7MS #467: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying - Part 9
7 Minute Security12 Touko 2021

7MS #467: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying - Part 9

Hey everybody! I stayed in a hotel for the first time in over a year and boy oh boy...I hope I didn't get COVID from the bedsheets!

Anyhow, on that journey I thought of some things that I think will help your business on the marketing/project management/sales side to be more successful and less annoying. DISCLAIMER: I have no formal training in these areas, but I've been on both sides of the table for a number of years, and I think I'm getting a better idea of what clients do and don't like during the sales process. These things include:

  • Reduce layers of people complexity - don't have 17 of your people on the client intro/pitch call and then ghost them once they actually want to buy something!

  • Keep project management just complicated enough - I like project management tools and spreadsheet task-trackers like Smartsheet but I'm trying to let the client lead as far as how much detail they need when tracking their projects. By default, we create a document with a high level map of project milestones, timelines and key contact information. We update that as often as the client likes.

  • Personalize responses to Web leads - if you have an info@ or sales@ address for your business, I think you should personalize the response you give folks who write in. They wrote you for a reason! Don't just copy/paste some generic "Hey you wanted info about our company so here it is blah blah blah" response, that doesn't make people feel like you give a rip about their needs. Think of something personal to say in the reply. "Oh, I see you're in Minnesota. I'm a big Twins fan!" Something like that. Simple, easy and personal.

  • Don't sign people up for junk without asking - in this episode I give an example of a vendor we looked at (but didn't select) for some services, and the company decided to automatically sign ups up for a bunch of electronic and paper mailings. That's super annoying!

  • Don't stink at LinkedIn - in the last episode of this series, I told you about a guy who (to me) wins LinkedIn and the Internet because he sent me a personalized video LinkedIn invitation - it was awesome! Be more like that guy, and less like the mosquitoes who send invites like "Hi, I noticed you're human and figured we should be LinkedIn BFFs" and then sign you up for a non-stop barrage of sales pitches!

  • Bug people "just enough" - if you've had an awesome scoping call for a potential project and the client has received and reviewed the SOW, stay in touch with them periodically - even if it feels like you're being ghosted.

Jaksot(696)

7MS #127: Intro to HIPAA Assessments

7MS #127: Intro to HIPAA Assessments

This episode covers a few HIPAA tidbits I picked up while preparing for - and executing - a HIPAA security assessment.

27 Joulu 20159min

7MS #126: Get Your Name Out There

7MS #126: Get Your Name Out There

This episode isn't about infosec exactly, but it talks about how using public resources like LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs to boost your "brand" (though I hate that word) and help you get more connected to the infosec community, job leads and more!

24 Joulu 20158min

7MS #125: Securing Your Life-Part 2

7MS #125: Securing Your Life-Part 2

Way back in episode #93, I talked about things you can do to secure your life (mortgage review, adequate insurance, estate planning, investments, etc.). This episode continues that train of thought and covers: getting the right amount of life insurance, getting the right home/auto coverage, as well as estate planning.

23 Joulu 20157min

7MS #124: Sprinkles

7MS #124: Sprinkles

This episode is 90% a rant about how annoying carry-on luggage and air travel can be, and a 10% sprinkling of security sauce mixed in. Hence: sprinkles.

23 Joulu 20158min

7MS #123: Doing a Redo Assessment

7MS #123: Doing a Redo Assessment

This episode talks about my experience in doing a "redo" security assessment, during which I struggled with the following questions: what's the best way to efficiently correct the erroneous information and make the customer happy without asking ALL the original questions over again? Especially when I have little to no time to prepare for the "redo" interview?

22 Joulu 20159min

7MS #122: OFFTOPIC-An Apology to Elephants

7MS #122: OFFTOPIC-An Apology to Elephants

Preview76 wordsThis episode is about a documentary called An Apology to Elephants. It's all about the treatment (or mistreatment) of elephants, and the main message of the movie is, "Please don't go to the circus when it's in town, because you're supporting elephant abuse." Even if that message was a little heavy handed, I certainly will pass on tickets next time a circus act comes through town. You can subscribe to the 7 Minute Security podcast here.

20 Joulu 20158min

7MS #121: Migrating from Tumblr to Ghost-Part 2

7MS #121: Migrating from Tumblr to Ghost-Part 2

Part 2 concludes my journey in moving 7ms.us from Tumblr to a Digital Ocean droplet running Ghost. Here are the key resources mentioned during the podcast: How to run multiple Ghost blogs on one DI VPS. The key takeaway here was that I had to upgrade to the $10 droplet (I did a "flexible" resize to add more proc/memory) and then the second instance of Ghost installed fine. Turning on CloudFlare SSL was easy. I chose flexible SSL since I wasn't using a "real" cert. I also wrote a rule to force HTTPs for all connections. And, just for grins, I turned on DNSSEC. Because...why not? :-) I picked a strong root password for my DI droplet, but I still don't like the idea of IPs banging on that connection all day and night. I followed this article on installing Fail2Ban to prevent my SSH login from being abused. There are a few IPs that I want to perma-ban, so I'm going to look throughthis article and this one which looks a tad easier. You can subscribe to the 7 Minute Security podcast here.

19 Joulu 20158min

7MS #120: THE PURGE!

7MS #120: THE PURGE!

Announcing the 7MS PURGE! I've got a back log of episodes banked and I want to get caught up for the new year. So I'm going to release one (or maybe more) episodes per day between now and 2016. Plus (spoiler alerts!) in 2016 we're moving to a Monday/Wednesday/Friday release schedule. Yep, 7MS three times a week - thanks for the idea, mom! Subscribe to 7MS on iTunes here.

18 Joulu 20152min

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