Ever nailed a pitch with an IT manager in one customer account, only to crash and burn with another, even though the businesses looked identical on paper?
More often than you may think, this can come down to a simple case of ‘same language, different dialect’ and in this post, I’ll explain why.
We’ve all been there; entering a pitch meeting confident that the prospect will jump at what’s on offer. Leaving dazed and confused; mulling over why your hot lead went cool in the space of an hour.
It’s often put down to the presentation or pricing, but what can be overlooked is how the personal expertise of an IT Manager can influence their take on your pitch.
Every IT manager has what we call a ‘home base’; the area of technology where they cut their teeth.
They all talk in the language of technology, but understanding their home base dialect can help you tune your approach to hit more of the right notes.
If your contact came up through infrastructure and data centers, then uptime, storage tiers, DR runbooks, and RTOs are their second language.
Maybe they’re a cloud specialist, fluent in cost governance and automation, but less interested in the finer points of file-level restore.
A background in network engineering background means segmentation, telemetry, and latency rule the day.
Their technical backgrounds will shape the way they filter information, where they may have blind spots and can even be the source of unconscious bias for or against what they hear during a sales pitch.
When you start talking about data protection, the home base biases can show up fast.
If you open with the wrong angle, you’re speaking a different dialect. They hear noise, not value.
So, what’s the fix?
Do your homework on your prospects, dig into their LinkedIn profiles for clues to their background and listen carefully in any pre-pitch conversation:
Once you know their lens, frame your pitch around what they care about first, then bridge to the broader data protection story. For example:
“You’ve already nailed your DR runbooks, so what we can help you do next is make that recovery auditable and immutable.”
or
“You’re optimising cost in your cloud environment beautifully; let’s make sure that same discipline applies to how your backup data is stored and protected.”
Understanding the mindset behind the job title can help you turn a first meeting into a long-term relationship, and this is something we’ve gone into across our Data Protection Playbook series.
Each playbook tracks how IT leaders’ perspectives shift as their organisations move from basic backup hygiene to orchestrated resilience.
What starts as “Can I restore?” becomes “Can I prove it?”, then “Can I automate it?”, and ultimately “Can I assure it across every workload, every cloud, every team?”
That evolution isn’t just technical, it’s behavioural, and it’s key to meeting every IT Manager where they are, at every stage of data protection maturity.
If you’re in a sales role where cybersecurity and continuity are part of the solution and service catalogue, I really do recommend you download the Data Protection Playbook series.
We’ve developed four covering each stage of the customer maturity lifecycle, and they’re all packed with actionable information, including persona-based conversation guides, practical sales plays and pitch summaries.
The first two are out now and you can link to where to find them below.
Happy hunting, and remember, we’re here to support you. Ask your Crayon account rep about a Data Protection Discovery Workshop. It’s a 30 minute intensive call with our in-house experts.
We’ll help you identify where there may be opportunities to position Data Protection solutions, and take you through how our through-partner services could be leveraged to accelerate deal-flow.
Guides and eBooks
What triggers an SMB customer to begin exploring their need for better Data Protection? The first of our four Data Protection Playbooks for partners breaks down how to position and win in the Pre-Adoption and Exploration stage.
Whitepapers
Data Protection is a must for all SMBs but how can partners align solution investment with critical business objectives? Our latest paper shows you how.
Insights
Insider risk is a subtle and continuous challenge for SMB customers. Turn it into a manageable and quantifiable aspect of their Data Protection strategy.
Blogs
From rethinking backup to governance frameworks and behavioural analytics, what's involved in building a complete Data Protection strategy for SMB customers?
Sales and Marketing
Business leaders don't live in the tools. They live in the outcomes. The metrics they care about most are not always limited to compliance and risk. So how do you connect data protection to the big-ticket objectives, when they're less obvious? Our in-house pre-sales expert, Michael Brooke explains.
Guides and eBooks
As SMBs mature in the Data Protection lifecycle, they need help to optimise spend, reduce the compliance burden and ensure results align to business objectives. The third installment of our Data Protection Playbook series provides practical guidance for partners on how to address emerging pressure and connect ongoing investment to measurable business value.
Training
Copilot Agents: what are they and how do they differ from AI assistants and chatbots? Our in-house Copilot expert Ksenia Turner explains the use cases and service opportunities for partners.
Blogs
Fragmented data protection systems and processes create compliance proof-gaps for SMB customers. Scott Hagenus, Director, Cybersecurity here at Crayon explains.
Sales and Marketing
Ever wonder why a pitch has some IT Managers leaning forward, while others glaze over? Michael Brooke, Cybersecurity Pre-Sales Lead offers some insight on how to tune your approach to chime with different technical mindsets.
Guides and eBooks
How can partners help their SMB customers to move from silos of security and continuity to a more cohesive, measurable and insurable data protection framework? The second edition in our Data Protection Playbook series maps out their journey, and yours.
Vendor Announcements
Copilot for Business has landed at Microsoft Ignite 2025, levelling the GenAI playing field for SMB customers. Learn all about it from our man on the ground, Andreas Bergman.
Press Release
Press Release
Blogs
As cybersecurity and continuity converge in platforms and in practice, partners need new playbooks to address modern Data Protection standards. Our in-house cybersecurity pre-sales lead, Michael Brooke explains why.
Insights
Data Protection priorities are shifting for SMBs. Ramp up your ability to respond with curated insights, articles and resources to help you guide every customer conversation with confidence.
Partner Spotlight
In this Partner Spotlight, Acceltech Managing Director Ivy Tarrobago shares how Crayon’s responsive support enhances client outcomes and business growth.
Press Release
Crayon has been recognised with a huge double win at the CRN Channel Asia awards ceremony.
Insights
All the latest insights, articles and resources on M365 Copilot, curated into one place.
Insights
SMB customers are storing greater volumes of sensitive data in more places than ever. Secure backup and recovery practices are essential to how they protect it.
Partner Spotlight
Bigfish Technology saved AU$20,000 on its annual Microsoft licensing after one call with Crayon and has since built a strong partnership that enabled Bigfish to get access to Crayon’s expertise and vendor ecosystem.
Insights
We explore the evolution of Microsoft's channel strategy over the past ten years, and what can be learned by viewing it through a Value Cycle lens.
Guides and eBooks
The Microsoft Fabric Partner Guide curates our recent articles, videos and resources to accelerate Crayon partner learning.
On Demand Webinars
Explore the business-critical priorities pushing SMBs to invest in cybersecurity and data privacy, with 76% rating it a top concern for 2025.
Guides and eBooks
Mission essentials for winning data protection business in education, healthcare, retail and manufacturing.
