If you’re an MSP or IT services business trying to sell cybersecurity, you already know the struggle. You’ve probably tried pitching cyber assessments, running security-themed events, maybe even paid for ads promoting a cybersecurity webinar. And the response? Crickets. Or worse, you’re paying $44 per registration and still can’t fill a room. You’re not alone. Nine out of ten IT businesses I speak with got their existing clients through referrals, word of mouth, and relationships — not through lead gen campaigns about cybersecurity.
In this post, I’m going to show you exactly what I’m doing with my clients — real-world examples — to sell cybersecurity services without leading with cybersecurity. This is part of the Power Audience System that we’ve developed at IT Rockstars, specifically for MSPs looking to generate more leads and grow. I’ll walk you through the strategy I use to help MSPs get in front of 20 to 50 local business owners every single month, and how a concept I call the “Trojan Horse” (a term I’ve borrowed from my peer Paul Lloyd) makes the whole sales process work.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
1. How I help my clients get in front of more businesses every single month — practical, real-world examples of what’s working right now.
2. What’s a hot topic that relates to your services? — because leading with cybersecurity is killing your conversions (and I’ve got hard facts to prove it).
3. What you actually sell — the Trojan Horse approach that gets you through the door and into a real conversation about managed IT and cybersecurity services.
1. How I Get My Clients in Front of More Businesses
I’ve been doing MSP marketing — managed IT service providers — for eight years at IT Rockstars. I’ve tried everything under the sun. Search engine optimisation. Video marketing. Content marketing. Account-based marketing. Cold emails. You name it, I’ve tried it. And to an extent, all of these do work. Some of them work really well at certain points in history. All of these learnings have gone into building the Power Audience System — a proven framework we use with our MSP clients to generate leads and grow.
Personal example: when I first started IT Rockstars, I was going live on Facebook and LinkedIn every single day with a video. I wrote a book about it — Video Marketing for MSPs — and I grew my business. I had new customers every single day just because hardly anyone else was doing video.
Fast forward to now. Everyone’s doing video. It doesn’t work the same way anymore.
So what is working?
How can you get in front of local businesses quickly, easily, without a lot of spend — and without having to knock on doors, pick up phones, or blast tons of emails?
Here’s a question for you: how have you got your existing clients today? Nine out of ten IT businesses and MSPs that I speak with — it’s usually through referrals, word of mouth, and relationships. People they already know.
You don’t need more leads. You need more relationships.
The big question is: how do you actually scale the relationship-making process to get in front of those businesses in the first place?
What I’ve learned over these eight years — and what forms the backbone of the Power Audience System — is that webinars and in-person events are the best way to start a relationship with your local marketplace.
I love webinars because I can literally click a couple of buttons, turn up for 20 to 30 minutes every single month, and be in front of 50 business owners on my screen — and pitch my services.
The Big Problem with Webinars
There’s a big problem with webinars though. If you’ve run them, you might already know.
The first problem is registration — getting people to actually sign up. The second problem is attendance — getting them to actually show up. And the third problem is what do you actually sell them once they’re there?
Let me give you a real example. I worked with a client called George. He wanted to run a cybersecurity webinar. We used Meta ads, which usually work really well. But we had a massive problem: we only got about 13 people to register, and we were paying $44 per registration.
I knew something was wrong. That client ended up leaving. It was a hard lesson.
And just a couple of weeks ago, I was speaking with a peer going through the exact same thing — running a cybersecurity webinar for their client, paying around $200, and getting just one lead.
The problem is the topic.
2. Pick a Hot Topic (Not Cybersecurity)
I cast my mind back to 2012. I was running events about cybersecurity when I did sales for an MSP. I remember specifically going to an event in Inverness, Scotland, and the police were there. I was talking about cybersecurity back then — over 15 years ago.
The topic of cybersecurity has been done to death.
I didn’t fully understand this until I started running webinars with different topics. When I started talking about hot topics — things that are on the tip of business owners’ tongues, things everyone’s buzzing about — the results changed dramatically.
