From Nice-to-Have to Need-to-Have: 3 Strategies to Make Your SaaS Solution Essential

Let’s talk about the SaaS-ification of everything. In this AI gold rush, traditional services are transforming into slick subscription products faster than you can say “monthly recurring revenue.” Services I paid astronomical consulting fees for at my last startup? Now they’re neat little SaaS packages at a fraction of the cost. IP protection? There’s an app for that. Legal compliance? Subscribe away. Cybersecurity? Pick your pricing tier.

The challenge is selling solutions nobody thinks they need — until they desperately do. These "unsexy" services often make CFOs’ eyes glaze over faster than a Monday morning budget meeting. But what if we could reframe the narrative? Remember when in-house meditation rooms seemed absurd? Now, mindfulness programs are corporate bragging rights. The question is: How do we make cybersecurity the next corporate wellness trend?

The Wellness Parallel

Workplace wellness has gone from a “cute perk” to a “competitive necessity.” Ten years ago, offering mental health support was revolutionary. Today? Good luck recruiting top talent without it. The secret wasn’t in the service itself — it was in the storytelling. Companies didn’t just add wellness programs; they wove them into their identity.

The Psychology Flip

Wellness programs sell hope and optimization. Protection and prevention services? They’ve historically leaned on fear. Big mistake. Nobody wants to be the executive who bought insurance they "didn’t need." But being the visionary who redefined company culture? That’s LinkedIn gold.

The New Playbook

1. Stop Selling Fear, Start Selling Excellence

Don’t say: “60% of companies face ransomware attacks.”
Say: “Join the top 10% of companies leading in digital resilience.”

2. Make It Visible

• Create shareable security scores (like ESG ratings everyone loves to flaunt).

• Turn protection into a status symbol.

• Make preventive measures as Instagram-worthy as your office ping pong table.

3. Shift from Cost to Culture

Frame security tools as part of your company’s DNA. It’s not expense management — it’s cultural excellence.

The Money Truth

Here’s what nobody tells you: Companies will spend $100K on office snacks but balk at spending half that on Patent protection or Cybersecurity. Why? Because nobody posts about their firewall on social media.

Your mission? Make them want to.

The companies winning this game aren’t selling better features — they’re selling better stories. They’re turning boring dashboards into badges of honor and compliance reports into competitive advantages.

Why Humans Are Hilariously Predictable

Here’s the thing about humans (and yes, even your C-suite is human): We’re hilariously, predictably irrational when it comes to risk. Enter our two cognitive companions:

1. Optimism Bias

"Bad stuff happens to other companies."
I’ve heard it all: “We’re too small for IP theft,” “Legal compliance can wait,” “Hackers don’t care about our data.”
Narrator: They were wrong.

2. Normative Social Influence

"But everyone else is doing yoga at work!"
Remember when having a Chief Wellness Officer sounded like peak Silicon Valley nonsense? Now you can’t throw a kombucha bottle without hitting one. Why? Because humans are essentially sophisticated sheep in business casual.

Turning Nice-to-Have into Need-to-Have

Every "must-have" service started as a "nice-to-have." 

Your job isn’t to convince them they need it — it’s to make them want to be the kind of company that has it.

When I ran MotivBase, one of our products was a tracking solution that alerted companies when a consumer trend was evolving in a way that could hurt their business. It was essentially an insurance policy against growth disruption, activated only once or twice a year. Selling that service wasn’t about scaring organizations into action. It was about empowering them to stay ahead of competitors, leverage shifts faster, and ensure their products evolved with the market. It wasn’t a one-and-done initiative. It kept them connected to the human reality on the ground.

So ask yourself: How do you make your SaaS solution part of their company’s DNA? How do you make it something they brag about? And most importantly, how do you make them want to be the kind of company that has it?

Keep Reading