Benefit From a Business Diary Shared by All

GO PAPERLESS SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT How To Improve Your Efficiency By Using A Business Diary Available To All
Diary
	"When was the last time someone in your business forgot an appointment, double booked or went to the wrong address ?" Everyone uses a Diary of some sort or other because we simply cannot remember everything. So we’ve all learned to write things down – particularly appointments, birthdays … in one place. This is likely to be either a paper diary, (and most people still have one), a personal organiser or a software product. Most though are still individual to us so each person has their own diary. How often have you telephoned to make an appointment with someone whose out and been told that "I’m not sure whether he’s free so I’ll ask him to call you tomorrow? Frustrating isn’t it? But what if it is you who is out and what would your customer think? In an attempt to overcome this a Paper Diary is used for the whole office. But because it can only be in one physical place at a time individuals also keep they’re on diaries too. Apart from doing things twice what happens when an appointment is changed and how confident are you that both are always in sync? It’s also likely that you’ll appoint "A Keeper of the Diary"- To control things. An improvement over no office diary at all certainly, but what happens when she’s out, or someone borrows the diary. The obvious solution if your business has a computer is to use a Software Diary. Now you have an office diary that’s always in one place. Ideally the diary needs to be available to everyone on your office network so people can make their own appointments. Now you know what everyone is doing at any time. Who’s available for a meeting on a particular day and at what time. Who’s out of the office & who’s in. And if this is the sole diary for your business – and it should be - no more double bookings. So now we’ve made a major leap forward – but we’re still not half way though … Your Network Diary is People Orientated & Inward Looking because historically that’s what diaries are. Yes, it needs to meet this need. Importantly though it also needs to be Outward Looking so it’s Customer Orientated too. The solution is to use a network diary that’s integrated with your Customer Database. So every customer related event is linked to not only the person in your office but also to the customer. Now your Business Diary is Customer Centric too. What happens if you’re out of the office though & need to make an appointment? Well, there are many ways of doing so. You can always phone a colleague – any colleague or email. Even better though if you can simply dial into your office diary & make an appointment for yourself. There are several safe & reliable Remote Access products available. I use an Internet based one myself that works really well – it’s amazingly cheap too. It really isn’t difficult these days and next year you’ll be booking an appointment in the office diary via mobile phone! What’s impossible today will be common place tomorrow. So moving on … Just imagine you’re trying to find an appointment you’ve made with a customer some weeks ahead or a meeting you attended some months prior. Typically you’ll scroll through the pages of a paper diary or electronic diary looking for the appointment. Now with your Customer Centric Diary you still do this of course but you’ll save time by simply viewing the Customer Folder and see past, current & future events. This type of Diary provides a host of productivity benefits. I’ll list just a few … Tick [] those benefits that you get at the moment so you can see the aspects you need to improve. □ What cover do you have on a particular day? Now you can see at a glance whose doing what & at when. □ Need to make an appointment for yourself & a colleague? You can make appointments on behalf of others. This could be for one or more people or even a group such as Managers, Directors, Accounts … □ You can send messages inviting people to a meeting ensuring that they’re available and without using Email. And receive their replies there and then. □ You can set an Alarm to remind you & others some time prior to a meeting, visit … So you avoid being late or even forgetting altogether □ You can set up Repeat Events such as a weekly management meeting. Simply state the period & frequency and people & dates are scheduled automatically □ You can Email a client or absent colleague to confirm a meeting directly you enter details in the diary. Just think of the impression you create with the customer when you do. □ You can view just your own appointments, those for another person or group. Particularly useful if there are many entries in the diary. □ You can make private entries for your eyes only – typically for birthdays, anniversaries … □ Why have a separate system for recording absences, sickness, study leave, holidays. Now you can simply analyse the diary and produce reports on holidays, sickness, staff training … □ You can make Client Memos that pop up whenever you view the client’s folder. Useful if the client’s On Stop or simply as a reminder □ And every client related entry can be viewed either from the diary or from the client’s folder. So you get a Two Way View. You choose whichever suits you at the time. So now you really are Customer Centric.