On behalf of everyone associated with Word Constructions, have a very Merry Christmas (or at least a lovely day if you don’t celebrate Chri
stmas as such) and a wonderful, prosperous and safe 2011.
And for those who have been good all year, I hope you enjoy your visit from Santa!
Keep smiling and use your words wisely!
We’re heading for Christmas and most businesses are trying to be prepared for the December rush.
Many businesses send a Christmas email to their customers, supporters and suppliers so here are some tips for writing your email…
Adding some cheery graphics and/or colour is nice, but not essential; if you do add graphics, make sure the email doesn’t become too big.
I came across a blog post about the domino effect and it got me thinking.
Obviously, one little thing left undone can cause another little thing to happen and so on until there is a problem – for example, miss one weeks back up of your computer doesn’t seem like a big deal until you have missed many weeks back ups and then your hard drive fails…
This is where contingency plansand attention to detail are important. Sometimes we get busy and it is easy to leave things until later (and the reality is that with only 24 hours in a day, some things have to be left until later) but we need to watch out for the important things not being forgotten. Maybe a set time each week to review important things could be a valuable use of time.
Here are five things I think should be regularly checked before they become a problem:
Of course, not all domino effects are negative, so I’ll post about that tomorrow!
Does your business have a document register?
It sounds a bit dry and perhaps a bit overly interested in details, but a document register can save a lot of time and keep things simple and consistent – I’ve certainly seen this in action as Communications Manager for companies with many forms and standard letters.
A document register is simply a list of every document the business uses as standards. It can include forms, letters, marketing flyers, information guides, fact sheets, website banners, promotional articles, stationery items and eBooks.
If there are many documents, it is usually worth dividing into categories (list all the forms then all the flyers for example).
Document registers can also be a handy way to communicate with new team members – they can see what exists to help them learn about the business and ensure they don’t ‘reinvent the wheel’.
In its simplest form, the register just lists the documents so it’s easy to see what exists.
More complicated but infinitely more useful are registers that include a code for each document. These codes are changed each time a document is updated so the register becomes a reference for ensuring you have the most recent version of something.
And a record to spot any documents that are perhaps a bit old and overdue for a refresh.
Here are a few points I’ve learned from using document registers in different companies:
Any questions on who to make use of a document register?
Do you manage a lot of documents? Do you worry about old versions getting confused with new versions?
This is why you see a document code on many documents, especially those from major organisations. They make it easy to tell one version from another at a glance – this is known as version control and can save a lot of problems.
There is no central system for giving documents codes – each business makes up its own system and introduces it as it is the business who needs to use the codes.
While there is no single coding system, most codes will include the date as that is the simplest way to determine how old a document is.
Other than that, it is up to you how the code is created. The complexity of your code will also depend on the number of documents you deal with – a few documents can be numbered 1 to 20 for example, but a large number of documents may be better divided into types and then given a number (e.g. F1 is form 1 and L24 is letter 24).
Here are a few tips from the systems I have created and used in the past:
Do you think the Internet (and all the associated media that has followed) has changed our perception of an expert?
We all love ‘big names’ and are more likely to pay for a concert or conference with someone we know of than a complete stranger. And many organisers of events get caught up in finding a big name to draw crowds.
Yet I don’t think you have to be a big name to be an expert and some of the best presentations I’ve been to were run by people I hadn’t heard of before. Not every successful person is rich or famous, not all great business people own/work in the corporate world, not all talented people are widely recognised, and so on.
Getting back to my first question, is the net changing some of these perceptions? I think so as people in traditional ways were not recognised as experts or ‘worthy’ of teaching us can now share their knowledge and skills through articles, blogs, newsletters, tweets, webinars and more.
If you are thinking of attending an event, does the ‘size of a name’ influence you greatly? Would you Google (or use social media searches) the presenters to find out more?
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