AI-Driven Presales: Faster Onboarding, Smarter Selling with Toby Penn

Is an AI Sales Engineer the key to faster presales onboarding and smarter sellers?

In this episode of V5, Jarod Greene sits down with Toby Penn, an experienced global presales leader, to explore how AI agents are transforming sales engineering. Toby shares how AI, specifically Vivun’s AI Sales Engineer, Ava, is helping presales teams ramp faster, stay ahead of process changes, and focus on high-value tasks. He discusses the role of AI in simplifying sales enablement, fielding complex technical questions, and even empowering Account Executives with better decision-making. 

From scaling SE expertise to improving sales rep independence, this conversation highlights how AI agents are reshaping the go-to-market landscape.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. How an AI SE accelerates onboarding – Cutting PreSales ramp time from months to weeks by providing real-time guidance and training.
2. The difference between knowledge and expertise in AI agents - The best AI solutions don’t just retrieve knowledge. They have the expertise to present information in the context you need for real-world success.
3. How an AI Sales Engineer increases sales efficiency – Freeing up SEs from repetitive tasks and enabling AEs to make smarter, data-driven decisions, without distracting SEs from value-driven work.

Things to listen for: 

(00:00) Introduction

(00:22) AI and presales enablement

(01:31) Reducing sales onboarding time with AI

(02:53) AI’s role in continuous sales enablement 

(03:41) Extending AI beyond presales

(04:45) The importance of domain expertise in AI agents

(05:37) AI for sales independence and scale