Sales / pre-sales contracts / jobs?

[yasockie]

Recently, I have grown very fond of getting my own place which is quite dear.
While I can rely on more or less stable income in my niche, this has stagnated a bit and given the family and all expenses I am not saving up all that much and that dream of a house that I actually own is becoming more distant.
I think mid-term, I'd be quite happy to transition to a pre-sales technical consultant role, provided that it does indeed boost my income.
Does anyone have any significant experience in this area? My understanding that a lot of the income is commission based and given the long lead times and length of a sales cycle on the software industry, it can be quite a while until I get my first bonus.
How does it usually work? In pure financial terms, does it sound like a sensible move to transition from a developer/business analyst to a pre-sales consultant?

[saptastic]

All of these jobs I would think are permie jobs and this is backed up by ITjobswatch.
So you would need to take this into account financially.

Yes you would need to put time in before "big" bonuses come your way.

Buying cycle can be long especially on higher value sales and I am sure as a newbie there would be a lot of learning and product training/consultative sales training - before you get in front of a client.
Also can be the way established sales people have the established customers and newbies have to pick up the scraps which need building up over time.

So IMO its not a quick win and you will need to go perm.

[sunflower]

These roles are indeed usually perm. A friend of mine went into a technical pre-sales role with his employer, a large IT company, and he specialises in a few products they sell. He was team lead on one product for a while. He's on a very good salary for perm with company car and pension. They funded a postgrad course.

Good luck

[Notascooby]

I'm currently getting headhunted for a perm role in this area for a consultancy looking to x-sell products as well as outsourced services. Not convinced if I want to do it but I'm playing along so far as I know the team I'd be working for and they are great guys, so I know I'll be happy with the people.

Just need to weigh up pro's and con's - package for location is excellent with bonus, car allownace 2X pension contributions etc. It's attractive, it won't equal my contract rate but it would be significantly less hassle. 50/50 at the moment...

[ChimpMaster]

Big bonuses are for Sales people, not Pre-Sales. I've worked with Sales people (SAP specific) in the past and know some that earn £400k inclusive of bonuses.

Pre-Sales consultants I have worked with earn £65k base plus perhaps £20k bonus. I earned more as a permie Solutions Architect.