Power positioning is presenting yourself to the right person, at the right time and place, in the right way, with the right message. If you can do that all day long, every day, you will be an incredibly successful professional. This applies to most every profession. We're always trying to sell something whether it's a product, a service, an image—you name it.

What separates the real pros from the amateurs is their ability to make whatever they are providing of vital importance to every prospect.

Such positioning is not something you can achieve quickly, or once for all time. It's a continuous process of discovering new ways to take charge of the way your clients and prospects see you.

The better you plan your strategy for positioning yourself, the more successful your efforts are going to be. There are, in fact, ten crucial factors to consider as you think through your own positioning strategies and tactics.

1. You position yourself first in your own mind. The way you see yourself will shape the way others see you. The way you think about yourself determines how you do everything. It affects the way you prospect, the way you interview, the way you present, the way you close, the way you manage your time—it shapes everything you do. As a result, people will see you the way you perceive yourself.
2. You position yourself with your attitude. Some people walk into a room and say, "Here I am!" Other people walk into a room and say, "Ah, there you are!" The difference is whether we are self-centered or client-centered...Whether we are ego-driven or value-driven. Our attitudes toward our clients and prospects will always show up in the way we treat people. And, more than any other single factor, the way we treat others will determine the way they respond to us.
3. You position yourself with your appearance. First impressions get set in stone very quickly. And, like it or not, the way you look is the most important factor in shaping those first and lasting impressions. To do to see how vital good appearance is, all you have to do is reflect on your own reactions to the people you meet. Don't you pay more attention to people who look important than you do to people who look sloppy? Most crucial, your prospects judge your importance by the way you look.
4. You position yourself with your actions. Your prospects determine your importance, your intentions, your reliability—and many other critical factors—by watching everything you do.
5. You position yourself with your words. Every word you say positions you either as a person to be considered important or as someone to be dismissed as quickly as possible.
6. You position yourself with your focus. The most pressing question on your prospect's mind is always, "What's in it for me?" The real pros position themselves as consultants and business partners to their clients. They always keep the focus precisely where it belongs—on the client, not on themselves or their products.
7. You position yourself with your presentation. The way you go about setting up and making your presentation says a lot to prospects about how important it is to listen to you.
8. You position yourself by the way you handle objections. Amateurs see objections as excuses for not buying or as invitations to do battle. But real pros recognize that objections show a prospect's legitimate concerns—issues which must be cleared up before the prospect will make a decision to buy.
9. You position yourself by the way you close. The way you ask for an assignment can position you as a true professional with an offer which provides value for the prospect. Or the way you close can make it look like you're an amateur who's trying to get a prospect to do you a favor. The difference is tremendous.
10. You position yourself with the way you follow-up. One of the most vital factors in positioning yourself as a professional is what you do once a sale has been made. Professionalism involves developing a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with every client. It's turning one-time customers into clients who view you as a valuable resource in your area of expertise.

Do you have any old laptops lying around? You know, the ones that are too old and slow to use, but disposing of them seems like a waste? Well, we have a solution for you!

Frogworks Assistant Allison has a sister doing Peace Corps in Ghana. She’s trying to teach computer skills to a school of deaf children…but they only have one working computer. They don’t need anything fancy (or fast) but they could really use a few more functioning machines so that each student can see a screen during lessons.

If you have an old laptop that you’d like to donate to this incredible cause, please comment below or email Allison directly at allison@getfrogworks.com.

We have recently been getting a lot of questions about our helpdesk, and thought we’d address some of them for all our friends and clients. Read on, and feel free to comment with further questions!

Q: How can I get my service request into the helpdesk queue?

A: There are a number of ways to get your ticket into the helpdesk queue! Perhaps the easiest and quickest way is to email your service request to help@getfrogworks.com. It will automatically set up a ticket for you, assigned to your company’s profile within our system. If it’s your first time, you can call your request in and an assistant will set up the ticket for you. We do need credit card information on file before we begin a remote session, and an assistant will be able to set up your payment profile for you the first time. That profile will be stored in a secure system for all future service requests.

Q: How does the helpdesk determine which tickets to work on first?

A: Prioritizing tickets is a tricky task, and we wish we could assist everyone immediately. However, that’s not usually the case, so we have a special method for deciding which order we take care of remote service requests. Your request is placed in the helpdesk queue based on its age, level of urgency, and whether your company has a managed service contract with Frogworks. If you are interested in learning more about our managed services, please call us at 240-880-1944.

Q: I’m not computer savvy…how can the helpdesk assist me over the phone if I don’t know my way around a computer?

