guides4 in this area

getting the meeting.

Most of a security buying decision happens before anyone fills in a form, and much of the rest happens inside a partner's relationship with the customer. These guides cover the parts of getting a meeting you can build for: getting on the shortlist, answering fast, and campaigns partners will send under their own name.

01before the first form1 guide
02when someone asks for a demo1 guide
03outbound and partner campaigns3 guides
04measuring what the funnel produces1 guide

The reasoning behind this order: trust transfer, the thesis behind the site.

read them in this order.

before the first form

01the day-one shortlist: most security demand is decided before the first formBy the time a security buyer fills in your demo form, the list of vendors they will consider is usually already written. A funnel that only counts form fills measures the end of the decision. How to build for the part you cannot see.5 min

when someone asks for a demo

02the first hour after a demo requestA demo request is the rarest thing a security funnel produces, and the one most often left waiting. What the research on response time shows, what it does not, and a routing setup that works across European time zones, languages and partners.4 min

outbound and partner campaigns

measuring what the funnel produces

06your funnel is someone else's pipeline reviewEvery lead a security vendor's marketing produces is judged later, in a pipeline review run by a seller, a partner or a distributor. A funnel built for MQL volume fails that review. What the reviewers need, and how to redesign the funnel backwards from them.8 min

questions these guides answer.

What is the day-one shortlist?

The list of vendors a buyer has in mind when a purchase starts, before any research or contact with sellers. 6sense's 2025 buyer experience report, a vendor survey of about 4,000 B2B buyers, found that the vendor that won was on that list 95% of the time.

More in the day-one shortlist: most security demand is decided before the first form

How fast should sales respond to an inbound demo request?

Within the hour, during working hours. In James Oldroyd, Kristina McElheran and David Elkington's analysis for Harvard Business Review (2011), firms that contacted a lead within an hour were nearly seven times more likely to qualify it than firms that waited one more hour, and over 60 times more likely than firms that waited 24 hours or longer.

More in the first hour after a demo request

Is B2B cold email legal in the EU?

It depends on the country. The ePrivacy Directive (2002/58/EC) requires member states to make email marketing to individuals subject to prior consent and leaves the protection of businesses to each of them. Some countries allow B2B email without prior consent if it is relevant to the recipient's role and easy to refuse; others, including Germany and Poland, require consent first.

More in cold email in Europe is a country-by-country question

Why do MQL targets work badly for security vendors?

Security purchases involve large buying groups, shortlists formed before the first form fill, and accounts that partners already own. A score built on one person's downloads says little about any of that. Forrester wrote in 2023 that its research showed fewer than 1% of leads convert to closed deals, and that tying a deal to a single MQL makes no sense because several leads feed one opportunity.

More in your funnel is someone else's pipeline review

What is through-partner marketing?

Marketing the vendor produces that runs under the partner's brand or a co-brand, to the partner's own audience, often executed by the vendor, the distributor or an agency. It exists because most partners lack the capacity to market a new line themselves.

More in content your channel partners will actually send