WELCOME TO MAY, 2010

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DO YOU USE OUTLOOK?

GET THE MOST OUT OF IT!
By Diane Snead

Do you feel email is a necessary evil some days?  Electronic mail was going to change the business world for the better and instead it seems to have become another to-do.  Outlook can be a great tool for business professionals in facilitating email, but are you also using it for the Calendar, Tasks, and To-do’s?  Taking some time to become familiar with the different functions of this software will save you hours in the long term.

EMAIL
It consumes more time than you would ever imagine.  The average employee spends 13 HOURS each week reading and responding to email!  Email should only be used for reference or non-urgent correspondence.  If you need an answer quickly, call!

• Use folders consistently.  Keep your inbox only for open items.  Would you let your home mailbox overflow with mail and letters?  For frequently used folders, consider adding a symbol or number preceding the folder name to send it to the top of your folder’s list.
• Create rules to automate your inbox.  This works well for reference information and other correspondence that you don’t need to screen and want to view later.
• Use templates for frequently sent emails.  You can even customize the format of the email!
• Route your other email accounts to Outlook.  Have multiple businesses?  You could set up separate email signatures, separate contact lists, and try to remember to use the right email signature with the right email.  Or, set up simultaneous Outlook accounts – ask us how!

 CALENDAR
If your phone can sync with Outlook, then do it!  Make it a priority, as a minimum, to sync first thing in the morning and again before you leave for the day.  Don’t make the mistake of keeping two calendars; it’s guaranteed appointments will get dropped.

• Recurring appointments aren’t just for your network meetings.  Schedule time to work on your business, just as you’re scheduling time working in your business.  
• Color can be a powerful cue.  You’ll know at a glance how you’re spending your time.  Consider having client meetings to be green, networking meetings are yellow, etc.
• Is the 1 hour time block not small enough?  You can change the interval down to 5 minutes.  In day mode, right click on the time intervals, and select the time interval you want.
• Do you frequently travel for your job?  Add a second time zone!

TASKS
Why are you still keeping your to-do’s on Post-its and random scraps of paper?  Having your to-do list with you – at your office and also when you’re running around town – not only makes you more efficient but allows you to accomplish tasks when time is available.

• Need to record the hours you or your employees worked to complete an action item?  Create a task for the event, click on the Details tab, and record your time.  This works great for positions where compensation must be billed by client.
• Use your tasks and your calendar together by scheduling time to finish the task.  No need to write the to-do and then enter it again in your calendar.  Simply drag and drop the task onto the calendar icon and an appointment for the task opens.  I wonder what other items can be dragged and dropped?
• If you have Outlook 2007, the task bar is a great way to see all of your appointments and to-dos at a glance, even when checking email.

CONTACTS
There’s no excuse for not having contact information in the same place where you respond to emails.  Getting those business cards into Outlook – quickly – is a topic for another time, but contact us to see what options can benefit you now. 

• Create specific contact lists for email campaigns, newsletters, family and other personal contacts.
• When creating a new contact, don’t forget to add in a category – you’ll find the button at the bottom of the contact address card.  List by key clients, industry, or create your own category.  Now you can sort by category, not just alphabetically!
• Forward colleagues contact info from those in your database.  Right click on the contact name, select Forward, and a new email pops up with their contact info as an attachment.  If you need to send a vcard (vcf),  simply open the contact, go to Actions, select Forward vCard from the drop box.

Outlook is just one of several contact management systems available, and whichever program you’re currently using, spend some time to learn about the different features.  It truly can be your friend if you’ll let it!

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Microsoft Outlook Workshops
If you're frustrated with the volume of emails, you'll need to attend these productivity-focused workshops.

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