What Motivates Security Minds to Buy
Findings in the “Business Opportunities in the Security Industry: New Paths to Success in a Changing Market” reveals the processes and psychology behind security equipment purchasing decisions.
End Users Like to ‘Kick the Tires’
Channel partners are not the only ones challenged to differentiate security products. Industry buyers are as well when evaluated for which kinds of supplier-provided information most motivates them. A list of 13 information forms were presented that commonly appear in ads, promotional materials or on supplier Web sites. The list included items like testimonials, product awards and unique product features. Respondents were asked to pick the information types that motivated them to buy from a company that provided it.
The top picked choice was “new products.” But after that, three of the four next most selected categories were comparative in nature: “unique product features,” “technical comparisons to competitors” and “value comparisons to competitors.” End users are indicating information that shows how products are different is among the most persuasive a supplier can provide.
Sometimes you hear “conventional wisdom” in sales and marketing that says you should never talk about your competition. But today’s security product buyer lives in a comparative world. When a product purchase begins, buyers go online where they can easily make side-by-side product comparisons. Just remember, before you can prove your product is better, you have to prove it is different.
Desire to Be Schooled By Suppliers
For channel partners training can be a big differentiator between product suppliers. When the impact of 10 categories of supplier-provided educational information was measured, including training, Webinars, whitepapers, etc., there was one standout for channel professionals: “installer or dealer training.” For dealers, this was the highest rated option, by far, with 73.7% saying that dealer training motivated them to buy from one supplier over another. This was also the second-most selected information category for systems integrators with 62.2%.
In follow-up interviews dealers indicated repeatedly that training simply saved them a lot of money. Every time a dealer makes a new hire or takes on a new product they need to train people. To fly people to a remote location or wait for a trainer to visit their facility, time and expense are lost. Suppliers that provide immediate online product training are not just offering useful information, they are providing a cost-saving service. Several dealers mentioned that the suppliers that provide this kind of training differentiate themselves against competitors.
A product that is not differentiated runs the risk of becoming a commodity. The message customers are sending is they don’t see big differences between security products but are motivated to understand them. Differentiating solutions to end users is the biggest marketing challenge facing manufacturers and their channel partners in today’s security industry.
Josh Gordon is President of the Josh Gordon Group. He can be reached at [email protected].
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