Most sales trainers have never sold cybersecurity software or services. They will teach your team the same course they taught a construction business on a Monday and a recruitment company on a Wednesday, with maybe the word "ransomware" sprinkled in occasionally.
I am ACTUALLY different. I sold cybersecurity for twelve years. I started as an SDR at NCC Group, booking 20 meetings per month, doing 50 calls per day, every single working day, for three years. I then became an AE at NCC Group, before moving to SecureWorks. I was selling Penetration Testing, Vulnerability Scanning, Managed Detection & Response, Extended Detection & Response, Incident Response, Compromise Assessments, to name just a few. Then I joined ThreatSpike, a start up of 20 staff. In two years I doubled ARR twice, helped the company achieve Series A funding, all while hiring young sales people and training them. No one I hired had experience as an AE. No one. My first hire did £2M in her first year. Every framework in this training was built based on real security deals, sold to real CISOs, and then used to train real people whose targets depended on it.
trained by someone whose targets depended on it
Your buyers are professional sceptics. You know this. They sit through so much nonsense every single week, they're hammered by sales people calling them with the same nonsense pitches. You know that your company has real value to offer and yet they're struggling to convey that value to the prospect. Some generic sales trainer coming in telling them how to handle objections, how to pitch and how to use an "assumptive close" is not what your team needs and you know this.
The training I deliver is based on 12 years of online and face to face meetings with buyers. Not adapted for cybersecurity, my training was designed based on this very sector.
"He broke down every single complex part of sales into simple frameworks and methodologies... The result of that? Doubling ARR year on year with limited resources."
what your team will learn
Discovery that shapes how your team pitches. No more feature dumps, no more hoping something sticks.
Qualification that kills wishful thinking. A two page framework, spread across A4, which examines deal drivers, gives you ranked vendor selection criteria, and the question that exposes a fake deal in one sentence. This will give you (I promise you) a more accurate forecast. Every single month.
Next step setting that keeps long deal cycles alive.
They won't just be selling based on fear, uncertainty and doubt. Buyers are so past that. Buyers will start telling your team that they sell differently, that they have a level of trust with them, that your company is a breath of fresh air.
Proposals your champion can actually work with when they are doing the real selling for you, to the economic buyer.
"Under his guidance, I grew from an SDR focused solely on outreach into an AE capable of consistently closing business across multiple industries."
how it works
I spend time looking at your actual pipeline, your actual proposition and figuring out how I personally would sell it. Then, based on the characteristics of the team you have at your disposal, I would give each of them a way of selling it based on their skillset. Delivered in person across the UK (preferably) but if not, remote. For teams from as small as two to as big as 50. Structured as an initial intensive session plus follow up sessions spaced out so the habits actually stick. People will have questions about it. I am not one of these people who charges you more for that. I'm ALWAYS available on WhatsApp or email to answer those questions.
is this for you
You're a Head of Sales at a cybersecurity company. You're a founder of a cybersecurity company and you know your sales team can do more. You're an MSP who are looking to improve cybersecurity sales. You keep finding that the product is amazing, but the revenue isn't. The forecast is unreliable.
If you are a founder still doing the selling yourself with no team yet, you want a different page: sales for cybersecurity founders. Same method, earlier stage.
the method is public
I publish the entire methodology free on this site, chapter by chapter. Read it before you spend a pound with me. If your team could implement it alone, brilliant, you have saved the fee. Most teams read it, nod, and carry on as before. The training exists to close the gap between reading and doing.
frequently asked questions
Who delivers the training?
James Irving, founder of Emotive JLI. Twelve years selling cybersecurity: three years as an SDR at NCC Group doing 50 calls a day, then an AE at NCC Group and SecureWorks, then first commercial hire at ThreatSpike, where he built the sales function from nothing and took it to £10M, doubling ARR twice in two years and training every salesperson he hired from scratch.
How is this different from generic sales training?
It was built selling cybersecurity, not adapted to it afterwards. Most trainers deliver the same course to a construction firm on Monday and a recruitment agency on Wednesday. This training comes from real security deals, penetration testing, MDR, incident response, sold to real CISOs, then used to train salespeople whose targets depended on it.
Do you train channel and MSP sales teams?
Yes. MSPs looking to improve cybersecurity sales are a core audience, and the qualification and discovery frameworks were used with reseller and MSP motions at ThreatSpike.
Where do you deliver it?
Anywhere in the UK in person, which is the preference, or remote. Based in Manchester.
What size of team does this suit?
Teams from two to fifty. If you are a founder still doing the selling yourself with no team yet, the founder programme is the better fit.
What happens between sessions?
The training is structured as an initial intensive session plus follow-ups spaced out so the habits actually stick. Between sessions your team can ask questions on WhatsApp or email at no extra charge.
Can I see the method before paying for anything?
Yes. The entire methodology is published free on this site, chapter by chapter. Read it first. If your team can implement it alone, you have saved the fee. The training exists to close the gap between reading and doing.
James Irving is the founder of Emotive JLI, a sales consultancy for technical founders. He learnt to sell the old school way: 50 cold calls per day in a Manchester boiler room, then enterprise cybersecurity, then ThreatSpike, where he joined as the first commercial person and left with a £10M sales engine. Tell him what you've built or watch the stories.