Archive for April, 2010

Just as businesses need to destroy sensitive data, so too is there a need to shred electronic data from computer drives.

With increases in technology, it is simply amazing how much data can be stored in such a small physical space, and how often that data is recoverable if only erased using standard methods.
For computers, the equivalent of shredding is called wiping. If data is wiped from a computer it means that cannot be restored by any means.

Data wiping can be accomplished by using software which overwrites files or by using a ’secure delete’ command instead of the ‘regular delete’ command to the operating system.

Why doesn’t just deleting a document or file doesnt work?

On many computers and the many standard operating systems, simply deleting a file and sending it to the trash bin will not delete the contents of the file it all! It may show that new space is available on the disk and it may show the file as removed from the operating system index, when in fact only the reference to the document was removed well actual contents remain somewhere on the hard disk.

In fact, the file has only become ‘dispensable’ space and may or may not be overwritten by other newer files. This allows for easy recovery of recently deleted files with various software tools or MS DOS commands.

Sometimes the files may be overwritten or partially overwritten and become unrecoverable, but there may still be traces, and with the right equipment and knowledge, much of this data can be mined from the hard disk.

The Unix operating system has a built in delete command which can be used, and there are various files deleting programs available for windows systems which overwrite the data repeatedly with random binary code making recovery extremely difficult. It intersperses random binary into the files and makes it so random that it is like it is deleted. This is sort of the computer equivalent of shredding paper materials.

One not of caution when using data shredders: It can be possible that after files have been deleted the files may move location. This may happen if the disk has been ‘defragmented’ and in some cases, may render shredding software ineffective because it doesnt know where to locate the specific data to be overwritten.

Thus, many people say that really the only absolute ways to permanently get rid of data on the hard drive is the burn it, pour acid on it, or a degausser!

Disc encryption is another method available to increase the security of your data. Theres a program called PGP which can encrypt data before it is stored on a hard disk. The PGP or Pretty Good Privacy is an encryption program for cryptographic privacy and authentication. Its pretty close to military grade encryption and can be used to protect data in long-term storage such as disk files. It requires a pass phrase to recover encrypted information

Other Data Storage Devices To Wipe:

Another device to look out for is flash memory devices, such as key ring size USB drives and memory cards. Data stored on these devices can often be recovered even after it has been erased. As of the time of this article there is no official method for destroying these devices. Overwriting may help, but pulverizing the storage is probably the safest option.

Due to the small size of these devices they are extremely easy to misplace drop or forget about They are also easy to steal or smuggle. In Iraq hundreds and hundreds of these devices were stolen which contained sensitive data about US troops! It is thought that these were smuggled out in the pockets of Iraqi locals working and sold on the black market.

Care must be taken with these devices.

While electronic data storage has become increasingly popular due to the minute space electronic files physically occupy compared to paper, people should realize that the extremely small size comes with a price: They are hard to keep track of! Sometimes, smaller is not better. Electronic data can be harder to permanently erase, easier to misplace, and easier to steal.

Visit our website for more information about www.document-shredding.bizdocument shredding services.

Doing chores is one of the things no one likes to do and therefore they very rarely do it. This means if you decide right here and now that you will do your business chores, you will be ahead of 80% of your competition.

What do we mean by a business chore? A business chore is made up of many items. Here are some that you can put into your schedule and if you do them on a regular basis, you will get that feeling of satisfaction that comes with a good day of business just from following up:

First – Take a handful of the cards you collected from the last networking event (or trade show) you attended and put them into your database. You can use Outlook or other CRM type software to do this. The key here is that you create a category for the event. For example, if you attended a Chamber of Commerce networking event on July 20, you would create a category Chamber Events (you may also want to put the year). When you enter the contact information, you will then select Chamber Events as the category.

Did you know that people attending Chamber networking events only follow up 1% of the time? Here is your chance to put in the contact information and then…

Second – Decide what method you want to use to follow up with the contacts you just entered. If you want to send an email, I would suggest you have several drafts you can choose from and then customize it for that particular individual (remember we do business with individuals and not organizations). If you create your emails in Word or other word processing program ahead of you can prepare several versions for different scenarios. I suggest you create at least 5 different ones. Then all you need to do is pick the text, fill in the blanks, and send the email. What could be easier?

Email is certainly the easiest method of connection but not all email gets through because of spam blockers or the recipient does not recognize your name and trashes it before it is opened. You must look to using a number of connection methods including using the telephone.

Third – Use the contact information you have just entered to follow up your email with a phone call to set up a time to meet on the phone. The key here is that you are booking 15 to 20 minutes of phone time to discuss potential. You are not selling your products with this first phone call. Most often you will end up leaving a quick message and will recycle the redial until the next day. Don’t waste your time dialing the same person several times in one day.

Fourth – Even though you may have sent an email and made a quick phone call, you follow up chores for the day are not complete. If you think there may be business you can do with the prospect, you next chores is to send a card, personally addressed and written with envelope and stamp. Sound tedious? Well it does not have to be, I found a system that works beautifully! I use a program that does all of this for me. If you want to try it out go to www.SendOutCards.com11666 I have setup a guest account for you to play with (you can send out 1 or 2 cards on my nickel). The id and password to get into the account is midnight. The results I have obtained from sending out these cards has been overwhelming. Everyone I sent a follow up card to has responded – that is 100%. Amazing!

