If you're describing the problem to prospective customers, then you’ve got a bigger problem: You’re not targeting the right market.
A few years ago I helped engineer at turnaround at a struggling security-software startup. They had developed a very effective method to monitor Web-applications and detect suspicious user behavior indicative of unauthorized access and malicious conduct. But the market was, “Any company with web-access to confidential information,” and the first 12 of 30 sales presentation slides described the problem, as did the website and literature.
I quickly met with analysts and determined that recent regulations required financial institutions and their service providers to protect confidential customer information from unauthorized access. In addition, the media was highlighting high-profile data security breaches at financial institutions involving online fraud and identity theft. I proposed a marketing strategy that targeted executives with responsibility for protecting customer financial and identity data from fraudulent online access and theft.
Soon after, we made a presentation to a top U.S. bank. 4 slides in, one of the prospective customers said, “You don’t need to tell us about the problem. We understand that. Show us the solution!” The sales representative quickly jumped forward to slide 13. A few days later, the same thing occurred during a presentation to a major online brokerage. After that, sales removed the first 12 slides from the presentation.
Over the next few months, all marketing communications was refocused on online fraud and identity theft solutions for financial institutions, with a value proposition of information security, compliance and risk management. Sales took off, and the company executed its goal of a successful exit.
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