The big one right now is AI. When I ran AI webinars, I was getting leads for $5 to $10 each. That’s a quarter of the cost of those cybersecurity webinars.
The lesson: if you’re going to use webinars to get in front of prospects, you need a topic people actually want to register for and attend. Cybersecurity might not seem boring to you, but it’s boring to your marketplace.
The solution is to wrap your cybersecurity service in a hot topic. The packaging has to be something else. It’s that old saying: show them what they want, but give them what they need.
Package your webinar or event around a hot topic, and let it lead naturally into the cybersecurity conversation. There’s a natural transition from topics like AI and compliance straight into cybersecurity. That’s the bridge.
3. What You Actually Sell: The Trojan Horse
Now, the problem we’ve got when it comes to selling cybersecurity or managed IT services is what I call the “girl at the bar” analogy.
You can’t just be in a webinar or an event and say, “Hey, buy my IT services. Sign me up for a 36-month contract for IT support and managed services.” It’s not going to happen. You can’t just walk up to the girl at the bar and ask her to marry you.
So how do we get around this?
Enter the Trojan Horse.
The Trojan Horse is a small piece of project work that leads to a natural conversation about managed IT services or cybersecurity. It’s the missing piece from your sales and marketing pipeline.
Don’t Sell in the Webinar
In the webinar itself, I actually don’t suggest you sell anything. The best webinars I’ve run here at IT Rockstars — I just put a slide on the screen that says “Continue the conversation one-on-one with me” with a QR code to my Calendly. That’s it.
The point of that continued conversation is twofold. First, you’re building the relationship — that’s the foundation of everything. Second, it’s your discovery call. This is where you get to identify what the pain points are in the business.
Those pain points might not be cybersecurity related. They might not have anything to do with managed IT services. But there’s probably a technology solution out there for a small piece of project work that’s going to help that client.
Your job in this conversation is to build the relationship and discover what’s keeping them up at night.
Overdeliver on the First Project
When you land that small piece of project work, you overperform. You overdeliver. This does two things: it makes the client go “Wow” and it builds trust.
That trust is what naturally leads to the conversation around their managed IT services and their cybersecurity. It puts you in the position to have that conversation. Going back to the girl at the bar — you’re not going to have the conversation about the 36-month contract on the first date.
That one piece of project work is your Trojan Horse. It’s your entry point. That’s what you should be doing.
The Funnel Is Simple
This is exactly how I sell cybersecurity services and managed IT services, and how I help my clients do the same through the Power Audience System at IT Rockstars. The funnel is simple:
Step 1: Get in front of 20 to 30 local businesses every single month using webinars or in-person events. That part is easy when you know how.
Step 2: Pick a hot topic that your marketplace actually cares about. This is the hard bit — figuring out the topic that’s going to work and how it relates back to the cybersecurity conversation you need to have.
Step 3: Use the discovery call to build the relationship, uncover pain points, and land a small piece of project work — your Trojan Horse.
Step 4: Overdeliver on that project. Let the trust you’ve built open the door to managed IT and cybersecurity services.
A Quick Note on the Discovery Call
I’ve been following a sales trainer because, personally, I’m terrible at sales. What I’ve learned about the discovery call is that you need to be asking questions 90% of the time. If the prospect starts asking you questions, turn it right back around on them — ask them why they want to know that.
You’re trying to get to the truth. You’re trying to uncover those pain points. That’s what’s started to work for me in my own sales process here at IT Rockstars.
Ready to Put the Power Audience System Into Action?
Everything I’ve shared in this post is part of the Power Audience System — the framework we’ve built at IT Rockstars specifically for MSPs looking to generate more leads and grow. From choosing the right topics, to running high-converting webinars, to nailing the discovery call and landing that Trojan Horse project — it’s all inside.
Try IT Rockstars free for 7 days. You’ll get access to the full Power Audience System, including the exact frameworks, templates, and strategies I use with my clients to sell cybersecurity and managed IT services. No commitment, no risk — just a chance to see if it’s right for you.