2009 April « Dave Stelzl's Blog

Archive for April, 2009

Apr

Post Teleseminar: Even you can sell Managed Services

Categories: Sales Strategy
Tags: competition, Dell, lpi, Managed Services, nable, sales, sell, zenith

Whether it\’s LPI, Zenith, Nable, or one of the many platforms available out there, it\’s really your technical knowhow and your ability to lower the impact and likelihood issues your client may face. Yesterday was just one more example of total incompetence with the big players. Heading out on a four day trip, I opened up my laptop in the airport in hopes of getting some work done between flights. All of the sudden my wireless broadband card will not connect.

Verizon tests my connection and says everything is ok on their side and then actually takes a proactive step and gets Dell on the line (something I never expected). Then after the usual computer troubleshooting 101 drills, the Dell tech decides we need to reinstall my entire system from the disks sent with the laptop. That\’s right, not reinstall the driver for this wireless card, but actually rebuild the entire system. I\’ve already told him I am sitting in the airport, but he actually asks if I have the disks and can save my data to a thumb drive! How hard is it to beat this kind of competition?

Apr

Notes from Yesterday’s Teleseminar: 5 Things that will Kill your Managed Services Program, and what to do about it.

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Solution Strategy
Tags: economy, managed, offering, proposal, security, services, Trends

First, don’t miss today’s podcast at http://dstelzl.podbean.com/ – critical information on justification you need to provide before your projects can be approved. This applies well to the topic of managed services and how you should go about creating the ongoing justification needed to maintain long term managed agreements. A couple of key points made in yesterday’s teleseminar that deserve repeating:

Managed services is a necessary part of building your company going forward. Without it, further commoditization of your product set only produces less margin, and service billing rates for most companies have not increased much over the past 20 years. We were paying $150 in 1988 for network engineers in the southeast; the same fees we’re charging right now in many cases.
Valuation numbers for resellers depend on recurring revenue contracts. Ten years ago you might have sold you company for a multiple of revenue – today you might consider a small multiple of EBIT in most cases. Most acquisitions today are fire sales. Only recurring contracts or narrow highly specialized offerings can reverse this trend.
Educational based marketing is the number one way to sell this type of program. Most clients are not aware of the risks they are operating with today. Without education, you’ll never come to agreement over the value you’re providing.

In addition we covered how to build it, how to price, what products to use, who should sell it, how to sell it, and how to maintain it and grow it. If you missed this program – make sure you catch the next one. You can’t succeed in this economy without changing your game to compete.

Apr

Do your Clients use MySpace or FaceBook? Read on…

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Sound Bites

Chances are they do. Can you stop them – not likely, and even if you could, they’d be taking work home where family members have become addicted to social networking. It’s a way of like. Meanwhile, cybergangs see social networking sites as the next big target for spreading bot technology. The linked article below explains how these gangs have developed worms like Koobface that are used to spread malware through social networking sites, breaking into address books and duplicating themselves through trusted messages throughout the system.

In addition, cybergangs are now hiring cheap labor to break through the barriers presented by captchas – those warped letters you often enter to gain access to a blog or social site. Since more advanced captchas are difficult for computers to decipher, they hire rooms full of workers, paying up to 1 cent per captcha, or a possible 3 dollars per hour.

What’s the point? Once again, depending on firewall protection to keep corporate data secure, won’t work. As office workers access these sites from the office or at home, they are bound to be duped into downloading malware programmed to steal passwords, provide remote control access, and multiply. By knowing how this works – and citing articles such as the link below, you gain credibility as you educate your clients on the dangers of working online. A holistic security strategy is needed – all the way to the end node.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2009-04-22-captcha-code-breakers_N.htm

Apr

F35, Power Grids, Air Traffic Control – it’s all data waiting to be breached

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Sound Bites
Tags: china, F35, fighter, Joint strike, pentagon, sales, security, Technology

IT almost always has it covered, yet the Pentagon’s systems have been successfully penetrated mulitple times over the past three years. Don’t take, “We’ve got it covered”, as the final answer when talking to companies about security.

