5 Tips for Selling Security Solutions

The need for security is ever-present and ever-changing. Security solutions never go out of style, thanks to cyber crime threats, data theft by employees and others, lost laptops, regulatory compliance, viruses and a host of other concerns that force companies to spend money to protect their corporate and customer data. 

To find out some of the best ways to sell security solutions, Authority spoke to Chris Wargo, co-founder and senior security consultant at InfoLock Technologies, a VAR in Arlington, VA.

Tip No. 1: Replace the ‘fear’ factor in your pitch with the positive notion that first-class security solutions will improve the business. 

Instead of playing on companies’ fears of losing data and having their networks penetrated by cyber criminals, emphasize the business benefits of buying security solutions, Wargo recommends.

“Organizations are tired of vendors that promote a message of fear about cyber crime and non-compliance, and are more receptive to buying security solutions when you show them the ROI and how those solutions can improve business processes,” he says.

You’ll have more success selling these solutions if you take the time to learn a company’s business and how it can be improved, rather than simply re-purposing the message of fear, Wargo adds.

Tip No. 2: Emphasize how sophisticated, yet affordable, the solutions are.

As the market has matured, solutions have grown in complexity, yet dropped in price as new competitors have entered the market, says Wargo.

“Solutions that were only affordable to the Fortune 500® are now mainstream,” he adds. “In most cases, software solutions have no minimum purchase amounts and very low license quotas. Such terms make software sales very appealing to SMBs.”

Tip No. 3: Use facts rather than opinions to convince companies to buy solutions.

“A technical assessment to analyze network traffic and sensitive data flows will provide factual validation of the need to buy a solution and remediate vulnerabilities, building a stronger business case,” says Wargo. “For example, if you document that certain employees’ use of unencrypted communications with outside companies is a serious security threat, the CEO or CIO will likely take you seriously.”

Tip No. 4: Offer a managed security service, as it is particularly attractive to SMBs.

Managed security services continue to be a growing business opportunity for VARs. For years, mid-market and enterprise VARs have seen the value in becoming MSSPs, but recently, SMB-focused VARs have caught the wave.

SMB customers often lack the knowledge to put the right security layers in place, and don’t realize that a firewall alone is not enough, says Wargo.

“Small companies are just as likely as large ones to outsource their security requirements, seeing this as a less costly and more secure approach to protecting their networks,” he notes.

The great value of a managed security service for a VAR is that it creates a predictable and recurring revenue stream, Wargo adds.

Tip No. 5: Add DLP (data loss prevention) expertise to your tool-kit as it is increasingly popular with SMBs.

“DLP is fast-becoming one of the most vital technologies in the data security space," says Wargo. "DLP can help organizations keep pace with their evolving data security challenges, while keeping them out of the headlines."