Improving Productivity
Key to Success - Organizing the Office
Written by Richard San Juan for Gaebler Ventures
How to achieve success? Every startup or small business wants to achieve success. There is no one right answer to that question. Otherwise, all startups and businesses wouldn't have to worry about not being profitable. Some startups employ complex business strategies. However, sometimes it simply involves organizing the office so that your company is functioning efficiently.
Organization of the office is such a broad topic that in this article we will just be focusing on how improved office communications can benefit the financial position of the company.
Having a set protocol on dealing with the issues of e-mails, phones, and meetings will truly help a startup or small business in working efficiently. The minimization of wasted time will of course increase the probability of increased revenue and success.
As an entrepreneur or small business founder, it is highly likely you will be receiving a lot of e-mails from numerous people. It is essential to adopt a habit of good e-mail management.
Creating an electronic filing cabinet with appropriate folder names will do wonders in sorting out the daily intake of e-mails. After reading the incoming e-mails and responding to the necessary ones, you can move those to the storage folders. This will allow you to determine which e-mail still needs an action to be done. In addition, many companies put a limit on how many e-mails are located in your inbox for bandwidth purposes.
Therefore, placing the e-mails you've already taken action on in the archived storage folder allows you to be free from the interruption regarding the restriction on size when you are either expecting to send or receive further e-mail. On issues regarding e-mail having an attachment file that might be used at a later date, it would be a good idea to save the attachment as a file in your electronic filing system. This assures you that you won't have to spend valuable time searching through your e-mails for the attachment at a later date.
If you are required to send the exact same type of e-mail on a routine basis, it would be helpful to have a template readily available. Then all that would be needed to do is fill in the particulars such as name, amount for each e-mail, and the date. In this manner, you can reuse this template numerous times while saving time. Also, any reference document that is available electronically should be printed out and kept in a more visible location such as on your desktop.
This allows for easier and quicker access to the file. Lastly, old e-mails that are more than six months old and not needed any longer should be deleted. This frees up disk space and thus allows your network and computer systems to function more efficiently.
In addition to effective e-mail management, phone management is just as equally important. For example, when it is required that you leave a voice mail for someone, do so only if the issue you are calling about is a simple question or issue. This will prevent the need to play telephone tag.
However, if the issue deals with more complicated answers or questions, it is more appropriate to talk with the individual personally than to leave a lengthy voice mail. When someone leaves a message on your voice mail, they should be responded to within 24 hours. Even if your schedule might be too hectic to respond to a specific question or inquiry, you should at least acknowledge that you received their question and you will get back to them at a later date.
In this manner, it shows you are responsive and are making an effort to answer prospective business partners or customers.
Richard San Juan is currently pursuing an MBA degree with an emphasis in Finance from DePaul University in Chicago. He is particularly interested in writing about business news and strategies.
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