How to Sell Your MSP’s Cyber Security Offering

Despite the mounting importance of cyber security today, many MSPs are facing a lot of indifference and push back from clients and prospects alike. So how do you sell your cyber security services effectively as an MSP? These tips can help. 

Avoid fear-mongering and link cyber security to commercial opportunities

A lot of MSPs are using scare tactics that are falling on deaf ears, dulled by the negativity and noise that they have become accustomed to hearing about cyber security.

It’s true that cyber security threats are a real risk and this does need to be talked about, but because sales and marketing are driven largely by emotional engagement, this needs to be balanced with positive and aspirational messaging. There’s a reason people are turning away from the news!

Aside from peace of mind, make a wider positive case. This can look at discussing:

• Access to better cyber insurance premiums and assured adherence to policies that guarantee payout even in the event of a data breach.
• Enhanced customer trust and the ability to gain certifiable social proof of your cyber security; for example, in the UK there is Cyber Essentials certification.
• More competitive in public and private contract bidding.
• Regulatory compliance and making it scalable and efficient.
• Positive case studies such as the difference cyber security made in preventing a threat from causing harm.

In this way, you position cyber security as both a critical lifeline and commercial advantage.

Package it appropriately for your target market

The way you structure and present your cyber security offering is also key. If you’re looking to provide cyber security solutions to smaller businesses, a full MXDR and SOC solution may not be a great fit in most cases.

Consider your target market’s size, buyer personas, and link cyber security to their wider needs such as the points further above.

Tell a story

Stories are the very fabric of meaning making and remain the best way of engaging and informing your audience at the same time.

Take the time to craft a narrative that fits your cyber security offering and consider the structure of what makes a good story as you do so:

• A context, climax and resolution – and don’t forget, we all like a good ending; we don’t like seeing the hero lose!
• Ups and downs – this is your chance to elicit surprise, curiosity, and emotional engagement
• That it’s relatable – a mistake some MSPs make is that they present case studies of what happened to a big corporate in another sector to an SMB audience
• Make it concrete and engaging – avoid excessive use of abstract words and overly professional language, this is your chance to captivate peoples’ imagination; let them step into the story!
• An element of conflict from multiple perspectives – it’s common to just point out what happened; try to tell the story from both sides, their motivations, thought processes, and so on

Talk about cyber security simply!

With the exception of an exclusive target audience of IT managers that are down with the lingo, it’s ultimately best to talk about what things do, rather than what they are. Consider, if your audience are SMBs, would they make more sense of the word ‘endpoints’, or ‘devices’?

You can use analogies and metaphors such as digital premises’ locks and doors, castles and moats, or immune systems and health vitals to draw parallels between cyber security with tangible examples people know!

Create and use your own case studies

If you don’t have case studies put together just yet, they can be a powerful way to bring the message home in a relatable way. Maybe a client can talk about the peace of mind they’re enjoying, or a time where their data backup and recovery solution saved the day, or even more critically, a time where a cyber threat was repelled successfully with your help.

Quotes and case studies can help your messaging to punch above its weight and help you to connect with your clients.

Secure your cyber security offering’s success

You can use these tips to revamp your sales and marketing messaging and materials to help you trigger some ‘a-ha!’ moments for your prospects. Cyber security is and will continue to get more important over time, so don’t let up!

Just like with interpersonal relationships, it’s a case of both what you’re saying and how you’re saying it that is the deciding factor. Need a hand with getting the signal across to your prospects? Wingman are always here to help.

You can book in a consultation with us or a website review, whichever can serve you best at the moment – and we’ll be glad to help you get from where you are, to where you want to be.