Completely agree with all of the above. And completely agree that a tech person is not the ideal person to go into sales. But a lot of presales people are not t

Completely agree with all of the above. And completely agree that a tech person is not the ideal person to go into sales. But a lot of presales people are not tech people - they are product people. And these people can make the transition to sales well. What I'd add to your list above is passion. The best sales team are those that really believe in what they are selling. Of course, great sales people can sell anything even when it's rubbish - but for that you need a superstar sales person. For mere mortals passion is key - and that often comes from those who knew the product inside out- ie SE. What I haven't mentioned is those that made the SE transition to sales very much left SE behind. They could do their own demos but they don't. They need to transition to all the stuff you have above. But if you can retain the product passion - and the marketing/benefits/product knowledge background, you have a good advantage.