[Top Learnings] - AMA with CISO of ScotiaBank

Savages,

Whether you sell to CISOs, other technical executives, or even small business owners - hearing the perspective of the Buyer is always helpful. Here are the top 5 answers from Rob Knoblauch, CISO @ Scotiabank, who was generous enough to share his perspective on 20+ years of dealing with us salespeople.

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@CuriousFox

Question 5: What is the one question you wish salespeople would ask you, that they never do?

Answer: I have never heard a sales representative ask me a really basic question: "What is the easiest way for me to work with you." (Sahil's note: It's amazing, isn't it? We spend all this time learning Sandler, Pain Funnels, MEDDIC, etc. etc. But at the end of the day, it's a human being we're speaking to. Have a normal conversation and ask the straightforward questions.)

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@macdreezy @WCK

Question 4: Cold calls? Cold emails? LinkedIn DMs? Which of these work best?

Answer: Cold Calling IMHO is the equivalent of going to a crowded bar and asking everyone, one after another for their phone number to get a date. It's low effort and low potential outcome. Email is slightly more effective because at least it goes to a folder in my inbox that eventually I will go through, usually during a very dry meeting that doesn't require my full attention. Re: LinkedIn Messages: Not really, it's basically email marketing in the form of LinkedIn messages.

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@ClosingSalesPeople

Question 3: Have you’ve considered purchasing a product/solution in the past but didn’t buying it at the end? Why does that happen?

Answer: Happens all the time, big bake off, PoC's, 6-12 months of eval to end up not purchasing. Biggest reason is the solution didn't do what we needed it to do, second is an existing vendor has created the same functionality in an existing product (happens a lot) and also the eval team (ie: people who will end up running the technology) feel it's not worth the effort (operationally complex) or something better is coming down the road.

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@Mooney

Question 2: How do you research vendors when you are looking to solve a problem (Gartner/Forester? Reseller? Google?) and how do companies get your attention during the research phase of a problem?

Answer: Amazing question - here is a typical process on how purchasing occurs:

Step 0: Regulator or Auditor or Incident or new Best Practice highlights a gap or something we need. 

Step 1: Document your requirements and ensure you identify the key stakeholders to develop and agree on those requirements. Know what you want to buy (which may change as you learn more) before going out shopping.

Step 2: Do we have anything in our existing eco-system that could do this? Many times we buy "microwaves" which are only used for the "popcorn button". We can do other types of cooking with that microwave, but we either haven't licensed it or we simply never thought about using a technology in that way. Also, maybe you have a subsidiary or close partner that has this solved already and you grow that solution globally. 

If nothing in existing portfolio; proceed to Step 3

Step 3: Research. Research. Research. What are your peers doing? What is the market doing? What do your friends who you trust and are way smarter than you doing? What do they recommend? Talk to Gartner, talk to your VAR, figure out who's who in the zoo and come to a short list of solutions you think will do the job. 

Step 4: Have a structured process for evaluating. I've seen horror stories where vendors were excluded that actually would have probably been the best solution, ask your procurement team to assist with a formal RFP/RFI.

Step 5: Issue RFI/RFP to key market players based on your homework, score RFI/RFP - if clear winner goto POC, If no clear winner than maybe a some more homework or bakeoff..

It is difficult for smaller companies to get "on the list"; but if you have a good evaluation team often they will research and find out the upcomers as well as established players. I have many examples where the underdog won the bid and were not on a gartner list. They won simply on having the cheapest and the best. 

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@highlyinadvisable

Question 1: What do sales professionals do that annoys you the most?

Answer: Great question. Really important one actually. Be respectful to women and inclusive. The "bro" culture is an updated version of "old boys club". There are many women in my company who are key decision makers, for example buying anything cyber related requires the nod (and evangelizing) from our leader of Cyber - that person is a woman, and she kicks a$$. There have been occasions where point blank she has said to me "this rep treats me like a stupid lady", and when that happens - I ask for a new sales rep. Point blank. It's 2021, we don't tolerate that kind of behaviour. 

Many sales reps reach out to me completely unprepared. I don't know why googling "target client name cyber security" isn't a standard practice. You get links from Linkedin on key people, articles from conferences and other weird stuff on the internet related to that company - do some homework. 

Again I am not a sales rep, but I know sales reps just get a list and start dialing one after the other... I don't understand this, you aren't selling me a $40 dollar item... you are selling something that usually is expensive and has a 5+ year life span... put effort into the initial relationship and show that you care and have a vested interest in my company and struggles... because after we close, I will have a vested interest in your company.

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BONUS: If you made it all the way down here, congrats. You get the gem of an answer that Rob gave on what might be the most important question of all. For those that didn't scroll all the way down... sucks for you.

@RedLightning

Bonus Question: What is the BEST thing salespeople can do to win a deal?

Answer: Have a referral that knows your client/target. There are so many companies that have pitched to me and if they did a teeny bit of linkedin research they could see that an existing client of theirs, who is a friend/relationship of mine and bring that up. People in the cyber profession are encouraged to share ideas/best practices/threat intelligence and this is one way where we can talk to our own people about your awesome solution.