Productivity: The Battle of the Inbox

I started the year off with a simple goal. I wanted to have a clean inbox. I’m a bit Type-A (by a bit, I mean totally and completely). I like order. Things have places and they should be in them. All of the time.

This compulsive tendency has been a challenge living with teenage boys who live in a world of self imposed chaos. Clothes on the floor. Sports equipment discarded everywhere. Backpacks where important papers go to die. Throw in a crazy little dog and my world of order is thrown into complete disarray.

One of the few places where I used to be able to achieve simplicity and order was my inbox. Neat and orderly folders each titled with client names sat in a pristine row with emails sorted as they came in.

A few years ago, I got really busy. The kind of busy where I had to write down “eat lunch” and “take shower” on my daily to-do list just to make myself remember those routine daily tasks.. That is often the challenge of being a freelancer - your at-home life creeps into your work and your work infringes on your at-home life.

Somehow in the midst of that constant hustle, my inbox got completely out of control. Client emails mixed with a constant stream of informative newsletters and market research alerts. Emails from my family sat alongside the latest sale announcement from my favorite stores. Every day I would sit down and think, I really need to clean out my inbox. Week after week... month after month… year upon year…. until I could no longer tolerate it.

In January, I spent two full days going through email after email. Sorting. Deleting. Following up. It was liberating. I was able to finally achieve Inbox Zero. What is Inbox Zero? That special moment when your inbox is completely empty. - beautifully, wonderfully empty. The stress lifted. I felt free. It lasts about one minute. The moment it is empty you will start to hear the dreaded “bing” of a new message arriving to clutter up your world once again.

Truthfully, I have not been able keep it completely empty, but it’s no longer so full that I feel overwhelmed. Once a week I try to take the time to clean it up so I can find information that I need. Next up will be unsubscribing to stuff that I no longer find useful as it comes in to cut down the clutter. The ongoing battle allows me to focus on emails that I truly value and need rather than get bogged down in the endless stream of new messages. I doubt I will ever maintain a completely empty inbox, but I’ve found a system that works for me.

About the author:    The Business Girl is Terri Sullivan Biehn.  I have been a professional business writer and management consultant for more than fifteen years.  As a management consultant, I work with entrepreneurs to develop business plans and other documents.  Through my consulting practice, I coach entrepreneurs and small business owners on their general start-up, marketing, financial, operational and management issues.

Small Business Tip: Free Shipping Equals New Customers!

If there’s one thing customers love, it’s the belief that they are getting a great deal. One of the easiest ways to pass a deal onto your customers is to offer free shipping.

With the growth of the Internet shopper, the offer of free shipping has exploded. Nearly half of the online purchases last year involved free shipping with many consumers declaring that they will cancel a purchase if free or discounted shipping isn’t available.

There are lots of ways that a retailer can offer free shipping. It may be a straight up discount or a bonus for repeat customers. It may require a minimum purchase or be offered to exclusive subscribers. The one requirement is that your customer leaves the transactions feeling like they have received a wonderful deal.

Here’s a look at some of the free shipping options you may want to consider:

Free shipping on every order. Not many retailers offer the all free, all the time option. A handful of big retailers have embraced this model to help streamline the shopping experience for the customers. Fans of the free shipping model are L.L. Bean, Nordstrom and Sears.

Members only. For this free shipping option, you have to be members of the exclusive club. Typically this only involves signing up for a fee oriented online club (e.g. Amazon Prime) or signing up for frequent email blasts.

Minimum order size. One of the most popular free shipping options requires us to buy more than we originally intended to in order to receive the free shipping option.

Site-to-store shipping. One of the newest free shipping options is the site-to-store option offered by some big name retailers. This requires you to order online and then visit the retail store to pickup your goods.

Flat-rate shipping. It may not be totally free, but it represents a big discount.

About the author:    The Business Girl is Terri Sullivan Biehn.  I have been a professional business writer and management consultant for more than fifteen years.  As a management consultant, I work with entrepreneurs to develop business plans and other documents.  Through my consulting practice, I coach entrepreneurs and small business owners on their general start-up, marketing, financial, operational and management issues. 

Small Business Tip: Is Email Ruining Your Productivity?

Email can be the best friend of a small business owner or it can a major drain on your time!

Email can be invaluable tool designed to keep you in constant contact with your customers, employees, suppliers, and more. It can also be a distraction that pulls your attention away from the business of running your business efficiently.

If you find yourself being pulled into the email abyss with a never ending flow of messages flowing in and out of your mailbox, there are a few rules that can help streamline your communications and keep you focused on running your business.

1. Set aside a few dedicated times during the day to respond to emails

2. Limit the time of each email session to keep your business moving

3. Prioritize your responses so time critical emails are done first and less critical ones can be done at the end of the day

4. Clean out your subscriptions. If you don’t need to read it or you automatically hit the delete button, it’s time to unsubscribe!

5. Setup an email hierarchy so higher priority emails are sent to dedicated folders (e.g. sales) and less critical ones are set to your personal email (e.g. the latest photos of your sister’s kids)

Keep to these simple rules and watch your daily productivity increase along with your profits!

About the author:    The Business Girl is Terri Sullivan Biehn.  I have been a professional business writer and management consultant for more than fifteen years.  As a management consultant, I work with entrepreneurs to develop business plans and other documents.  Through my consulting practice, I coach entrepreneurs and small business owners on their general start-up, marketing, financial, operational and management issues. 

Small Business Tip: Dealing with Difficult Clients

There will come a time when you will have to deal with a difficult client or customer.  The ability to work with these difficult folks can make or break the success of your company.  Learning how to deal with these clients is a specialized skill that every entrepreneur must ultimately master.

Here are some strategies for working with those tough customers:

Taking the Time to Understand Their Needs.  Oftentimes a difficult client relationship arises from miscommunication.  You both are working towards the same outcome, but are essentially on different pages.  If you primarily communicate via email, it’s time for a conversation to get back on track.  If phone calls aren’t working, it’s time for a face-to-face meeting (if possible) to talk things through.  Ask questions and get to the root of the problem so you can work out your differences.  Taking a little time to understand what the client needs from you will save you countless hours of re-work and frustration and can ultimately lead to a long-term relationship for both of you.

Setting Limits.  There are some folks who need to have limits set for them.  Without specific limits, they can suck away hours of your productivity with a never-ending stream of requests and leave you spinning your wheels.  This may mean that you ask that change requests be sent in a single email rather than a flurry of small notes or that phone calls be made during a specific period of office hours.  Often the clients who need to have limits set are just excited or nervous about their businesses and just need to be reassured that you will make sure everything is done to their specifications.  Just reassure them and set up a process that works for both of you going forward.

Walking Away.  You can’t please everybody all of the time.  There are some clients that you will never be able to please no matter how hard you try.  If you have put in time and effort to make the relationship work and it’s still not going anywhere, it may be time to cut your losses. If you do decided that the time and stress needed to work things out just aren’t worth the effort, make sure you keep it professional and take the high road when you end the relationship.

About the author:    The Business Girl is Terri Sullivan Biehn.  I have been a professional business writer and management consultant for more than fifteen years.  As a management consultant, I work with entrepreneurs to develop business plans and other documents.  Through my consulting practice, I coach entrepreneurs and small business owners on their general start-up, marketing, financial, operational and management issues.