9 Nov · 23 min

Get Out the Whiteboard: How Free Workshops Turn Into New Projects | Joe Cicero

Joe Cicero (https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephcicero/), Chief Marketing Officer at Security Risk Advisors (https://sra.io) (SRA), joins Marketers of Technology to explain how a cybersecurity professional-services firm earns trust from skeptical CISOs. A former classroom teacher and Microsoft security marketer, Joe shares why happy clients drive about half of SRA's growth, how free tools and workshops lower the pressure to buy, how SRA's Microsoft partnership shortens the path to transaction, and why he moved his team from tracking impressions to tracking revenue all the way through a signed deal. Topics Discussed: - Joe's path from classroom teacher in Rochester to education technology, Microsoft Intune and Defender Experts, and then SRA - What SRA does: red teaming, blue teaming and a managed security operations service line called Scalar - Why professional services are harder to market than a product you can sell off a shelf - Building trust when sharing your problems means sharing your vulnerabilities - Why about half of growth comes from happy clients and CISOs who move companies - Leading with thought leadership, webinars, a blog and open-source and free platform tools - Letting relationships take as long as they need, including very long cycles with large enterprises - A global footprint, including an unexpected Japanese customer base that surfaced when SRA connected its CRM to AI - How the Microsoft partnership works: co-selling, co-marketing, brand guidelines and co-investment dollars - Why in-person industry events work best for skeptical CISOs - Ads that tell people they're doing it wrong, and free workshops that lead to new scopes - Co-creating a proposal on a whiteboard with the prospect - Moving the team to revenue metrics with attribution through Power BI GTM & Technology Adoption Lessons: - Happy clients are the number one growth channel. Joe credits about half of SRA's growth to referrals, in part because CISOs change companies and call the vendors that served them well. In an AI-noisy market, that proof of real results matters more than looking big. - Give away the kick-the-tires experience. Webinars, blogs, open-source work and free platform tools let buyers test SRA at zero dollars and without a high-pressure close. - Let long relationships develop. For Fortune 100 and 50 buyers, SRA is comfortable with relationships that take years. Once a client is transacting and delighted, growing the account is almost a given. - Use a partner as an endorsement. Microsoft's co-sell motion, weekly pipeline calls and co-investment dollars give SRA credibility and shorten the path to a first engagement. - Go where the right 100 decision makers are. For new clients, industry-specific trade shows beat massive conferences. Three days of coffee, booth visits and presentations start a conversation that develops over months. - Tell the CISO they might be doing it wrong. Ads like your SIEM is costing you more than it should consistently draw the highest click rate, which Joe links to how much CISOs worry about missing something. - Run free workshops, then get out the whiteboard. On-site free engagements almost always lead to additional scopes, especially when the team draws the client's plan with them and turns it into a co-created proposal. - Track marketing through the signed deal. Joe's team follows event-sourced deals through closing, checks in with sellers, keeps CRM updated for Power BI attribution and celebrates the same wins as sales. // Sponsors: Front Lines — Silicon Valley's leading Podcast Production Studio. We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. Mention you are a listener and get a 10% discount. www.FrontLines.io/Podcast-as-a-Service