Selling an integrated security solution to your clients can be a very challenging endeavor for most technology partners. The market is very vast and oversaturated, and most of the problems these solutions aim to solve are multifaced and complex. One added factor is that many buyers these days have become wiser with their purchases, and are doing extensive research to make sure that they are getting their money’s worth. Here are some helpful tips to help you sell an integrated security solution to your clients.
Tip #1: Know the Market
Many clients think that security selling is the same as information technology or IT selling, but it is not. While IT solutions are all about growth and enablement, security solutions are more about protection. Such difference translates to buyer motivation and mindset. While IT buyers are motivated by how a particular solution will reduce costs and increase productivity, security buyers are drawn by the need to safeguard their assets from threats.
Take note that the security market is divided into two categories: standard solutions and disruptive technologies. The former is more familiar because they have been around for years and are widely used, like virtual private networks and firewalls, while the latter reflects the nature of the threats and security challenges an organization faces.
Tip #2: Pick a Few Solutions and Thoroughly Know Them
Those seeking to break into security selling should embrace the inch-wide, mile-deep approach. This means choosing a few solutions for the standard and disruptive technologies, and thoroughly learning more about them. Whatever you are offering, it is important that you understand the problem it can solve and how it can solve the problem. It is for this reason that training sessions, industry research, and product demos and crucial.
For disruptive technologies, for example, partners should also maintain alignment with product and support teams to stay informed of updates and features. Remember that security selling is solution-oriented, so it is important to understand the full extent of the customer’s problem and how a solution can help solve it.
Tip #3: Put Yourself in the Client’s Shoes
The security market is oversaturated, so it is easy for buyers to feel overwhelmed with the countless and even poorly-differentiated options available to them. And since no security team has limitless resources, they usually have high price tags that can impede sales. Considering this, you need to be a trusted advisor to clients. Get to know their business, problems,s, and expectations, and how their security program operates.
Getting validation that your security solution is being used by customers with similar needs also helps. Because of this, partners should be prepared to come up with customer case studies and testimonials so they can recognize that they are not alone and there are feasible solutions that can fix problems like theirs.
Tips #4: Recognize the Changing Sales Pitch
As disruptive technologies continue to compromise the security market, the security sales pitch is constantly evolving. There are so many new technologies available today with groundbreaking capabilities that many buyers end up not knowing the kind of solution they actually need. It is for this reason that partners have to completely understand the problem of the client, along with what and how a solution can help solve it.
The vast range of disruptive technologies has also given rise to new and confusing marketing tactics. Most solutions are marketed as the best pick without recognizing that achieving and maintaining security requires more than just one solution. truly, buyers are becoming more and more aware that if it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.
