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JERPAT's Monthly Tips
February 1, 2006
Issue 4
Sponsored by JERPAT
Patty Benton, Editor
Missed one of our past issue? Click here
to view our archive.
In this issue:
Note from Patty
Tip of the Month-Organizing Outlook
Outlook Tips by Andrea Kalli
Putting Your VA to Work for You!
Article-Marketing Your Business Your Way - NOT His Way NOR Her Way
Special Offer
Note from Patty
I am so excited about how 2006 has started, and I see only good
things for this year! We are happy to add some new clients to
the roster, and add some new team members. As we grow, we
strive to be sure that we can meet all our clients needs and leave
them 100% satisfied. We are happy to welcome Karen Marino and
Jeannette Shackelford. Karen brings 20 years of administrative
experience to the team. Jeannette brings her web design
expertise to us. We are very excited at the growth of JERPAT.
We are planning on some exciting changes to help all of our clients
grow their company.
On a personal note, my "baby" turned 1 on the 20th. It is
amazing at how quickly she is growing. With an older sister (3)
around, she feels she should be able to do more. I also have
been working on an online ministry since November that has finally
launched. I am proud to say that I designed the site by myself
(I had a great trainer, thanks Jerome!). For those of you that
are Christians, you will want to check out the site and sign up for
the free membership. You get some great e-books for free just
for signing up that were donated by two JERPAT clients; Scott
Rosenthal (www.careerimpact.org)
and Kimberly Chastain (www.christianworkingmom.com).
You also get a free listing in our membership directory with a lot of
other added bonuses. Whether you consider yourself a Christian
or not, there are a lot of great resources listed on it!
We look forward to hearing your suggestions, questions, and comments!
God
bless,
Patty Benton
JERPAT
Virtual Assistants and Web Designs
Tip of the Month
To help keep your emails in Outlook organized and
manageable, set rules for sorting your email. This is very
detailed, but simple to learn, so instead of going step by step
through the process, I will tell you to go to "Tools" at the top of
your Outlook box, and select "Rules and Alerts." Play with all
the different choices it gives you as it is an awesome feature.
You can check and uncheck options to make Outlook do exactly what you
want. Here are some ideas on how you can use rules to help keep
you organized:
I use it
to sort all my emails so that when I need to reference an email in
the future, I do not have to sort through 500 emails. I have
main folder set up, with labels such as Clients, JERPAT, Networking
Groups. Under each of these folders I have sub folders.
Each client has a folder with rules to have their emails go to their
folder. Under JERPAT, I keep folders such as Marketing, Online
Orders, etc.
One client
asked if she could sort the emails, but still have a copy in her
Inbox, as she would forget to see if there was an email in the folder
(when you get a new email in a folder, you get a bold number next to
the folder  ).
We arranged her rules so that a copy would go to her folders for
future reference, but her email stayed in the Inbox so she wouldn't
miss it.
There is
an option to set a sound when someone send you an email. If you
are waiting on an email, but would like to do other work, set this
sound so that when the email comes in, you can know immediately.
There are
so many different ways you can use "Rules and Alerts" to keep your
Outlook organized and keep you on task. For more specific help,
see our special offer of the month.
Outlook Tips
by Andrea Kalli
by Andrea Kalli
akalli@virtualassist.net
Tip #1
While you are able to create subfolders of your main contact folder
as a way to separate different types of contacts, a feature you will
be losing in your subfolders is the ability to get popup reminders on
the flags you set. For example: you set a follow-up flag to call a
customer at the end of the week about a quote you sent them. If the
contact is not in your default contact folder, you will not get a
popup reminder when you open Outlook that day. Personally, I'm not a
big fan of popup reminders for contacts, because the popups always
seem to 'popup' when you are busy doing something else and you have
to postpone it anyway. A better way to deal with flags for any
contact folder is to set up a filtered custom view called 'Follow up
List' filtered as such: Reminder Time is on or before today. This
type of view is dynamic and will keep itself updated based on the
follow up flag date you set. So, a common process would be as
follows...you open your Outlook for the day, you go to the contact
folder of choice, you go to the view you created called 'Follow up
List', you 'work' the list throughout the day at times that best
suits your needs, as you open each contact record on the list and
finish your business with them you update the flag date to another
future date for follow up -- maybe 1 more week or 2 more years...it
doesn't really matter. The point is to have a follow up flag date set
for each and every contact record. The number one rule in contact
management is that you will want to 'touch' each contact record at
one point or another, so that no one falls through the cracks. If you
want, you can even set up this filtered view to only show you Active
contacts, as long as you have Active in the contact record
somewhere...like as a category. Still, you have to go to each contact
folder and 'work' each Follow up List. Although some people have a
hard time keeping all contact record in a single folder, by using
Categories as the means to 'separate' records you can accomplish the
same results, and it is really the purpose of the Category field.
