Selling security awareness is a consultative conversation, not a feature pitch. Follow a fixed structure: prepare and speak to the right decision-maker, map the need first, present your solution against that need, close apart from price, and map who else decides. That way awareness becomes a service your customer buys because it solves their problem.
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Most conversations about security awareness start the wrong way: with the modules, the phishing templates and the reports. That is the visible part, but a customer does not buy features. They buy a solution to a problem they recognise. A good awareness sales conversation is therefore a consultative conversation with a fixed structure, and that structure is the same one our own sales team uses. It works just as well when you sell awareness to your own customers.
Step 1: Prepare and speak to the right decision-maker
Awareness touches security and compliance, so your counterpart is usually the CISO, the security officer or the Data Protection Officer (DPO), not the training or e-learning coordinator. The latter usually cannot buy it and does not feel the pain. A wrong decision-maker costs you weeks, so check in advance who has the pain and who can decide. A few minutes of preparation on LinkedIn is well worth it compared to a conversation that leads nowhere.
Step 2: Open with structure
Start with a short agenda, a time check and a clear goal: by the end of this conversation the customer will know whether this platform is right for them. That sounds small, but it conveys control, professionalism and trust, and it makes the decision at the end easier. The first impression often shapes the rest of the conversation.
Step 3: Map the need first
This is the heart of the conversation, and it is exactly the step many salespeople skip. Talk at most twenty percent of the time yourself and let the customer do the other eighty percent. Ask open questions that start with what, how, when or who, and follow up on the previous answer rather than on your own checklist. Three lines will get you going: has the customer already done anything with awareness and with what goal, who needs to display the secure behaviour and who are the users, and what approach do they use now with which pros and cons. The biggest pitfall is making assumptions. Summarise at the end: if I understand correctly, your biggest challenges right now are X and Y. Only once that is clear do you know whether there is a business case.
Step 4: Present to the need
Only now does the solution come into play, and only the parts that touch what the customer has just named. Tie every feature to a concrete need: you indicated that departments need different levels of knowledge, which is why I am showing you the audience segmentation. Show it, rather than listing it. A customer who wants to demonstrate compliance wants to see the reporting; a customer who wants to change their culture wants to see the content and the gamification. Do not show everything, but do show the right things.
Step 5: Close consultatively, apart from price
Do not ask whether the customer likes the platform, because that does not lead to a decision. Ask what they think of the concept and why, which parts would help them most, and then ask: if we could roll this out easily, would you want to use it? In this way you address value first and only then the price. If a price objection comes up, deliberately separate the two: apart from the price, would you want to have this? After that you handle the price separately.
Step 6: Map the decision
One yes is rarely enough. Ask who else decides, what their roles are and whether everyone has to agree. Work in the we-form here: how do we together make sure the other decision-makers become just as enthusiastic as you? And most important of all: never leave a conversation without a concrete follow-up appointment with a date and time. A conversation without a follow-up is a conversation that fizzles out.
The bottom line
You are not selling training, but a solution to a problem the customer names themselves. The features follow from that, not the other way around. If you first want to decide under which model and brand you sell, read the article Becoming a security awareness reseller about the three sales models.
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How to become a security awareness reseller · 2LRN4 partner programme · Security awareness for IT service providers and resellers
FAQ
Do you open a security awareness sales conversation with features or with the need?
With the need. Map first which problem the customer wants to solve before you show anything of the platform. Only once you have the need clearly defined do you know which parts are relevant. Starting with features often leads to a polished demo that does not match what the customer needs.
Who should you have the conversation with?
With the person who feels the pain and can decide, usually the CISO, the security officer or the Data Protection Officer (DPO). The training or e-learning coordinator generally cannot purchase awareness, so a conversation with them costs time without results.
How do you close without getting stuck on price?
Separate value and price. Ask first, apart from the price, whether the customer would want to use the solution. Only once the value is clear do you discuss the price. If a price objection comes up, ask what the customer is comparing it with before you talk about a discount.
What is the biggest mistake when selling security awareness?
Presenting too quickly. Anyone who immediately shows the modules and features without first mapping the need is making assumptions and matches the customer poorly. The needs analysis is the most important and most skipped step.