A: While phone support is one component of the services that we offer, our helpdesk technicians also have a number of tools that allow them to physically see your computer screen and work on it from their remote locations (if your internet connection is functional). If your company has our Labtech agent installed, a tech might request access to your desktop through that connection. Otherwise, he will guide you through a free program called JoinMe, which will give him the same access to your machine. Once he has remote access, he will be able to click around, check things out, and work at a faster pace to resolve your problem…plus, you can watch what he’s doing and even learn a few tips!

Q: What if the helpdesk can’t help me?

A: If the helpdesk can’t resolve your problem, he will forward your ticket to dispatch for onsite scheduling. At that point, you can discuss a mutually agreeable time for onsite service with one of our friendly assistants.

Hi everyone!

You have probably picked up by now that here at Frogworks, we love the cloud. We can’t stop talking about it! But if you’ve ever seen this picture:

Oops....

Given that, we thought we’d share with you just a few of the ways that Frogworks uses the cloud every single day.

1. Our Software!!

Believe it or not, Frogworks’ entire operation is built around a cloud-based software platform. Our client databases, service tickets, email blasts, internal scheduling, and much more are all accessible to us from our desktops, laptops, and smart phones. Why? This kind of convenient access allows us to be super-accurate about time entries and detailed descriptions of work that has been performed, as well as giving our techs onsite insight in your history of maintenance, upgrades, configurations, and more!

2. Dropbox

We store lots of shared files on Dropbox, which is an internet-based storage system that you can install on many computers for file-sharing. Super easy and much more convenient than searching through emails for attachments.

3. This blog!

This very blog is cloud-based! That’s right—you are using the cloud RIGHT NOW, and every day, whether you realize it or not.

Of course, I’m not even going to mention Facebook, Twitter, webmail, GoogleMaps, Hootsuite….you get the idea. The cloud is everywhere, and now you can see that here at Frogworks, we practice what we preach!

A few weeks ago we broke down all the different kinds of malware you can get on your computer. Knowledge is power, but it can still be seriously tricky sometimes to figure out which messages are legitimate and which are malicious. Read on to raise your awareness about email hoaxes, and what you can do about them!

Email scams come in a variety of packages, but definitely have some common characteristics. Watch out for the following characteristics in an email, even if it appears to be from someone you know:

-Free giveaways for doing something simple, like forwarding the email.
-Sensational virus alerts—watch out for over-the-top language and too many capital letters.
-Appeals for charities, warnings about upcoming events, and disclaimers about products that you can’t back up with legitimate sources.
-Banking emails that you’ve never seen before. Check with your institution if you are on the fence…but DON’T click any links within the email.

What should you do if you get one of these messages?

-Do NOT forward it or follow any other directions that it gives you.
-Delete the message immediately.
-If you suspect viral activity, run a scan and reboot your computer.
-Warn your friends and family about what you suspect and how they can identify the email if they receive it.
-Let us know! If there’s a widespread email hoax going on, we’d love to spread the word and warn our friends, fans, and clients.

You call or email in a ticket, and somehow, magically, your problem gets solved.  Ever wondered what happens behind the scenes at Frogworks?  Well, wonder no more!  We’re going to give you a step-by-step guide to the life of a service ticket within our system.

1. The ticket is born.  This can happen several ways.  Most commonly, a client emails their service request to help@getfrogworks.com.  Our system matches your email address to your company profile in our database, and automatically sets up a ticket for the Helpdesk linked to your account.  Cool, huh?  You may also call in and have the assistant on duty enter the ticket for you, or you may use your Froggy tray icon to submit a service request.  Regardless of how you set up your ticket, you should get an email within minutes that lets you know the ticket is on our board, and we’re already at work!
2. The ticket grows up.  For remote support, our Helpdesk will generally call to get a clearer sense for the problem, and ask permission if he needs to access your computer.  If you have our Froggy icon in your computer tray, your work is done and the Helpdesk can access your computer easily with your go-ahead.  If not, the Helpdesk will talk you through JoinMe, a simple and free tool that allows him to work within your computer to fix your problem.
3. If your issue requires an onsite visit, the ticket bounces back to the assistants to schedule a mutually agreeable time for you and your territory manager.
4. As work is done, the assigned technician will make time entries and notes as he goes, which are added to the ticket.  These entries will be included on your invoice, so you can see exactly what happened while the work was being done.
5. When the issue is resolved, your ticket is marked as “completed”.  However, it is not fully closed until one of the owners has given his seal of approval that the work is satisfactory.  Occasionally, you may get your official “closed ticket” email a few days after your work has been finished—this is because going through all service tickets carefully takes time, and our owners want to be careful not to skim over any mistakes or discrepancies.
6. All tickets, closed and in progress, are linked to your company’s profile indefinitely, as ready records of your IT history.