However, I think you should do what seems right to you as long as you
know what to expect.
Tip #2
Categories...what can I say, they are such a powerful management tool
with so much to offer. If you haven't played with how you can utilize
them yet, then you are in for a treat! If you have ever worked in a
Contact Management application, you know you are able to identify
your contacts based on whatever need your company has, such as:
Vendor, Partner, Active, Prospect, etc. The ability to easily
identify your contacts is the core of any contact manager. Outlook
gives you a Categories field to perform such an action. Outlook comes
with a built-in list of Categories you can use on not only contacts,
but all other areas of Outlook as well. Each computer that has
Outlook installed has its own Master Category List. You have the
ability to add your own custom Categories to the Master Category
List. You can give a contact record multiple Categories. Once you
have assigned Categories to your contacts, use the built-in view
called “By Category” to easily locate contacts for the assigned
Categories. At this point you can select all contacts given a
particular Category and perform actions such as sending the selected
contacts an email, create a meeting request for them, do a mail merge
to letters or labels, etc. Very powerful indeed!
Free videos available for the tips at
http://www.virtualassist.net/OutlookProductivityTips.htm.
Videos require Macromedia Flash plugin (you will be instructed to
download it if not already installed).
The Convenience of Virtual Training and
Assistance
Andrea Kalli Virtual Trainer and Assistant, LLC provides remote,
interactive Outlook 2003 training for small groups and one-on-one
sessions, as well as online support services for all versions of
Outlook, all at the comfort of your own desk or home PC. We offer
Outlook usability support for you or for all your employees. It's
like having an in-house Outlook expert! Empower your employees to use
the powerful collaboration features of Outlook with Exchange Server.
We focus on training users to get the most out of Outlook in the
business world. Onsite group Outlook training is available for the
Denver metro area of Colorado. Think about the immediate benefits to
virtual training...no more time spent driving, using valuable gas,
and looking or paying for parking. All this at a cost that is lower
than most traditional training classes. To learn more about this
unique way of learning please visit
www.virtualassist.net.
Putting Your VA to Work for You!
(adapted from 101 Plus Ways to Use a
Virtual Assistant (VA) from coachville.com)
Since we know you need rules to keep you
organized, how about using your VA to make sure important emails are
responded to quickly. Set-up an email account such as
info@yourwebdomain.com.
You can have that email go directly to your VA, or set it up so the
they check your email online (as a VA, I personally like client
emails to come to me, so I can have a rule set-up to sort them, and
know when an email comes in for the client). Your VA can then
sort, respond to routine requests, and forward only the important
items to their client. This reduces the time a client spends on
responding to emails and frees them up to work on other more
productive things.
You can take this a step further and set up the
account so that your VA can use that email address to respond to the
inquiries they receive. Outlook allows a VA to manage multiple
email addresses and assign specific signature blocks (one that
markets and gives the image of coming from your office) with specific
email addresses (ex.
info@yourwebdomain.com).
Marketing Your Business Your
Way - NOT His Way NOR Her Way
By Linggar Sentanu Japra
Intro from Patty: I choose this article
because many of you have asked me about marketing, and it is
something that many of us are fearful of. I like this article
because it brings the message across that we are all different, and
we need to use our uniqueness to market our businesses. Though
we learn from the experts, stepping outside the box, and recognizing
our strengths and weaknesses can work to our advantage. Enjoy
this light article!
What's
wrong with his or her way? Is it because it's a me too way? Did you
ask? Well, it is your business you are marketing. There is nothing
wrong with his, her and me too way. You just need to adjust things to
suit your situation. In other words, your business simply should be
done your way.
Mr X is a successful marketer. His way of marketing has brought him
good business. He has screenshots of big commissions and a long list
of testimonials. If you want to earn big money as a net marketer,
then follow his way. You are a newbie, you simply don't have your
way. His way is time-tested and proven to give awesome results.
