I’m sure you’ve seen the massive Gmail phishing attack today. It’s all over the mainstream news.
Because ordinary people are talking about it, that presents an opportunity for you, today. To educate and help your existing clients. And maybe even to pick up new clients.
This isn’t scaremongering. It’s about explaining risks to people who don’t understand technology in the way that you do, and offering to help them. Whether they accept that help or not is up to them. That’s what powerful consultative selling is all about.
(Side note – this is a subject I’ll be exploring at my free MSP Marketing / MSP Marketing seminar the week after next – I’ve released the final 10 places this morning, and registration will close at 5pm on Tuesday 9th May).
If you can find 30 minutes to work on this today, I reckon it could be a revenue generator for you.
Do this for existing clients
It’s worth educating all your clients about the phishing attack, even if you know they don’t use Gmail for work email.
Why? Because Gmail has more than 1 billion active monthly users, and it’s a fair bet that your clients’ staff are logged onto Gmail on their work computers.
You should email all your clients this morning. They use your service not just for strategy and support, but for peace of mind. They want to know you and your team are on top of stuff like this.
Here’s an email template you can swipe and adapt.
Hi NAME
You might have seen in the news this morning, that there is a massive attack on Gmail happening right now. I’m emailing you about it, because there’s a possibility your staff are logged into their personal Gmail on your work computers.
The attack is very clever. According to our information, it’s an email that looks like it has come from a friend, and contains a Google Docs link. When you click on the link it gives control of your Gmail to the hackers.
I’m sure Google is working very hard on a fix right now. And the odds are your computers are not affected. But this is a great time to:
- Do a full security sweep of all your devices
- Do a full data audit to make sure your data is secure and continually backed-up, off-site
- Put together or revise a policy for your staff on use of personal email and social media at work
If you have any concerns about security at all, or want us to talk these things through you with you, just call my team on the usual number: 01234 xxxxxx
Yours,
YOUR NAME
Do this for prospects. And to get some PR coverage
Take anyone who has ever given you their contact details, and send them this email this morning. Ideally from a CRM so you can track who opens (and maybe follow them up by phone).
Hi NAME
It’s YOUR NAME from IT SUPPORT COMPANY NAME here.
You might have seen in the news this morning, that there is a massive attack on Gmail happening right now. I’m emailing you about it, because you might use Gmail for your business, or there’s a possibility your staff are logged into their personal Gmail on your work computers.
The attack is very clever. According to our information, it’s an email that looks like it has come from a friend, and contains a Google Docs link. When you click on the link it gives control of your Gmail to the hackers.
I’m sure Google is working very hard on a fix right now. And the odds are your computers are not affected. But this is a great time to:
- Do a full security sweep of all your devices
- Do a full data audit to make sure your data is secure and continually backed-up, off-site
- Put together or revise a policy for your staff on use of personal email and social media at work
If you have any concerns about security at all, or want us to talk these things through you with you, my team and I can help you today. Just give us a call on 01234 xxxxxx. Or hit reply to this email.
Yours,
YOUR NAME
Don’t overthink this. Just send the email out. Some will open it. Most will ignore it. It only takes one decision maker to call you to set up a potential sale today.
Would you like to add another 10, 20, 30 users to your support scheme today? You bet you would!
There’s an additional opportunity here. You can write some content for this to go on your website (don’t just copy my text, as Google will see that duplicate content and penalise your website for copying. Just rewrite my text in your own words). And across your business Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter accounts.
How about some PR coverage? Why not email your local radio stations and newspaper right now. You could offer to do an interview to provide a local angle on this national story. I was a newspaper journalist then a radio presenter for the first 13 years of my career. Putting a local angle on a national story is something the local media does every day.
Let it be you that provides that angle, not a competitor. Once you’ve been featured in the local media, you can then put the media logos on your website with the words “as featured in”. That gives you enhanced credibility in your marketplace.
