How do I pass a security questionnaire?
Short answer
Get SOC 2 Type 1 (unlocks ~70% of questionnaire answers). Publish a public Trust page linking your SOC 2 report + Privacy Policy + DPA. Use a questionnaire-automation tool (Vanta AI Questionnaire, SafeBase, Conveyor). Budget 4-8 hours per questionnaire; reuse answers across buyers.
Enterprise security questionnaires average 150-400 questions. The questions are roughly 90% the same across buyers; 10% are custom. Mature sellers reuse answers efficiently.
The 4-step flow:
- **Pre-work (once)**
- SOC 2 Type 1 or Type 2 (answers ~70% of questions implicitly)
- Privacy Policy + DPA + security.txt published
- Published sub-processor list
- Named Security Officer / DPO
- **Answer bank (once, reuse forever)**
- Build a master document with answers to the 200 most common questions
- Tools: Vanta's AI Questionnaire answers from your evidence; SafeBase; Conveyor
- Time: 20-40 hours to build; 4-8 hours per new questionnaire after
- **Buyer-specific customization**
- Read the buyer's specific concerns (size of deal, their industry, their compliance obligations)
- Customize the 10% of questions that are buyer-specific
- **Publish a Trust page**
- public URL listing SOC 2 status, ISO, DPA, Privacy Policy, sub-processors
- Reduces inbound questionnaire volume by 30-40%
If you're using Securie, much of this evidence chain is already generated — link it from your Trust page.