Depending on your communication preferences, you may get emailed updates only when your ticket is opened and closed, or you may get updates each time a tech works on your issue.  Call us if you’d like to make changes to your company’s email frequency.

And now you know what happens when you submit a service request to Frogworks!  Please contact us with any questions you have.

Hello!

Malbotnetware? Aren’t Trojans those people with that big horse?  And what on earth is Phishing…does it have to do with fish or the band Phish?

For this week’s blog entry, we want to break down all the geek speak terms for you in plain English, so that you know what your IT guy is talking about when he’s warning you about internet security.  Feel free to let us know if anything isn’t totally clear, or if we left something off the list.

Malware is short for “malicious software” and includes spyware, viruses, Trojans, worms, and any other software that contaminates, slows, or generally annoys your computer.

Computer viruses are software programs that are designed and implemented to corrupt and/or delete data and spread from one computer to another. They are often spread through attachments in emails or IMing—(open something if you know what it is and who it’s from!)—or through downloads off the internet.

Like a virus, a worm can spread from computer to computer—sending out 1000’s of copies from your computer. A worm will often access your email address book to send itself to all your contacts, costing valuable system memory and network bandwidth and potentially crashing servers and computers.

A Botnet is a network of private computers infected with malicious software and controlled as a group without the owners’ knowledge, often to send spam.

Spyware refers to hidden, undetected programs advertisers install on your PC to gather and report information about you and your online activities to a remote person. Some spyware is harmless, but some leads to spam, identity theft, corruption and slowing of your PC, and annoying pop-up ads. Unlike viruses, Trojans, and worms, spyware is legal!

Trojans will appear to be useful software and seem to come from a legitimate source. Once activated, Trojans damage your computer in similar ways to a virus, along with potentially creating entryways for outside access into your system. However, a Trojan cannot reproduce or self-replicate.

Phishing is a way of getting sensitive and confidential information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a valid electronic entity.  Phishing takes its name from fishing since the wrong-doers “bait” innocent victims by pretending that they’re offering something real.

Hey everyone!

Since most of our readers were probably in Irene’s path this past weekend, we’d like to start out by saying we hope you all made it through relatively unscathed.  Some of our clients are still waiting on getting their power back, but none of our nearest and dearest suffered any real tragedies, and we hope you can all say the same.

That being said, you never know when the next disaster might befall your business– whether it be via earthquake, hurricane, or even theft—and chances are good that you’ll get even less fore-warning the next time around.  In order be sure that your office can be up and running after a major catastrophe, you should start out with the following:

• Have a written plan for disaster recovery.  Know everyone’s off-site contact information, and have a chain of communication pre-planned.
• Get offsite backups of all your data—do NOT rely on tape backups, which will fail in the case of a natural disaster.
• Make sure you have remote access to your network, or keep your network on a cloud for easy access from any mobile device.  You’ll love this feature all the time, not just when disaster strikes!
• Image your server. You’ll have an exact replica that can be directly copied onto another server if yours gets damaged, and you’ll save tons of time and money.
• Know where your network documentation is.  If you’ve already trusted your IT support to us at Frogworks, you’re set.  If not, be sure your IT manager is documenting everything he or she does, and that you know exactly where that information is being stored so you can access it easily should an emergency arise.

We urge you to be proactive about your disaster and recovery planning, and to contact us if you have any questions regarding your back-ups and how you can be more secure in the case of office damage.

It appears likely that Hurricane Irene may make a direct hit on the Mid-Atlantic over the upcoming weekend. The latest reports suggest it will hit around Saturday evening. We want you to know that Frogworks is actively monitoring the forecasts and taking several steps to assist our clients in the event of any impact.

Please review the following list of 8 recommendations and share it with the appropriate members of your team or any other friends or colleagues who you think would benefit from the information We obviously hope that none of us will suffer any impact, personally or professionally, from this storm. One of our favorite sayings is “Better to have a plan and not need it than need a plan and not have it”, so hopefully the simple step of reading this post and taking these recommendations seriously, will help you weather the storm (yes, the pun is intended) without issue.

1. Prepare For a Power Outage:

It is highly likely that you will lose power during this storm. As a result, Frogworks is strongly recommending that all non-essential equipment be powered down. All personal computers, printers, copiers, phone systems, scanners, etc. should be powered off and unplugged from the wall outlets for the weekend. We recommend fully charging all electronic devices that you may need, and leaving them off or in airplane mode in case of emergency to conserve battery power.

All your servers should already be protected by battery backup power (UPS); however, it is highly likely that you may endure a power outage that will outlast the ability of your battery backups to keep your systems up and running. This will result in the UPS properly shutting down your servers when battery power runs low. If you are in an area that is known for power outages or spiking during storms like this, Frogworks also recommends you consider shutting down your servers as well, to ensure maximum safety.

