How Can MSPs Effectively Offer CMMC-Related vCISO Services?

Are you an MSP looking to navigate the complexities of offering CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) related vCISO services? You've heard the hype, you know the demand is there, but how do you move beyond just selling tools and genuinely position these services for client success and your own profitability? Many MSPs struggle with client selection, articulating value beyond compliance, and getting stuck in endless sales cycles with tire-kickers.

This post, drawing insights from industry expert Jesse Miller of Power PSA Consulting, dives deep into how your MSP can strategically offer CMMC vCISO services. We'll explore how to identify the right clients (and gracefully decline the wrong ones), the importance of radical transparency around costs, and the game-changing power of niching to become the go-to expert. Get ready to learn how to transform CMMC from a regulatory burden into a significant business enabler for your clients and a profitable service line for your MSP.

Beyond the Checklist: Positioning CMMC as a Business Enabler

Many clients (and even some MSPs) view CMMC as just another expensive regulatory hurdle. But as Jesse Miller emphasizes, the most effective approach is to flip this narrative. Instead of CMMC being a burden, "let's use it to hunt new business and to really lean into this and expand."

• Opportunity Knocks: For manufacturers or service providers looking to enter or expand within the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), CMMC isn't just a requirement; it's a key to unlocking lucrative contracts.
• Your Role: As an MSP offering vCISO services, your role is to help clients see this. You're not just implementing security controls; you're "enabling the business through resilience" and helping them "go fast while staying safe," much like brakes on a race car help it navigate turns optimally.

"Is CMMC Right for You?" – Qualifying Clients with Radical Transparency

One of the biggest pitfalls in offering CMMC services is wasting time with clients who aren't a good fit. Jesse Miller advocates for extreme transparency, especially regarding costs, right from the start.

• The Price of Admission: Be upfront. Miller states, "You're looking at between a hundred to $200,000 minimum to get this program off the ground, and then there's the recurring maintenance that's gonna be probably 6 figures every year for it."
• The Shock Test: His advice? "If you hear that and that's shocking, then we probably shouldn't be talking." This directness quickly filters out clients who don't understand the investment required.
• Strategic Importance vs. Minor Annoyance:
  • Good Fit: A client for whom DOD contracts represent a significant portion of their revenue (e.g., "50% of our work is with the DOD") or who have a clear strategic intent and leadership buy-in to grow in this sector.
  • Bad Fit (or needs careful consideration): Companies where CMMC-related contracts are a tiny fraction of their business (e.g., Miller suggests questioning those with "under 10% of their revenue in CMMC contracts" if they are sub-$100M companies without a strong expansion appetite). For these clients, the investment might not make business sense, and it's your role as an advisor to help them see that. Sometimes, the best advice is, "Maybe this isn't the right path for you."

The Riches Are in the Niches: Dominating a Micro-Segment

"Our ICP is manufacturers who are required or subject to CMMC. That's not an ICP," warns Miller. This broad approach makes you a tiny fish in a vast ocean. The key to differentiation and commanding premium value lies in hyper-niching.

• From Broad to Laser-Focused: Instead of "manufacturers," think "manufacturers who help build nuclear submarine propulsion systems."
  • As Miller puts it, "There's probably, I don't know, 50 to a hundred companies out there that are doing that... That's a pretty good market to start and go after."
• Benefits of Niching:
  • Deep Expertise: You develop an unparalleled understanding of that specific micro-segment's challenges, processes, and CUI handling.
  • Tailored Messaging: Your marketing, sales conversations, and service delivery speak directly to their world. "You make parts for nuclear submarines... We actually help people working on the same project as us."
  • Increased Perceived Value: Clients are willing to pay more for a specialist who truly "gets" them.
  • Powerful Referrals: Word-of-mouth becomes incredibly potent in tight-knit communities. If you help "Jerry" in the nuclear sub propulsion niche achieve CMMC and win contracts, other "Jerrys" will seek you out.
  • Reduced Competition: You move from competing with every MSP offering CMMC to being one of very few, or perhaps the only, specialist in that hyper-niche. This is Peter Thiel's "competition is for losers; dominate a really small market segment" in action.

Selling Outcomes, Not Just Services: The "Jerry Package"

Clients don't buy CMMC compliance; they buy what CMMC compliance enables. Your proposals and conversations should focus on the business outcomes.

• Shift the Focus: Don't just list the services and their costs. Talk about how achieving CMMC will help them win X more contracts, increase revenue by Y, or secure Z market position.
• Example: "My 'Jerry package'... took us twelve months to prepare, and then the subsequent eighteen months, Jerry made $9,000,000. Do you want that package?" This illustrates tying your service directly to a massive return for the client. Your value isn't the $200,000 cost; it's the $9,000,000 outcome you facilitated.

Building a Go-to-Market Strategy: Partnerships and Continuous Learning

• Collaborate: Jesse suggests MSPs "find parallel providers in your industry that are providing other services and do cross-pollination with your go-to-markets there." This could be:
  • Business coaches helping manufacturers bid on government contracts.
  • Industry-specific software vendors.
• Educate Yourself and Your Clients:
  • Listen to podcasts and read publications specific to your chosen niche to understand their language and challenges.
  • Use this knowledge to enhance your messaging and demonstrate that you truly understand their world.

Effectively offering CMMC-related vCISO services requires more than technical know-how; it demands a strategic business approach. By positioning CMMC as a business enabler, being radically transparent about costs to qualify the right clients, courageously niching down to become a dominant expert, and focusing on the tangible business outcomes you deliver, your MSP can build a highly successful and profitable CMMC vCISO practice. Remember, the goal is to become a trusted strategic advisor, the one they turn to not just for compliance, but for growth.

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