This time it’s the F35, a plane in testing and preparing for battle. My favorite quote from this article is, “Northrop referred questions to Lockheed”. A common problem…remember the data is not really in the data center, so where is it? It’s on contractors unsecured networks, laptops, and home networks. Northrop Grumman is working under Lockheed on this one, so they refer questions back to the prime contractor…pointing fingers will not solve this problem.

The important facts from this article are these:

18,050 government-focused cyber attacks were reported over the year 2008. I read this as people who got in. (remember the pentagon is hit millions of times every day).
Computer spies have broken into the Pentagon’s $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project
The Air Force’s air-traffic-control system has also been breached in recent months – the article alludes to the idea that fighter pilots could be compromised, not being able to trust their radar systems. That can’t be good.
This is one of multiple breaches against this particular project – the F35 Joint Strike Fighter.
China is named as the likely intruder – but that can’t be because China doesn’t allow this sort of activity.

Remember, when someone says they have security covered, especially those working in small and medium sized companies, companies that don’t staff high-end security personnel, they just don’t understand security. It’s an opportunity to find the asset owner and show them the truth.

The details follow from the WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124027491029837401.html#mod=whats_news_free?mod=igoogle_wsj_gadgv1

Apr

NPR Today: US Government Seeking Help from Hackers?

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Categories: Sound Bites

Is the US government serious? Broadcasting this to the public can only lead to disaster. In several news sources as well as on NPR news this morning, the US government is searching out people who think like “a bad guy” to help secure the nations networks. In earlier news reports, Wall Street Journal suggested that these contracts would go to incompetent contractors, used by government agencies on large projects. Now we’re going the complete opposite direction and taking people who think like cybercriminals. It should be obvious by now, most major attacks have insiders involved. Insiders, people with access and an understanding of internal systems, give perpetrators the upper hand when it comes to stealing information. They know how things are protected and they know how to hide or erase the digital fingerprints left by an intruder. Hiring people from the “dark” side can only lead to more of this. Aren’t there numerous companies focused on securing data, that really do understand how to stop hackers?

The businesses and agencies you call on need to know how dangerous it is to be connected to the Internet and what special steps need to be taken to mitigate that risk. This is the time to be:

Assessing risk
Monitoring networks
Locking down servers and applications
Implementing technology that will detect and assist with response.

But it is not time to be collaborating with hackers, offering them money to somehow change their character and become the trusted advisers to US government cyber initiatives. Read more at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090418/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_cyber_security

Apr

Notes from Today’s Opening Keynote at the Ingram Network and Security Conference

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Categories: Sales Strategy
Tags: differentiation, emyth, good to great, principles, sales, selling, success

A few notes from my talk this morning with business owners running technology reseller companies.

VAR business owners can not count on building their business and selling it for multiples of revenue – maybe ten years ago, but not today. So what’s left? Build a highly profitable business by applying some basic principles of success:

Differentiation is key – companies that think their value is in designing, implementing, and managing networks are going to be in trouble. Differentiation comes with things that product business transformation and risk mitigation.
Managed services is a source a financial stability, but not a differentiating factor. Sell strategic solutions as named above and drive through to managed services to counter economic pressures.
Learn to create business through strategies such as securing data. To do this you have to have ways of demonstrating the need for security. The need is there, but can you effectively demonstrate it?
Become a consultant to the businesses your work with. You can’t afford to be looked at as a supplier – this leads to price negotiations. Study books such as Michael Gerber’s Emyth to become more knowledagbe on the subject of small business. Good to Great might give you a start on mid and larger companies.

