“Our managed service provider handles it”
Head of IT · Cyber security
"Our managed service provider handles it" usually means the buyer has handed over the worry, not that every gap is closed. Don't criticise their provider. Find the edges of "covered": what the contract includes, how fast they respond out of hours, and who owns it when something slips through.
What the buyer says
Our managed service provider handles all of that for us. We're covered.
How to handle it
Listen
Let them explain the arrangement. Listen for how confident they sound, and for anything they describe as still theirs rather than the provider's.
Acknowledge
Respect the decision. For a business without a large in-house security team, a managed service provider is often the right call, and it costs you nothing to say so.
Explore
Ask about the edges. What does the contract cover, and what's out of scope? How fast does the provider respond at two in the morning? Who decides what happens when something is found? When did they last check that the arrangement works the way they expect?
Respond
If you've found a gap, position your product as strengthening the arrangement (often as something the provider can use) rather than replacing it. If there's no gap, thank them and ask when the contract is next reviewed.
Say this
“That makes sense. For a team your size, a good provider is often the right call.”
Say this
“What does the contract cover, and what sits with you?”
Say this
“If something were found at two in the morning, what would happen next?”
Variations
- Managing Director: “We pay an IT company to deal with all that.”
- Operations Director: “Security is our IT partner's job, not ours.”
Questions people ask
How do you respond when a prospect says their MSP handles security?
Respect the decision, then explore the edges of the arrangement: what the contract covers, how quickly the provider responds out of hours, and who owns decisions when something is found. Position your product as strengthening that arrangement rather than replacing the provider.
Should you criticise a prospect's managed service provider?
No. It puts the buyer in the position of defending their own decision. Ask questions that let them find any gaps themselves.
More objections in Cyber security
- “We've never been breached”
- “My team can't take on another tool”
- “Security tools slow my engineers down”
- “We're compliant, we passed our audit”
Practise it before the real call
Free to start. No credit card.