How Inside Sales Reps Can Get IT Security Pros To Share Information
Posted by
Matt Fitts on Wed, Feb 15, 2024 @ 05:27 PM
This is a question that I have had to answer/strategize on for every teleprospecting program that I have been a part of here at AG Salesworks. Over the 8+ years I have run a number of programs for organizations that provide a solution focused on Security, from email encryption, SSO and IAM solutions, to Network Security solutions. Reflecting on this experience I have found that this question is one that is extremely important when running a program that is focused on finding actionable sales opportunities for a Security solution.
Why?
The nature of a security solution is primarily to help prevent information/systems from being compromised. This means that the audience can be extremely reluctant to speak with someone regarding their “defenses/solutions in place” because they do not want to expose what gaps they may have or frankly provide the intelligence that could assist in attempting to compromise their organization’s systems. Well without the answer to this question and this reluctance in place it can be difficult to find an opening to have a business conversation and uncover an opportunity. 
Below are a couple of strategies that I have found to be helpful in stimulating a business conversation around this sensitive topic and generating the opportunities.
Empathize with their reluctance to speak: in any communication you have it is important to let them know that you are aware of the sensitive nature of the questions you are asking and the information you are seeking. This will start your conversation with a high level of credibility and contacts can begin to lower their guard because they understand that you know something about their role. For example, you could simply state – “I understand that this can be a sensitive area……..” And continue with “……….I am trying to get an understanding of how your organization approaches security……….” This leads the business conversation to a point where I would argue that the understanding how an organization philosophically approaches security is far more valuable then to understand the specific vendors/solutions that they have in place.
Target multiple levels and roles within an organization: This seems straightforward and is certainly a tactic that I recommend regardless of target audience or solution set. But when focused on generating opportunities in the security space you can be very well served by talking across the organization. I will give you one specific role that I believe sometimes goes overlooked, IT Auditors. You might ask what is he talking about - well my team and I have found that the folks in the IT Auditing department not only have a great window into the organizations entire infrastructure, but they also can speak to compliance regulations that the organization is focused on. This may seem obscure but armed with this information you can not only approach those IT Security professionals with more confidence but you can also map your solution to the compelling events that the organization is focused on in the upcoming period.
These are just two tactics we have had success with. I would be interested to hear what things you suggest to “soften” what tends to be a hard shell around the IT Security space.
