Pentesting for the Channel

Building a huge direct sales team is slow and expensive. Channel sales offers a smarter way to grow by partnering with others. For MSPs and vCISOs, this means building a network of partners—like GRC firms, CPAs, or other IT resellers—who sell your affordable and fast penetration testing services to their clients. It's a simple strategy that lets you use their existing client relationships instead of starting from scratch.

This approach helps you expand your reach without the massive overhead. You provide the expert service, and your partners handle the sales. It's a win-win that builds scalable, predictable revenue for your business.

Building a Strong Channel Sales Program Foundation

Before recruiting partners, you need a solid foundation. The compliance and managed service industry is filled with overpriced pentests and reports that take forever. A great channel program solves these problems, making you the clear choice for any potential partner.

Your first move should be to operate as a channel-only partner. This is a powerful promise that tells your partners you will never compete with them for their clients. That commitment builds immediate trust and sets you apart from everyone else. Your partners, whether they're an MSP, a GRC company, or a vCISO, can trust you with their client relationships without fearing you'll poach their business.

Defining a Value Proposition Partners Can't Resist

Your value proposition is the promise you make to your partners. It needs to be simple and directly address their clients' biggest problems, especially for compliance needs like SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI DSS, or ISO 27001. These clients need reliable services to pass their audits.

Your value proposition should be built on three core ideas: affordability, speed, and certifications. Most small and mid-sized businesses can't afford high-end penetration testing. By offering an affordable solution, you give partners a huge competitive edge. Delivering a pen test report in about a week is a game-changer for clients on a tight compliance deadline. Finally, highlight that you provide thorough, manual pentesting from certified professionals with credentials like OSCP, CEH, and CREST. This ensures the risk assessment is accurate and provides clear steps for fixing any issues.

Finding the Right Channel Sales Partners to Recruit

Once your value proposition is clear, you can find the right partners. Ideal partners already work with clients on security and compliance but don't have their own in-house penetration testing team. Think about GRC companies that need a trusted reseller for technical tests to complete SOC 2 audits or CPA firms that advise on PCI DSS compliance.

A successful channel program is all about alignment. Your services should feel like a natural extension of what your partners already offer. When a partner can provide a white label pentesting solution under their own brand, it makes them look better and strengthens their client relationships. You handle the technical work, and they manage the client. It’s a simple partnership that drives real growth. For more on this, our guide on pentesting for the channel is a great resource.

Choosing Your Ideal Channel Partnership Sales Model

Not all partnerships are the same. The model you choose for your channel sales program will define everything from your margins to your daily interactions. For selling penetration testing services, most MSPs and vCISOs choose between white-label reselling and a simple referral partnership.

The best choice depends on how much control you want over the client relationship and how involved you want your partners to be. Each model has its own trade-offs, so it's important to understand them before you start. This decision is the foundation for a program that actually makes money and keeps partners happy.

Leveraging White Label Pentesting for Your Brand

For many MSPs, keeping their brand front and center is essential. White label pentesting makes this possible. In this model, you sell our manual pentesting services to your clients under your own brand. We perform the pen test, but the final report has your logo on it.

This positions you as the single point of contact and the trusted security expert. Your clients see you as a one-stop shop for all their needs, which builds loyalty. It's the perfect way for a vCISO or MSP to add a high-demand service without the cost of hiring an in-house team of certified pentesters.

Using Referral Partnerships for Simple Lead Generation

The referral partnership model is much simpler. As a referral partner, your job is to identify a client who needs a penetration test for compliance like SOC 2 or HIPAA and introduce them to us. After the introduction, we handle everything else, from sales calls to delivering the final report.

You get a commission for sending us a qualified lead. This is a great option for GRC firms, CPAs, or any reseller who wants to add value for their clients without getting involved in the technical details or project management. To explore our program, you can learn about becoming a pentest partner with us.

How to Set Up Profitable Partner Pricing Tiers

This is where your channel program can either succeed or fail. Your pricing structure needs to be profitable for you and compelling for your partners. It's about creating a plan for mutual growth that makes partners feel like they're winning with you.

First, you need a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). This price should be competitive but also reflect the value of your manual pentesting and certified experts. From there, you can set partner margins. A 20% to 30% discount off MSRP is a standard and attractive starting point for a reseller. For example, if your standard web application pen test is $5,000, a partner with a 20% margin buys it for $4,000 and can sell it for $5,000, making $1,000. It's a clean and simple way for them to see the value.

Designing Partner Tiers that Drive Channel Sales

A tiered system is a great way to motivate partners. Instead of a single discount for every reseller, you create levels that reward partners for bringing in more business. It turns sales into a game and shows them a clear path to earning more.