In summary there are three chores you need to put into your calendar for the first thing each morning. You should do these chores everyday to achieve maximum results

First, enter new contact information into your Outlook or CRM program.

Second, send an email to follow up.

Third, make a quick phone call to set up a telephone meeting.

Fourth, send a personal card in the mail (see the item above to get access to instant cards). If you can do these four chores everyday, your business will blossom.

CUTTING NEWS ! – Frank Thomas Joins Roadmap To Riches .. It’s official !

Todays home entrepreneur’s tips:

eBay (A subset of List Building)
eBay? Free Advertising?

Ok, so technically an auction listings cost 35 cents But one sale can easily make you a profit, and youre allowed to sell nine of the same product in one auction at that price So this is one exception Im going to keep in this book because its really BETTER than free, all things considered.
So where does the Advertising part come in?
Simply place an information package of some kind, even if its just an article on your niche, and sell that infoproduct in an extremely cheap auction listing. Most people sell these things for 1 penny, although the difference between 1 cent and 35 cents really isnt that much of a difference to the buyers looking for this information.
Naturally there are no other costs like shipping or insurance, because delivery is a simple digital download. Further advertising is up to you, and it is always a matter of just giving eBay some additional fees to make your listing stand out more. If your listing is profiting, try starting the next listing as a Gallery item for another 35 cents, and go up from there until youve reached a point of maximum returns.
Heres the great part about this tactic: The winner of the listings email address is automatically sent to you via email, through eBay itself. Sell a bunch of those info packets, and youve built yourself one of your industrys most targeted lists!
Dont feel too left out if you havent mentally joined these two concepts together before now. Not too many people have, unless they bought the secret from someone on eBay themselves.
The fact is that eBay already has the lions share of traffic, and more importantly, of people in the purchasing mindset. Compare this to Googles Traffic, which is composed of people in the researching mindset. Its not hard to imagine why serious marketers prefer eBays traffic to Googles Traffic!
Advertising on eBay is as simple as being there in the first place, using a few well-searched keywords. Finding those keywords isnt too difficult either; all you really have to do is search for expired listings and sort by the price. This way youll easily see which auctions recently got the most money in your niche, and then all you have to do is model your campaign like theirs, listing your product under the same category!
Drawbacks?
Although the Delivery Time and the Quality of the traffic is world class, the Quantity is not infinite It depends on your niche, of course, but the competition on eBay can be fierce as new auctions will be placed above older ones all the time. Still, with people happy to search keywords youve still got a good chance of being found even between the first day or the last few minutes of the auction.
Effectiveness in drawing a large amount of traffic all depends on how good your auctions sales copy is. Luckily, you can model your auction off others that have done well in the past.
Make no mistake about it; selling infoproducts on eBay is a world-class list-building strategy. Thats about all there is to it, but most people overlook this very powerful way of building your list because it seems too awkward, or they dont want to take the time to put an info-packet together.
If you sell a product online, then youve got to face the fact eventually that this is some of the most targeted, buyer-frenzied traffic that exists. If youre not using this tactic, then youll not only be depriving your business of a constant stream of better-than-free advertising, but youll also be missing out on a large source of clients that you arent likely to be able to reach otherwise.
The fact is that everybody eBays nowadays. Thats why I can use eBay as a verb! In fact Ive seen a statistic recently that showed 14 of every 100 spent online, worldwide, is spent through eBay now, and this number is still growing! It is clearly the single biggest mover of money on the planet.
People from ALL walks of life can be found there, right when they have their credit cards in hand looking to spend I dont even know of another source of traffic that comes close!
When used correctly, you can build up a niche market list on any topic with this technique, and reach an unprecedented 50% or more of that market over time.

Just another weapon you put up in your arsenal of “guerilla methods”.

Read any book on sales or proposal writing. Go on a sales training course. One of the first topics that will be covered is features, advantages and benefits. Ultimately, any proposal whether verbal or written down has to persuade someone to take an action and this is done by demonstrating the benefits of taking that course of action.

In a smaller sale, especially with products it is often easy to list benefits, but with larger proposals you will have to search harder to understand the clients business problem and explain the benefits of your solution that is, how effectively and efficiently your solution solves their business problem.

Your solution should demonstrate not only value in price, but in the services that you offer. Value is the balance of cost versus benefit, therefore you need to be explicit in highlighting the benefits to the client.

Often when a contract has been lost, the client will tell you that you were too expensive but no-one ever gets told that they won because they were the cheapest. It is the best solution that usually wins, the one that offers the best benefits. This may be the most expensive solution, but it still may offer the best value.

So how do you create customer value? Firstly you need to take time to understand the customers needs. When you receive an Invitation to Tender, get back to the client immediately with questions. Call them. Ask for a meeting. You may have been involved with the client pre-tender and have an understanding of their business.

You must be able to demonstrate an understanding of their business need in order to demonstrate that your solution will deliver the required benefits.

When writing your proposal, use content tailored towards the client and their business problem. We all copy re-usable text, or boilerplate in proposals but customise it to the client. Include their name, especially in the executive summary. Let them know that the proposal is about them, not about you.

Directly address your customers issues and offer persuasive ideas with distinct solution benefits and support your arguments with evidence. When have you delivered a similar service or solution in the past? How did that client benefit? Demonstrate your ability to deliver on your promise.

Make sure a value proposition is clearly laid out and easy to understand. Can you include a return on investment model for the client? If so do it you are showing the client you understand how to save their business money.