We’ve completed our second day of the Making Money w/ Security Workshop in Melbourne.  Lunch was a highlight of the day – a chance to try out a new pizza place in Melbourne and spend some quality time with the group.

The Role of the Presales SE is Paramount

As we finished up some of our work on the role of the Presales SE, and the powerful influence they can have on the sales process when positioned correctly, one of the attendees was able to share with us how he used some of these principles to line up 7 million dollars in business in one account.  This demonstrates the power of performing the asset-focused assessment I talk about in my book, From Vendor to Adviser.

During the course of looking at products with a his client, rather than providing a simple firewall quote, or pricing on a router, he moved toward the risk assessment.  Within four hours he was able to compromise this major client’s defenses, and present highly sensitive data to his client – this lead to an opportunity to meet with the board of directors – an honor not many sales people have had.  And with the right audience in front of him, he was able to describe, in brief, concrete terms, just how vulnerable this company’s intellectual capital was, and a plan to “get-well”.

Meeting with Board Members

In a typical board meeting you have just about 30 minutes to get to the point – and the delivery must be executive level in language and presentation style.  What do they want to know?

• What assets are at risk – high impact issues?
• What’s the likelihood they’ll be compromised?
• Trending – is the risk growing or shrinking and why?
• How are we managing this risk?
• What steps do we need to bring us down to an acceptable level of risk?

If you can present this in simple, concrete language, providing a credible story with some new insights, you’re in.  It’s more about the presentation than it is the written document you provide, however the written part must be short, to the point, and executive level.  Be prepared to support your findings with some more technical documentation to be used later with their technical people.

Does this create a longer sales cycle?  Absolutely not.  You might invest more in the discovery process than you normally would, but the end result is much bigger, and the overall sales cycle generally shorter.  If you’re not signed up for my upcoming Making Money w/ Security workshop – you’ll want to get on the list now while there are seats available. (Click the link here to read more about it.) – this one’s virtual so you can do it from your home or desk!

© 2013, David Stelzl