So You Think You Can Sell Security?

By Ryan Morris, Senior Director of Operations and Principal, BAI

There’s a tremendous amount of momentum around the security market these days — innovative technologies, vendor mergers and consolidation, and, of course, a tremendous increase in the complexity and frequency of threats companies face.

That spells opportunity for solution providers, but not necessarily success. Security is much more fluid, organic space compared to other technologies and requires constant attention and commitment. Our job as cybersecurity specialists is to ensure our clients’ data is safeguarded as their business changes and as the threats change. Here are four things to consider if you’re entering the security market, or looking to accelerate your growth.

1. Invest Or Stay Home
   You have to know your business. Are you a fulfillment engine for your customers, taking orders and finding the best price for what they want? Or are you architecting solutions and helping them make the right decisions? Chances are you could probably find some success with the first model, but you’re not really adding a lot of value and it might be only a matter of time before your customers realize they need more and look for someone else.

   To be a trusted business and technology partner, you must understand how disparate security products work together and be able to push customers towards an optimal deployment model. If you don’t know enough about a certain vendor, go talk to that vendor, your distribution partners, or solution provider peers. Our most valuable role as a security provider is to know the market and understand the technology so we can demonstrate how products come together to create a cohesive and future-proof solution.

2. Protect A Business, Not A Network
   One of the biggest mistakes I see my peers make is investment in exciting technology that cannot be applied in the verticals they serve. They become excited about what a product is capable of without ever validating that it fits into their clients’ objectives or deployment model. There are hundreds of security vendors out there, most of them developing some very innovative technologies. They might be the best at what they do, but still might not be the best fit for a specific customer. The more you know about your customer’s environment — their business environment, not their IT environment — the better guidance you can provide.

   Further, you must know the current and anticipated future state of the market. It’s critical to have a holistic view of security solutions — to know what products address immediate needs and what solutions might be several years out reaching their peak demand. What are the customer’s growth plans? How are they planning to achieve that growth? What challenges are in the way? That level of knowledge will help you devise a proper security strategy for your client and then you can figure out what solutions are most appropriate.

3. Choose Your Partners Wisely
   It’s not an easy thing to select a new security vendor from the mountains of companies vying for your attention. We look not only at the technology, but also the space they serve. What is the total addressable market? Where is this market likely to go and how long will it take? Does it stand alone to solve a very niche problem, or is it a platform customers will invest in and build around? Evaluate the company from all angles.

   Second, look at your own company. Are you a good fit for the vendor? They might have great technology, but if you don’t have the resources it’s going to take to support those solutions and speak authoritatively about the company, you may want to keep looking. Introspection is sometimes the most difficult piece of this process, but it is absolutely critical in establishing a long-term reputation. Signing a partnership agreement is a commitment no one should take lightly. BAI works with large government agencies and enterprise clients who demand complex sales motions that take between 12 and 18 months. If you are not committed to continuous investment over a long sales cycle, your sales team may be better served by working in a more mature market.

   If you’re going to make that kind of investment with a customer, you had better pick the right partners. This means evaluating both their product and their leadership. Understanding who is at the helm and their ultimate aspirations for the company is just as important as your technical vetting process. Can we rely on this relationship? Can we be successful in their culture? How defined is their partner model and how do they approach distribution? This last question will ensure that your cycles are spent working with customers instead of addressing process related issues.

   For example, we’re big fans of Gigamon and know their network traffic visibility technology inside and out. Their partner program is clearly defined and has allowed us to focus on supporting customers instead of back end processes. When issues do inevitably arise, we lean on our Gigamon distributor, Global Convergence (GCI), to help fix them. GCI makes sure non-standard processes work right and, ultimately, that our customers are satisfied. Program and culture are commonly overlooked but are critical if you expect to wake up every day eager to get started. If you’re going to be out there selling their products for months at a time and communicating several times a day, you have to be in sync.

4. Put It All Together
   As leaders in this industry, solution providers are the tip of the spear. We are the first to isolate issues and identify opportunities where technology can be applied. We are uniquely positioned to make recommendations and it is our responsibility to reduce noise and help guide customers toward the correct solutions. In doing so, we help the market to develop and evolve over time.

   If you want to be a great security solution provider, strive to be great at security. Find your niche and build your practice methodically. We’ve been successful at BAI because we think long term and we’ve built a business around picking the right technology partners and understanding the most appropriate way to apply them in the real world. You cannot sell with integrity if you have not done the research and testing required to speak authoritatively about a market. Make investments to ensure your recommendations are accurate. There’s plenty of help available — again, from vendors, distributors, and other solution providers to make that happen. The latter two are particularly invaluable to analyze how well products work with other vendors’ technologies.

   Lastly, if you aren’t having fun, you aren’t doing it right. We are all lucky to be working in a fast-paced and exciting industry with near limitless opportunity. We have the opportunity to protect the technology and business systems that are propelling society forward at a pace we could not imagine just a few years ago. Businesses need a strong partner who understands how security can be applied to further their mission. It takes time, hard work, and investment, but the rewards are definitely worth the effort.

Ryan Morris is Senior Director of Operations and Principal at BAI. He has management oversight of all three divisions at BAI (BAI Federal, BAI Commercial, and BAI Technical) and is directly responsible for corporate direction and strategy.