6 Top MSSPs Share Their Sales Secrets
Struggling to sell managed security? These six experts have some tips.
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“I like to use metaphors of how different industries have evolved as well. Cybersecurity is like the auto industry in a way in that there was a time that things like seat belts and anti-lock brakes were options on cars thought to be niceties. Blind-spot detection is going through that phase now. You’d never go into a dealership now and say you want them to take the seat belts out to save a few hundred bucks on the car.
Cybersecurity tools have evolved the same way, and adding things like a security operations center and doing user training (whatever a business is missing when looking at a 360-degree view of these practices) are considered options some people may want, rather than the reality of it being a requirement to keep a business including its employees and clients safe.”
—Tom Praschak, president & CEO, Compass MSP
“Managed security service provider (MSSP) offerings are necessary for many companies facing the No. 1 problem in security — headcount shortage. However, when discussing these offerings with clients, there is typically an uphill battle against the negative stigma associated with low value, or legacy, MSSPs. Conveying the true value of an MSSP as an extension of the security team and building trust between the organizations creates a longer sales cycle, but provides a more productive relationship.”
—Randy Watkins, director, security architecture, Critical Start
“In addition to educating our managed-services sales teams, we have dedicated security pre-sales resources who understand the differences of selling security versus traditional managed services. Generally speaking, we have found that in order to be successful in selling security to the SMB market, you have to move beyond the use of fear, uncertainty and, doubt (FUD). We help business owners understand that security is not only a necessity in today’s current climate but can be affordable for their growing business.”
—Chris Sousa, VP of solutions and strategy, Dataprise
“I hate selling on fear … Our vendors do this to us. ‘If you don’t do this … you’re gonna go out of business.’ Blah, blah, blah, right? And I don’t want to deliver that same message to our clients. So how do I make them aware without scaring the crap out of ’em completely? I try to give them scenarios, try to keep it positive, but talk about taking proactive measures to protect their business. I’m trying to avoid, ‘If you don’t do this, you’re screwed.’ … Ideally they can figure that out themselves.”
—Vince Tinnirello, managing director, Anchor Network Solutions Inc.
“We also started moving to a firewall as a service, so now a typical client is anywhere from five to 150, and I got tired of how when someone went into buy to try to convince them when they bought that $600 firewall that had to be paid annually that they have to go out and buy something new. So we tried to turn everything into an (as of) service type fee. And that’s really what we were transitioning [to]. And then we feel if we sold them something for a monthly price, they didn’t care what color it was on the dashboard there, it was just something that protected them and better helped us.”
—Michael Goldstein, president, LAN Infotech
“Yeah, one of the things is, I think no one will debate, that we’re being “statistic-ed” to death by billions of dollars of crimes and ransomware and revenue transfers and yada yada yada. But what our process has been … we’ll actually put an assessment appliance on a client’s site for pretty much seven days. And we’ll literally inventory their entire application stack. So we’ll identify all the apps, any existing threats, pretty much give a portal to what’s going on in the network. Why that’s interesting is because when you sit with a business owner or stakeholder and you say, ‘OK, you’ve got Box, One Drive, Google Drive, somebody else’s drive, boom boom. You’ve got fifteen different collaboration tools. Mr. Business owner, do you know what data is leading your business? Can you account for any of this?’ … When you do that, you’re not so much bombarding them with generic statistics about how by 20-something it’s going to be a $300 million industry so much as, ‘Hey, here’s your actual breakdown. Here’s what’s going on in your network. Can you account for this? Do you want to account for this? Does it even matter?’”
—Robert Boles, founder and president, BLOKWORX
“Yeah, one of the things is, I think no one will debate, that we’re being “statistic-ed” to death by billions of dollars of crimes and ransomware and revenue transfers and yada yada yada. But what our process has been … we’ll actually put an assessment appliance on a client’s site for pretty much seven days. And we’ll literally inventory their entire application stack. So we’ll identify all the apps, any existing threats, pretty much give a portal to what’s going on in the network. Why that’s interesting is because when you sit with a business owner or stakeholder and you say, ‘OK, you’ve got Box, One Drive, Google Drive, somebody else’s drive, boom boom. You’ve got fifteen different collaboration tools. Mr. Business owner, do you know what data is leading your business? Can you account for any of this?’ … When you do that, you’re not so much bombarding them with generic statistics about how by 20-something it’s going to be a $300 million industry so much as, ‘Hey, here’s your actual breakdown. Here’s what’s going on in your network. Can you account for this? Do you want to account for this? Does it even matter?’”
—Robert Boles, founder and president, BLOKWORX
Security. Everyone needs it. No one wants to shell out the bucks for it. Despite all of the recent headlines screaming about ransomware, data breaches and slipshod user behavior leading to companies inadvertently leaking customer information to bad people, many businesses dig in their heels when it comes to buying cybersecurity solutions. While you might wish you could get away with tossing them an “I told you so” when their system is hacked and their organization is crippled, that’s not a very good way to build a reputation as a trusted adviser. So what’s a managed service provider (MSP) to do when faced with stubborn customers living in a state of denial that they’ll ever be breached?
It’s a sticky wicket for sure, but we’ve gathered some tips from expert managed security solution providers (MSSPs) who have landed on some sales techniques that resonate with customers. Every service provider is different, and they all have different customer types, but the six tips here might just help you break down those barriers and convince your clients they need to invest in cybersecurity.
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