Obviously if you power down your servers, you may lose the ability to send and receive e-mail during this time, so you want to evaluate what the impact of not having e-mail during this time may be.

2. Remove Backups Off-Site:

If you are not presently using an automated off-site backup, to ensure that your backups are safely outside of your office, you will want to be certain that you have a complete copy of your most recent backup taken off-site Friday evening.

If you don’t already have off-site backups, now is not the time to set them up, but they are essential. Please contact us at 240-880-1944 as soon as possible to speak with a Frogworks specialist about your options.

3. Find Out What Your Building Management Office Plans Are:

The loss of power is expected when a hurricane hits. Some building management groups have turned off power in the building before the storm hits. If these are their plans, please shut down your equipment in order to avoid abrupt shutdowns. This includes computers, phone systems, fax machines, copiers, UPS’s, etc.

4. Remove Equipment from Floor & Move All Equipment Away from Windows:

If your office has a risk of flooding, this can obviously create significant issues with the computer equipment. Please make sure that all equipment is at least 12″ off the ground. Make sure to move all equipment at least 6 feet away from windows.

It is also advisable to protect your monitors and screens by taping cardboard to them.

5. Document ALL Emergency & Support Numbers:

It is important to document all emergency and technical support numbers and take them with you off-site. As an example, your Internet Service Provider and telephone line provider. If you do not have access to your office, you will need to contact these providers quickly to make other arrangements. Please make sure you have this documentation on paper since computers may not be accessible. Emergency contact details for Frogworks are included at the bottom of this post.

6. Take Pictures of Your Offices and Equipment:

Digital pictures can be stored on multiple pieces of equipment and backed up on your server as well. These pictures will be very handy if your office were to be affected by the hurricane.

7. Make Arrangements to Use Other Vehicles of Communication:

If your server and/or ISP are not up and running, you should be able to communicate through a different vehicle. Please remember that cell phone service should remain up, but may be interrupted. Texting or free e-mail services like Gmail may provide a short term way to communicate should your office lose power for an extended period of time.

8. Business Continuity Plan (BCP):

While today is not the time, you should periodically dust off your Business Continuity Plan (BCP) plan and see how well it still applies. If possible, go through a test and make sure all of the required personnel and systems are still available and aware of their roles. Your BCP should include how to contact fellow employees and clients in case the office is unavailable, where to meet and what you will need to function as a company. Distribute cellular numbers as well as home numbers to key team members. Assign an out of area contact to be available to receive information from your employees in case of emergency. If you don’t have a BCP, you should. Once we get through this hurricane, please feel free to contact us to discuss getting a BCP in place for your company so you will always have that plan that we all hope you will never need.

All of us at Frogworks hope you will weather this storm without issue and that your family, friends and co-workers will all remain safe and sound. If you have any questions or concerns about preparing for this weekend, please feel free to call our office at 240-880-1944 and talk with a member of our team. Please feel free to forward this information to any friends or colleagues who may be able to use it, with our compliments.

Stay Safe,

The Frogworks Team
240-880-1944
assistant@getfrogworks.com

By this time, you have no doubt heard about Hurricane Irene and its steady path toward the mid-Atlantic. As a savvy business-owner, you’re probably wondering what you can do to keep your business running smoothly should this storm (or any disaster!) hit close to home. Never fear–Frogworks is here! Read on for some great tips on disaster recovery best practices:

1. Make sure you have a written plan for emergency situations. This might seem obvious, but many businesses never go through the process of actually putting the steps down in words. If a disaster strikes, you don’t want there to be any grey area in your recovery process.
2. Back up your data, and know where it’s backed up. This is something you’ll need a trusted IT professional for–and we’re here to help if you need us. Remember–no tape backups!
3. Make sure you have remote access to your office. Again, we can point you towards the best remote solution for your office. That way, even if your office is unreachable, you can access your information. An added bonus is that your IT pro can get into your network quickly for emergency or maintenance work.
4. If you’re not on the cloud, store your server(s) off the floor. That might seem funny, but in the case of a flood it could save you thousands of dollars and hours of lost work.
5. Use a surge protector! Again, this might seem obvious, but many offices skip this step in basic equipment care. A $20 surge protector could save your computers in the case of an electrical surge–there’s really no reason not to invest in a few.

Of course, true disaster recovery requires a detailed, personalized plan for your business, beyond the tips listed above. If you don’t have a back-up plan, or if you’re concerned that your current plan isn’t thorough enough, give us a call today to learn more about your options.
Stay dry!