According to Verizon’s data breach investigation report 2020, 72% of data breaches took place in large scale enterprises and 28% occurred in small businesses. Cybersecurity attacks targeting businesses are both growing in numbers and sophistication with each passing day. With an acute talent shortfall in the cybersecurity industry, businesses are struggling to find cybersecurity professionals to fill in those positions. That is why they rely heavily on cybersecurity services and products. One of these products is Smartproxy, that provides access to proxies: IP addresses that can mask your own connection and protect you from unwanted danger.
This has increased the demand for these services and products and led to mushrooming growth of cybersecurity service providers. Despite all this, selling cybersecurity services is not as easy as some might think. To make matters worse, cybersecurity service providers make mistakes that makes it even more difficult to sell their cybersecurity services.
First, they assume that their prospective customers have the knowledge about the product. Secondly, they try to create fear to sell their services and products. Just like cloud hosting providers, some cybersecurity service providers make tall claims that they fail to backup. All this deters users from using these services and leaves a bad taste in their mouths instead of attracting them towards these services.
In this article, you will learn about seven methods you can use to sell cybersecurity effectively.
1. Ask Questions to Identify User Needs
Nobody likes to be told that they need something. Unfortunately, most cybersecurity service makes this mistake. They tell users that their services and products is what users need. In some cases, user do not even know what their needs are. As a service provider, you can ask them questions to identify their needs.
Here are some of the questions you can ask your prospective customers.
- Do you comply with regulations in your industry?
- How do you protect your business against internal threats and data breaches?
- Is your internal communication safe? If yes, to what extent?
- Do you have an incident response plan?
- How do you deal with security risks?
Once you get the answers to these questions, you can easily get a clear picture about user needs. This allows you to offer them the right solution that can solve their problems.
2. Build A Vast Network
With so many cybersecurity service providers to choose from, users are literally spoilt for choice. To add insult to the injury, they are bombarded with messages from different channels such as SMS, email, and electronic and print media. This makes it difficult for cybersecurity service providers to grab the attention of users. The best way to do that is to build a comprehensive network both offline and online.
Focus on building long term relationships with your prospects. Establish a solid network of business partners and colleagues that can offer you leads and customers. Publish useful content, be authentic and have friendly conversation with prospects to convert them into loyal customers. You can host an online event or go to an event, invite all your prospects, and promote your products and services.
3. Tell the Truth
Always be honest and avoid making tall claims that you cannot backup. Customers hate service providers that use deceptive marketing tactics to rope in customers. Yes, these tactics might work and give you short term gains but in the long run these tactics fail miserably and dent your business reputation. Unfortunately, many cybersecurity service providers and product manufacturers are guilty of this. For example, you are selling an ARK dedicated server. Clearly state what type of gaming experience gamers can expect from ARK gaming servers.
4. Educate Prospects as a Security Consultant
Most businesses undermine the importance of security and privacy and don’t know the importance of complying with security standards and regulations. You as a security consultant should educate them and increase their awareness about these issues so they start taking these things seriously. The legislative jargons are so complex that it is hard for lawyers to understand, let alone a business owner who doesn’t know much about it. If you can present the core principles defined in these legal documents and regulations in a simple way, it will help businesses a lot and they might think about hiring your security firm as their security consultant.
5. Understand Industry Requirements
Every industry is different and so are their requirements. As a cybersecurity service provider dealing with different industries, it is important for you to understand industry requirements for every industry you work with. Security requirements for a healthcare organization might vary significantly from security requirements of a law firm. Additionally, you need to understand the verticals your clients are selling to to provide them the best security service. There is no denying that you specialize in security, but you will also have to understand the industry rules and regulations to succeed as a cybersecurity service provider.
6. Put User Priorities Above Everything Else
Just like industries, every business has their own goals, mission, and vision. Some might prioritize data security and privacy while others value compliance with regulations and standards so they can avoid fines and penalties. Before you send them your pitch, it is important to know about their priorities so that you can tailor your pitch accordingly. You can talk to them on a phone and pay attention to every word they say. You might get a clue about what they value the most.
7. Highlight Benefits
Instead of telling prospects about the technical specification about the product or how good it is, it is better to focus on highlighting the benefits and value it can deliver to their business. People did not want to get into technicalities which is why they contacted you in the first place and if you continue to tell them what they don’t want to hear, they will ditch you and find someone else. Your customers are interested in knowing how your services and products can accelerate and facilitate their business growth. Once they start to see the real value in your products and services, they will buy from you.
How do you sell cybersecurity? Let us know in the comments section below.
