Make the most of your client files!
When folks first start in business, they don’t know what they don’t know. Yes, that makes sense if you think about it. Quite often business owners don’t know what to do with client information. How many people don’t keep client files? Do you? What do you keep in them? Scraps of paper? Sticky-notes? Do you have a checklist to set up those files?
Client files are only good if you can access the information in them. Really, what’s the whole point of keeping client information, if not to call up our clients again and ask them for more business or a referral? Think about starting with a different color file folder for only your clients to highlight them over the other types of files on your desk. Clients equal money, which equals not having to work for someone else ever again.
If all of your client files contain similar information, think about a checklist to set up client files. This will ensure that you’ve got all you need in there if you have to take the file with you. Do you always need a business card? A map to the location? A blank invoice? A credit card slip to process payment?
Ultimately, keeping organized client files is a way to grow your business and touch the people who love your service and find more people like them. So keeping client files in a systematized way is a good thing.
Room to Breathe, IKEA, and the kitchen sink!
Room To Breathe will be working with IKEA, your favorite purveyor of furniture and Swedish meatballs, to provide hints and tips for how to best organize your kitchen space… especially that junk drawer!
Kitchens are the nerve center of the home. Everything from cooking and food storage to ironing, paying the bills and surfing the net can happen in the kitchen. Sometimes there just isn’t enough space for it all to happen…never mind being able to find the flashlight when you’re looking for it!
On Saturday, November 11, 2006, Jessica Chapman, Owner and Principal Organizer of Room To Breathe, will be providing two half-hour sessions about how to get the most storage and function out of the space in your kitchen. Please join Room To Breathe in the Kitchen Department at IKEA in West Sacramento at either 12:00pm or 2:00pm for tips and tricks. Staff from both IKEA and Room To Breathe will be on hand to show customers where to find products and answer questions about working with a Professional Organizer to achieve the results you desire!
Yes, Virginia, it’s almost Christmas!
Every retailer has started to remind us that it’s time to get out and get shopping. Before you brave the shopping mall, take a moment to think about your office and how you can get it into shape before the holidays.
Many businesses tend to slow down during the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas and multitudes of holiday parties are given and attended. Is your office ready for the party season? Can you leave it and come back and still know what you were working on and get right back into the groove?
October and November are great months for spending a few focused hours on getting your office “in shape”. Think about your filing, the office layout, and preparation for the New Year. If you needed to lay your hand on an important document, how quickly could you find it? Are you digging through piles of paper on your desk? Is it easy?
The “Arm Swipe” filing method of scooping all the desktop papers into a box doesn’t work too well, especially when a client asks you for something during the party. Whether you have a home office, cubicle, or full office with a closing door, having guests to your space can be an intimidating experience. Allocating the time to review, refresh and refine your systems will certainly impress those guests, prospects, and clients you invite over when they see how organized you and your office are.
As a reminder, Room To Breathe provides hands-on services to assist you in purging paperwork and setting-up unique systems quickly and efficiently. We would love to help you! Give us a call at (916) 444-7666.