Proposals

S4E provides partners with proposal templates, ROI calculators, and deal-structuring guidance to accelerate the sales process and present professional, persuasive proposals to prospects.

Proposal Templates

Available Templates

The following proposal templates are available for download in the Partner Portal under Sales > Templates:

Template	Description	Best For
Standard Security Operations Proposal	General-purpose proposal for Continuous AI-Based Security Operations services.	Most prospects.
Compliance-Focused Proposal	Emphasizes compliance mapping, audit readiness, and regulatory alignment.	Regulated industries.
SMB Security Package	Simplified proposal for small businesses with bundled pricing.	SMB prospects.
Enterprise Managed Service	Comprehensive proposal for large organizations with custom SLAs and dedicated support.	Enterprise prospects.
M&A Due Diligence	Scoped engagement proposal for pre-acquisition security assessments.	PE firms, corporate M&A.
PTaaS Proposal	Combines continuous scanning with periodic manual penetration testing.	Mature security programs.

Template Structure

Each template follows a consistent structure:

Cover page -- partner branding, prospect name, date.
Executive summary -- one-page overview of the prospect's challenges and the proposed solution.
Current state assessment -- description of the prospect's security challenges based on discovery conversations.
Proposed solution -- detailed description of the S4E-powered service, including scope, methodology, and deliverables.
Service levels -- response times, resolution targets, reporting frequency, and escalation procedures.
Technology overview -- brief description of the S4E platform capabilities relevant to the proposal.
Pricing and licensing -- selected pricing model, term, and payment schedule.
ROI justification -- quantified value and cost comparison (see ROI Calculator below).
Implementation timeline -- onboarding milestones and go-live date.
Terms and conditions -- standard engagement terms with placeholders for partner-specific clauses.
Appendices -- technical datasheets, compliance framework coverage, case studies.

Customization

Templates are provided in editable formats (DOCX and Google Docs). Customize the content to reflect your prospect's specific environment, challenges, and priorities. Generic proposals are significantly less effective than tailored ones.

ROI Calculator

The S4E ROI Calculator helps partners quantify the financial value of the proposed service, making the business case concrete for decision-makers.

Accessing the Calculator

Navigate to Sales > ROI Calculator in the Partner Portal.
Select the calculator type:
- Cost Avoidance -- estimates savings from preventing security incidents.
- Operational Efficiency -- estimates labor savings from automation.
- Compliance Cost -- estimates reduction in compliance preparation costs.

Cost Avoidance Calculator

This calculator estimates the ROI based on the expected reduction in security incident costs.

Input fields:

Field	Description
Industry	Prospect's industry (affects average breach cost).
Company size	Number of employees (affects likelihood and impact estimates).
Annual revenue	Used for proportional impact calculations.
Current security posture	Self-assessed or estimated maturity level.
Number of external assets	Domains, applications, APIs exposed to the internet.

Output:

Metric	Description
Estimated annual breach risk cost	Expected loss based on industry breach probability and average cost.
Risk reduction with S4E	Estimated percentage reduction in breach likelihood.
Annual avoided cost	Breach risk cost multiplied by risk reduction percentage.
Service cost	Annual cost of the proposed S4E service.
Net ROI	Avoided cost minus service cost, expressed as a percentage.

Operational Efficiency Calculator

Input fields:

Field	Description
Hours per week on manual scanning	Current effort spent on vulnerability scanning.
Hours per week on report preparation	Current effort spent on creating security reports.
Hours per week on finding triage	Current effort spent on triaging and prioritizing findings.
Fully loaded analyst hourly cost	Blended cost of analyst labor including overhead.

Output:

Metric	Description
Annual labor cost (current)	Total annual cost of manual security operations.
Estimated automation savings	Percentage of labor automated by S4E.
Annual labor savings	Dollar value of automated labor.
Service cost	Annual cost of the proposed S4E service.
Net savings	Labor savings minus service cost.

Conservative estimates

The ROI calculator uses conservative industry benchmarks by default. You can adjust the assumptions to match the prospect's specific situation. Document any changes for transparency.

Deal Structuring Guidance

Pricing Models for Proposals

Model	When to Propose	Proposal Tip
Per-Asset	Prospect has a well-defined asset inventory.	Quote specific asset tiers based on the prospect's known asset count.
Per-Scan	Prospect needs periodic assessments, not continuous monitoring.	Position as cost-effective for defined-scope engagements.
Unlimited	Prospect wants comprehensive coverage without usage concerns.	Emphasize the simplicity of flat-rate budgeting.

Term Length

Term	Discount	Recommendation
Monthly	None	Offer for prospects who need to pilot the service before committing.
Annual	10%	Recommended default; balances commitment with flexibility.
Multi-year (2--3 years)	15--20%	Offer for strategic accounts; lock in revenue and reduce churn.

Bundling Options

Consider bundling additional partner services with S4E to increase deal value and differentiation:

Remediation support -- partner analysts provide hands-on remediation assistance.
Quarterly pen tests -- manual penetration testing on top of continuous scanning.
Security awareness training -- complement technical scanning with human-layer training.
Compliance advisory -- help the customer achieve and maintain specific certifications.
Incident response retainer -- standby IR support paired with proactive exposure management.

Proposal Workflow

Recommended Sales Process

Discovery -- conduct a discovery call to understand the prospect's environment, challenges, budget, and decision-making process.
Demo -- deliver a tailored demo using the S4E demo environment (see Pitch Materials).
Scoping -- determine the appropriate license model, asset count, and service level.
Proposal -- generate the proposal using the appropriate template with ROI calculator output.
Review -- walk the prospect through the proposal in a live meeting; do not send without discussion.
Negotiation -- adjust terms, pricing, and scope as needed within margin guidelines.
Close -- execute the agreement and begin onboarding.

Minimum resale price

Ensure that the proposed pricing meets or exceeds the minimum resale price (MRP) defined by S4E. Proposals below MRP require pre-approval from your Partner Success Manager. See Pricing for details.

Submitting a Deal Registration

To protect your pipeline and receive additional support:

Navigate to Sales > Deal Registration in the Partner Portal.
Enter the prospect's company name, contact, estimated deal size, and expected close date.
Submit the registration.
S4E confirms the registration within 2 business days.
Registered deals receive price protection and priority support from the S4E partner team.

Deal registration benefits

Registered deals are protected for 90 days (renewable). If another partner attempts to register the same prospect, the first-to-register partner retains priority.

Resources Checklist

Before submitting a proposal, ensure you have:

[ ] Completed discovery and documented the prospect's requirements.
[ ] Selected the appropriate proposal template and customized it.
[ ] Run the ROI calculator with prospect-specific inputs.
[ ] Verified that pricing meets MRP guidelines.
[ ] Included relevant case studies and compliance framework coverage.
[ ] Registered the deal in the Partner Portal.
[ ] Scheduled a proposal walkthrough meeting with the prospect.