Selling security before something goes wrong: outbound that led with value
Nobody thinks they need security until it is too late. We gave prospects something useful before asking for anything, and coached the team to sell value instead of fear.
Kobalt.ioHead of GrowthMar 2021 – Oct 20213 min read- 120
- New clients
- 5-fig
- Typical deal, mid to high
- 6x
- Monthly leads
Context
Security is often seen as unnecessary until something bad happens, so every conversation started upstream. Prospects did not feel the problem, and generic warnings about breaches were easy to ignore.
We were also a small company in a crowded field of larger competitors. We needed a way to start conversations that the bigger players were not having.
The thesisMake the first touch useful on its own. If the prospect learns something about their own business before you ask for a meeting, the meeting is easy to earn.
The outbound motion
The outbound program led with a light external assessment of each prospect’s website, so the first email showed them something specific about their own exposure instead of a generic pitch.
Those findings primed the SDR call. By the time a rep picked up the phone, the prospect already had a concrete reason to talk. Summits and training sessions then built trust and understanding before sales stepped in to close.
How the message changed
| Where we started | Where we ended up | |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | General warnings about breaches | Specific findings about the prospect’s own site |
| Value | Features and service lists | Clear outcomes: compliance, enterprise deals, peace of mind |
| Effort | A big project to take on | A managed service with little work on their side |
| Tone | Fear | Education and transparency |
Refining this messaging over time was the largest single area of work. The biggest shift was coaching the team out of a fear-based pitch and into one that made the value obvious and the effort for the prospect small.
Coaching the team
- Persistence with purposeSecurity is a long, upstream sell. Reps were coached to keep pushing, with a reason to reach out every time.
- Lead with value, keep effort lowEvery touch made the benefit clear and the next step easy for the prospect.
- Transparency over pressureHonest, educational selling built the trust a small vendor needs to beat larger competitors.
The sales-led motion worked so well that after two marketing hires, most of the team’s growth went into SDRs. Marketing’s job was to make every SDR conversation warmer than the last.
When buyers do not feel the problem yet, do not try to scare them. Show them something true about their own business, and make the next step easy.