Security Risk Advisors turns free on-site AI workshops into new projects by co-creating whiteboard plans with clients that become proposals.
Microsoft invests dollars in joint deals with SRA, offsetting costs for shared customers and shortening the path to a transaction.
Cicero aims to have marketing own revenue rather than impressions, tracking deals from events to signature in a Power BI dashboard.
How a security firm turns free workshops into signed deals
SRA is a cybersecurity professional-services firm that sells red teaming, blue teaming and managed security operations, so its marketing runs on relationships and free expertise rather than campaigns. Because every engagement is bespoke and buyers guard their vulnerabilities, SRA gives away tools and runs on-site workshops, then turns the co-created plan into proposals. Its Microsoft partnership supplies credibility and co-funded deals, small trade shows supply new names, and Cicero wants marketing measured on signed revenue.
Takeaways
Bespoke work keeps security sales relationship-led. Every client wants a solution built for their own problem, so SRA markets relationships rather than a fixed product . Buyers hesitate to share weaknesses, so deals take several meetings and can stretch to 36 months .
Free expertise is the second demand channel. SRA gives away knowledge, open-source tools and platform access so prospects can kick the tires with no high-pressure sales . Figuera says charging for everything breeds cynicism, and giving things away shows you are there to help .
Microsoft alignment shortens the path to revenue. Microsoft co-markets with SRA and puts dollars into joint deals that offset cost for shared customers . Few Fortune 1000 companies lack a Microsoft deal, and Microsoft can foot the bill to start one on SRA services .
Small trade shows beat ads for new clients. Digital advertising returns are not great and webinars mostly serve existing customers . New clients come from industry-specific shows with about 100 decision makers rather than 40,000-person conferences, and SRA accepts a high acquisition cost because CISO retention is high .
Accusatory ads draw the highest click rate. Ads telling CISOs they are doing something wrong get the most clicks, because they need everything perfectly guarded . CISOs are a very skeptical group, and Cicero calls that skepticism appropriate .
Marketing should be measured on signed revenue. Cicero's team tracks deals from an event through to signature, supports sellers and attributes revenue to marketing once a deal signs . Figuera says vanity metrics like views and clicks never became sales, and revenue attribution makes teams work more cohesively .
How a free workshop becomes a project
Get out the whiteboard and let the client describe their own environment and what they need .
Draw it into a graphic the prospect helped create, so the plan feels tailored to them .
Turn the drawing into proposals and send them over, which Cicero says converts well .
Free on-site engagements succeed often and surface additional scopes for new projects .
The accidental Japan business
SRA has a surprising number of customers in Japan, grown through word of mouth and tight Microsoft alignment rather than planning .
Figuera says Japanese culture values high-detail things that work, so their custom suggests the quality of SRA's work .
