?