B2B lead generation for cybersecurity
Filling a managed security provider’s pipeline with mid-market CISOs
A managed detection and response provider sold almost entirely through referrals and a handful of channel partners. Security buyers ignore cold email on principle. We built outbound around compliance deadlines, breach events and insurance renewals, and the provider booked more qualified first calls in a quarter than in the previous year.
- Client
- Managed detection and response provider
- Region
- United States and Canada
- Scale
- 60 to 90 employees
- Timeline
- Live in 2 weeks, measured over 2 quarters
Representative engagement. Client details are anonymised and figures reflect typical outcomes from comparable deployments.
What the client got
0
Qualified first calls in the first quarter
More than the previous twelve months of referral-led pipeline.
0.0%
Reply rate on trigger-based sequences
Against a 1 to 2 percent benchmark for security vendors.
0
Channel partners now co-selling
Up from zero active partner-sourced deals.
The bottlenecks
Bottleneck 1
Security buyers distrust vendors by default
Generic outreach about “threats” was deleted on sight. Any message had to prove it understood the buyer’s situation.
Bottleneck 2
Referrals were unpredictable
Pipeline came in lumps. Two quiet months put hiring plans on hold.
Bottleneck 3
Channel partners were passive
Partners listed the provider in their catalogue but rarely brought deals. There was no joint outbound motion.
What we built
Step 1
Trigger-based targeting
Target accounts were selected on signals: upcoming CMMC or SOC 2 deadlines, cyber-insurance renewal windows, recent breaches in their sector, and job posts for security roles they could not fill.
Step 2
Messaging that respected the reader
Short, specific emails referencing the trigger, with a useful artefact (a sector threat brief, a compliance gap checklist) and a low-commitment ask. No fear-based copy.
Step 3
Partner co-marketing sequences
For accounts already served by a channel partner, outreach went jointly under the partner’s name with the provider as the security specialist, turning passive partners into active ones.
Step 4
SDR-as-a-service for replies
Our team handled every reply, qualified against the provider’s criteria (endpoint count, existing tooling, compliance driver) and booked calls directly onto the solutions engineers’ calendars.
The automation workflow
Trigger-based security outbound
From compliance or breach signal to booked call
Questions clients ask about this engagement
Where do breach and compliance signals come from?
Public disclosures, regulatory filings, insurance renewal cycles inferred from policy data, and job postings. No private or scraped personal data.
Does this work for smaller MSPs?
Yes, with a narrower territory. The same trigger logic applies; the account list is just smaller and more local.
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