Below is an e-mail I received from long-standing Apprentice Member, Bennett Tavar. Whenever there is a new virus, scam or phishing e-mail that is taking hold, Bennett sends out a “LBS Security Alert” e-mail like the one below. As you can see this is just a simple, text e-mail alerting me (and his clients of course) to the new threat. He’s not sending them EVERY time a new virus appears—that would be a daily job—but only when there is a big enough threat that is taking hold and spreading fast online.  I’ll bet this e-mail took all of 5 minutes to create and send, yet this alone has more value than 99% of the junk newsletters I get with boring, off-target content. If you want a simple and easy way to stay in touch with clients, you’re looking at it. I would suggest that you add on two things:

1. Encourage the people to send this to their friends and staff to make sure they are aware as well, and…

2.  Mention that “as a <<name of managed services>> client, we’re monitoring your network for suspicious activity. However, if you aren’t a <<name of managed services >> member, simply reply to this e-mail for more information on how we can monitor and maintain your network’s safety against these types of threats.”

Additionally, this COULD be a weekly e-mail alert that summarizes any new scams online that could be a potential threat to your clients. Plus, with all the scams, viruses and cyber criminals cropping up, this could be an EASY way to “appropriately touch” your clients (thanks, Peter).