Trends in sales and customer relationship management have evolved rapidly over the past decade. The implementation of tools such as Salesforce, together with a deeper understanding of customer insights has powered a revolution in virtually every aspect of the outreach and sales process.
Here are some insights from one of NetMotion’s enterprise sales leads, Judd Kuypers, who recently changed from a regional role to a new position working with customers and prospects in the finance industry.
NetMotion’s approach to finance customers
In April 2021, NetMotion Software (now proudly part of Absolute Software) created a US finance team. This was first piloted in the UK, where a verticalized approach to sales in the public safety, finance and legal sectors had already shown significant traction.
As this program expanded to the US, Judd was selected to run point in enterprise finance sales. For years, NetMotion had enjoyed close ties with customers in the financial world, such as Lincoln International and HarborOne Bank. Now, with a dedicated US team, NetMotion would have more agility to respond to market demand, with dedicated services for prospective customers at a wide range of finance-related firms.
The mission
Despite occupying a unique industry space, the security and remote connectivity needs of finance firms are remarkably similar to those of other organizations. Because of this, Judd has been able to take his knowledge of the NetMotion platform and consult directly with IT professionals to learn their specific needs.
He also works closely with partners and resellers such as CDW and AT&T Mobility. Over the years, these partners have gained a deep understanding of the technology landscape and have built a portfolio of offerings that improve business processes for thousands of financial organizations; opening doors to a broad market that includes regional banks, credit unions, wealth advisors, and mortgage firms.
Leveraging advantages
In addition to its relationships with some of the most knowledgeable resellers in the US, Judd highlights NetMotion’s ability to leverage other significant advantages:
- Working with high-performing people who work tirelessly to uphold NetMotion’s culture of putting customers first, and ultimately ensuring success for those customers, employees, and shareholders.
- Selling innovative and reliable technology that provides a genuine, measurable ROI to customers. Having joined NetMotion as a renewals specialist in 2016, Judd notes NetMotion’s enviable position of maintaining 97% customer renewals year over year. Through countless interactions with customers, Judd says that he repeatedly heard some variation of the three-word phrase, “it just works.”
- Having been in a regional sales role, Judd has an established track record of working and partnering with all manner of finance firms, creating strong use cases for their adoption of the NetMotion platform. Today, that user base includes regional banks, credit unions, wealth managers, home mortgage lenders, and many more.
The challenge
One of the main challenges for any salesperson is the complexity of technology today. Security offerings, in particular, need to be bullet-proof while also being cross platform, user friendly and easy to manage. This is no easy feat.
In the finance sector, Judd jokes that he sometimes feels like a supermodel who cannot turn left (yes, that’s a Zoolander reference). Explaining the benefits of a platform like NetMotion in a short, succinct way can be very difficult, especially when every customer prioritizes different needs and is looking for particular features.
“Finance IT pros want solutions to problems that NetMotion solves, but they often have a very narrow understanding of our capabilities. Educating them about everything that NetMotion can do is especially hard when the platform doesn’t fit neatly into the typical industry categories they may know. It’s a truly unique offering.”
Judd Kuypers, enterprise sales lead
The salesperson’s view
According to Judd, trying to communicate the NetMotion platform’s value by fitting it into those traditional industry categories is a daunting task. At various times he has heard customers try to categorize NetMotion as many things, including a VPN, a ZTNA tool, an SDP offering, part of a SASE framework, an MDM or UEM, a CASB tool, a NAC, a DEM solution for employee experience monitoring, a security suite, a remote access suite, an operational intelligence suite, and more.
“NetMotion’s platform is so packed with features that when prospects take the time to evaluate it, they are genuinely surprised by all of the functionality,” said Judd. “Even I am still learning about the product. Every two weeks I join an internal call led by our sales engineering manager, Mike. Without fail I hear at least one new thing about the product that I hadn’t known, and I’ve been with NetMotion for over five years. The robust feature set comes from two decades of innovation, customer feedback, and further innovation, which goes part of the way to explaining how the platform outgrew its industry categories.
Clinching the deal
On the sales front, Judd knows that he has a mission. “Finance IT professionals who join a 30-minute overview tend to request an hour-long technical demo, and once they’ve seen a demo they tend to start a free trial. The software-only solution can be installed and turned on in just one hour over a phone call. Then, of those who start a free trial, around 90% end up partnering with us, and of those who partner with us 97% renew every year. That means, if I can secure the right people during that first 30-minute overview, my mission is likely to succeed. Again, the challenge is finding the customer’s pain points and helping them understand how the platform can help them.”
He continues, “I’ve found that the best way to help customers is to know the context of their situation. If I am consulting with a finance IT pro, I ask specific questions to learn the challenges they are facing, and discuss ways that the NetMotion platform can help. This is the most challenging part of my job, but well worth it when I finally see a light bulb moment on the faces of prospective customers and partners during the demo, trial or deployment phases. Regardless of the organization or the environment, there is usually a NetMotion story to address and improve it. All I need is 30 minutes with the right people.”
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