What are the qualities of a good sales person? Whenever someone asks me this question -- my mind wanders to 7 Habits (or qualities) of Highly Effective People, which are:
1) Pro-activeness and self-awareness
2) Start with the end in mind
3) Prioritize
4) Focus on win-win
5) Listen, understand then speak and get understood
6) Develop truest form of trust
7) Keep learning
These are the major qualities any person should seek and develop to be a good human being generally and very good sales-person particularly.
Information security selling is not different than any other selling. The only difference between IT selling and security selling is that the latter focuses on niche market. Getting security opportunities, driving customers and closing deals can be scarce and time consuming but delightfully rewarding. In the words of Steve Jobs, you really put a dent in the universe but more in the security sense the feeling of protecting customers is both fascinating and cherishing.
For information security selling to be effective, I propose the following list of steps from my experience:
1) Identify pain-points -- what difficulties are being faced by the customer
2) Propose a solution -- that acts as ointment for the pain-point identified
3) Develop a business case -- focus on benefits in terms of time, resources and money!
4) Identify and set budget limitations -- develop win-win situation!
5) Clarify, clarify, clarify! -- do demo, PoC, pilot to set the customer expectations right
6) Close the deal quickly -- keeping the purchase life-cycle in mind, focus on closing with full force
7) Give more -- develop dependency, be more than just useful!
A good security selling encompasses strong passion, relentless vigor and constant follow-ups. Hope this post helps in making your customer choose the best solutions and services. Happy selling!
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