A simple three-tier structure often works best:

• Silver Tier: This is the entry point for new partners, with a standard 20% margin and access to core sales and marketing materials.
• Gold Tier: Partners move up to Gold after hitting a revenue target, like $50,000 in annual sales. Their margin might increase to 25%, and they could get a dedicated account manager.
• Platinum Tier: This is for top performers ($100,000+ in sales). They get the best margins—perhaps 30% or more—plus priority support and a chance to give feedback on new services. This structure gives new partners a clear path to grow their business with you.

Developing Effective Sales Enablement for Your Partners

Signing up new partners is just the first step. You need to empower them to sell your services effectively. This means providing the right tools, content, and marketing strategies to make pitching your penetration testing services easy. A well-equipped partner is a confident partner who can easily explain the value of manual pentesting for SOC 2 or HIPAA compliance.

Your partners are busy, so they need a comprehensive sales enablement toolkit. Consider using a sales enablement platform to deliver these assets. Must-have items include one-pagers, co-branded marketing materials, proposal templates, and competitive battle cards that highlight your advantages in affordability, speed, and certifications (OSCP, CEH, CREST). Our guide to white label penetration testing for partners explains how these resources support your channel.

Launching High-Impact Co-Marketing Campaigns With Partners

Co-marketing helps your partners find new clients. It involves collaborating on lead generation activities where everyone wins. A great example is a joint webinar with a GRC partner on "Navigating PCI DSS Compliance with Penetration Testing." You provide the technical expertise, and they bring the compliance-focused audience.

The best co-marketing educates the end client and solves their problems, which builds trust for both you and your partner. Email campaigns are another effective tactic. Provide your partners with email templates and content they can send to their client lists to promote a specific pen test service. By combining strong sales enablement with proactive co-marketing, you create an environment where partners are motivated to sell, helping them close more deals for compliance frameworks like ISO 27001.

Creating a Seamless Partner Onboarding and Management Process

A great partner program depends on a smooth onboarding and management experience. A confusing start can ruin a partnership, while a supportive process builds a foundation for long-term channel sales success. Your goal is to get new partners selling your penetration testing services quickly by setting clear expectations and providing support when they need it.

The first 90 days are crucial. Your onboarding should be a clear roadmap from signing the agreement to closing the first deal. Provide training that explains your manual pentesting methodology, how you scope projects, and what makes your reports valuable for clients dealing with SOC 2 or HIPAA compliance. The best onboarding programs answer a partner's questions before they even ask them. For more ideas, SaaS channel partner management best practices can provide useful frameworks.

How to Manage Your Channel Partners for Growth

After onboarding, ongoing management keeps the momentum going. A dedicated support channel, like a shared Slack channel, is essential. When a partner has a question about a complex PCI DSS project, they need a fast answer. Regular check-ins, such as quarterly business reviews, help you review progress and find new opportunities for growth.

Treat your partners like an extension of your team. Ask for their feedback on your services and processes. The insights from a GRC firm dealing with ISO 27001 audits every day are invaluable. When partners feel heard, they become more engaged, creating a feedback loop that helps everyone succeed.

Answering Your Top Channel Sales Questions

Starting with channel sales for penetration testing can bring up a lot of questions. For an MSP or vCISO, getting the partnership right is key to profitability. Here are some of the most common questions we get from partners looking to add affordable, manual pentesting to their services.

Can we offer pentesting without an in-house team?

Yes, that's the purpose of a white label pentesting partnership. You can sell top-tier, manual penetration testing performed by certified experts (OSCP, CEH, CREST) without the high cost of an in-house team. You manage the client relationship while we deliver a detailed report with your logo, helping you meet SOC 2 or HIPAA compliance needs.

What makes a good channel partner for pentesting?

The best partners are already trusted security and compliance advisors for their clients. This includes Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Virtual CISOs (vCISOs), GRC companies that handle risk assessments and compliance like PCI DSS or ISO 27001, and CPA firms. If you're already discussing compliance, you're in a great position to build a successful channel sales program.

How do we price pentesting services for our clients?

Pricing is simpler than it seems. As our partner, you receive a discount off our retail price, and you set the final price for your client, giving you full control over your margins. You can bundle a penetration test with your existing managed services to create a premium security package, adding a new revenue stream and making your client relationships stronger. The partners who succeed integrate the pen test into their core offerings. As global e-commerce sales are projected to hit $7.5 trillion in 2025, the need to secure online businesses has never been greater, as shown in this Statista report on worldwide retail sales trends.

At MSP Pentesting, we are a channel-only partner. We will never compete with you for your clients. Our mission is to provide you with affordable, fast, and expert manual pentesting services that you can sell with confidence. Contact us today to learn how we can help you build your security practice at https://msppentesting.com.