Apr

Notes from Last Week’s Making Money w/ Security Workshop I – Irvine CA

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Categories: Sales Strategy

Last week’s Irvine class was full with 25 attendees. A few notes critical to selling in today’s climate:

Building a managed services offering is critical to building long term financial stability – but it must be sold using a Risk Mitigation value proposition (One of the four things buyers buy). When it’s not, you’ll see a plateau in sales once your current customer base has been exhausted.
Moving from the IT influencer to the economic buyer can be a political challenge. Minimize your risk with existing customers by building a bond between your high-end technical talent and your IT contact. This relationship is a natural and will protect you as you climb the ladder.
Don’t lead with products or your vendor’s offering – it’s your value that creates differentiation and budget. Once established, you now have management approval to drag in your partner’s product set to implement your strategy.
While companies are cutting dollars for training they’re missing one of the most important investments in moving ahead while things are down. Invest your time, energy, and money in self improvement. Move ahead while the competition is down and you’ll come out stronger on the other side. This has been proven over and over. Next step – keep learning and refining your approach to sales and consulting.

Don’t forget to register for next week’s session on Selling Managed Services. There are at least two major mistakes Managed Services Providers are making in their marketing approach – find out what they are before it’s too late. There is a proven model for selling more managed services – do this and you’re sure to double your profits over the next 12 months. And for those still considering who to partner with – I’ll actually comment and name names. There are no sponsors on this one, so I plan to speak my mind on this subject. Find out more at http://www.stelzl.us/subscribe_teleseminar.asp

Apr

Attacks on US Power Grids

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Categories: Sound Bites
Tags: attack, Cybercrime, Grid, Power

The Wall Street Journal today, reports on attacks on US power grids – well not actually attacks, but infiltration. Apparently someone has gained access and has left evidence. It would be ignorant to think that this is the first time anyone has figured out how to access these systems or to think that we can always detect unauthorized access. The truth is, US infrastructure is connected to power grids, nuclear facilities, and other critical infrastructure and a disruption would not be difficult. Will 17 billion dollars of stimulus money fix the problem? Only if those working on the problem really understand security (reference an early post about government contract workers and their lack of security expertise).

Using risk to drive new projects is powerful because it is urgent and because even the most sensitive systems are accessible when not properly secured. It makes sense for every company to be measuring risk and for these assessments to be done on a regular basis. Stop asking companies if they need security, and start showing them where they are vulnerable. The linked WSJ article is just one more sound bite to drive home your point.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123914805204099085.html

Apr

Opportunity: Getting rid of old systems.

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Categories: Opportunities
Tags: Data, disposal, legacy, reclamere, sensitive, systems

One of the issues I talk about in my Data@Risk book is that of getting rid of old systems that still have sensitive data on them. Most managers have no idea what they are doing when it comes to disposal. Often I see them stored in a back room or sold off to a solution provder with the intention of reselling them; big mistake. It’s difficult and expensive to make sure systems are clean enough to resell or donate. I recently ran into a company with a unique value proposition – might be a partnering opportunity for those of you doing large refresh projects. The company is Reclamere…

Reclamere works with companies that take protecting private and sensitive information assets seriously. The company can facilitate the logistical support to remove any number of legacy IT assets (PCs, monitors, printers, etc.). Reclamere has the capability to provide for the complete destruction and full documentation of all forms of digital data. These services can be provided nationwide with a short turnaround time. You can contact Joe Harford directly at joseph@reclamere.com or visit his website for more info at www.reclamere.com.

Apr

Throughts on Proposing Solutions

By Dave Stelzl's Blog 2 Comments

Categories: Value Proposition
Tags: decision maker, proposal, rfp, sales, selling, value

Proposals don’t sell solutions – they state what’s already been agreed to. Don’t use your proposal to state your value proposition.
When you change your selling process based on a company’s protocol for bidding, you turn your value proposition into a commodity. It was your proclaimed ability to create differentiation that got you in your current job position; don’t agree to sell on a “so-called” level playing field.
The RFP process was created by government to prevent corruption – of course it’s been a failure. Instead, it has taken every provider’s differentiation out of the decision making process. In fact, the decision is most often made before the RFP is written.
When gatekeepers claim that decision makers don’t have time to see you, you should be asking if these same people have time to live with their current condition vs. the few minutes you’re asking for.
Before you can propose, you have to come to an agreement on value. Without such an agreement, there can’t be a fair evaluation of price.