How do cybersecurity companies sell through MSPs and partners?
Partners can multiply your reach. Most partner programs fail because the partner has no reason or no time to sell.
- Should we sell through MSPs?
- How do we get partners to actually sell?
- What do partners need from us?
Pick a small number of partners whose clients need what you sell and who lack the skill to deliver it, such as MSPs without pen testing or a 24/7 SOC. Make it easy to resell: clear pricing and margin, white-label options, sales materials, deal registration and fast technical support. Automate partner updates and lead sharing so the relationship doesn't depend on one person remembering.
Choose partners carefully
Ten active partners beat a hundred inactive ones. Good partners already have trust with your target buyers and a gap your service fills. Check their client base, their sales capacity and whether they compete with you.
Make it easy to sell
- A partner price list with clear margin.
- White-label or co-branded reports and proposals.
- A short partner sales kit: one-pager, talk track and objection answers.
- Deal registration so partners don't fight each other or you.
Where automation helps
A partner portal or shared CRM view, automatic deal registration, monthly partner updates and lead-routing rules keep partners engaged without constant manual work. Connecting systems matters if partners work in their own PSA tools.
How we look at it at ShoutEx
We help with partner selection, the sales kit and the automation behind it. Our guide on partners and marketplaces covers program design.
- Signing every partner who asks.
- No margin or unclear pricing.
- Channel conflict with your direct sales.
- No support when partners have a deal.
- A short list of active partners.
- Clear pricing, margin and deal registration.
- A ready-to-use sales kit.
- Automated updates and lead routing.
What buyers and practitioners say
Here is what MSPs and practitioners say.
MSP owners discuss which security vendors and providers they partner with. Margin, support and not being bypassed matter most.
Browse the threads →Practitioners discuss MSSP partnerships and the quality concerns of white-labelled services.
Browse the threads →Buyers increasingly research without vendors, which makes trusted advisors such as MSPs an important channel.
Read Gartner's research →Community summaries describe recurring themes in public threads, not individual posts. Vendor pages describe vendor claims, so test them on your own calls.
Read next
Go deeper in the ShoutEx guides, or check the sources behind this answer.
We'll help you choose partners, build the kit and automate the program.
Book a call →Follow-up questions
Should we white-label our service?
If your partners' clients expect one provider, yes. Protect quality with clear service levels.
How do we avoid channel conflict?
Use deal registration and clear rules on who owns which accounts.
Do marketplaces like AWS help?
For product vendors selling to cloud buyers, they can. Services firms usually gain more from MSP partners.