Almost all web rockstars' advertisements show powerful wordings like
that. You will also find earnings disclaimer somewhere on their site.
It basically says that you may or may not achieve as good as those
described in there. Your success can only be guaranteed by you and
only you, NOT him NOR his products. That is certainly the ultimate
truth. What works for others may not necessarily work for you. Do,
however, learn from successful people like him. They are indeed your
good references.
Success comes through a long and winding road, bumpy too :-) So
people say. The now successful people have gone through that. They
too started a newbie. They kept going even when the going got tough.
Some of them even got to the bottom where things just couldn't get
any worse. They just kept going. That's the spirit worth having.
That's the attitude worth following. Never let any bad thing or any
handicap by human standard prevent you from making progress and
achieving good results. What is this handicap by human standard thing
you are talking about? I hear you asked :-) The following story gives
a good description of it. Let's get to it now.
How did he do it? He couldn't even.....
The question arises whenever we see a handicap can do as good as or
better than normal people. My friend told this "true" story. He must
have got it from his reading somewhere. Never mind the source, it's
the content that I am interested in. Here we go.
There was a businessman selling encyclopedias. His bookshop was in a
shopping mall. He wanted to increase his sales by recruiting
sales-people. So he did. 20 people showed up, 1 of them had a
speaking disability. Normal people can simply pronounce "butterfly",
he goes "bu..but...butte..r..but..ter...fly". His name is Jondo (not
his real name :-)). The businessman only paid commission on sales
done. Deep inside his heart, he knew Jondo had come to the wrong
place, certainly NOT selling his EXPENSIVE encyclopedia. He didn't
show his feelings. He gave everybody the same toolkit and 2 books in
a bag to get started. After a short briefing, everyone went their way
to sell. Office hours are 10am-5pm. It was 9:50am.
10:30am came Jondo with money for the 2 books, grabbed another 2 and
took off.
11:30am came Jondo with money for the 2 books, this time took 4 and
off he went. The other NORMAL guys hadn't sold the original 2 yet.
The businessman got puzzled. How did he do it? He asked his shop
assistant to take over for him. He decided to follow and see Jondo in
action.
Jondo stopped at the hall where traffic was heavy. He approached the
passing by person that took a glance at him. His bag on his shoulder,
one hand holding a book, another pointing at it. He said :"Sir, goo...d
bo..ok." As the person stopped for a while, that very moment Jondo
opened the book and went :"I...I re..ad fo..for you."
That's how Jondo did it. That's NOT in the toolkit. That's NOT what
he taught his sales people to do or would do himself. His eyes got
wet with tears beyond control.
At the end of office hour, the BEST normal sales person sold 4 books.
Majority didn't sell any. Jondo sold 10 by marketing his way. End of
story.
Even though the story is about selling, but the idea applies to
anything you do in life. You already HAVE what it takes to succeed.
You already HAVE your way within you. You just need to make the best
out of whatever you have NOW. Start from where you are and make
progress after progress....never ending. Your way will show only by
your doing NOT just reading, thinking, dreaming or you-name-it non
action.
Start putting into practice whatever know-how you have now, if you
haven't done it already. Practice makes perfect, so people say. You
know they are right of course :-)
Linggar Sentanu Japra is an ordinary easy going man, very
motivational, inspirational and down to earth. He is the kind of
friend you can talk to with ease and confidence.
http://www.free-webspace.biz/lsjap/freetm.htm.
Special Offer
Did you look at the Rules and Alerts in Outlook, and are
not sure where to start? Let us help you! We can help in
2 ways:
1.
Contact us and we can help you get started by consulting with you to
find the best way to get you organized.
~OR~
2. Contact us and we can get your rules set up AND train you on
how to do future rules.
What's
the charge? $25/hour (this is a $10/hour discount from our
normal hourly rate) with a minimum of 1 hour. JERPAT retainer
clients contact us for a special discount based on your plan.
Contact
us for a free consultation to see if we can help you! We have a
new 800 number. Leave a message and we are notified
immediately! 877-506-2637 ext. 702
(Good only for the month of February,
2006)
Contact
Patty Benton
va@jerpat.org
www.moretime4u.org
www.jerpat.org/CHome.html
877-506-2637 ext. 702
(Call anytime, leave a message, and we are notified immediately!)
303.766.3051 9
am-5 pm MST Monday-Friday
© 2005 JERPAT
No part of this
newsletter may be reproduced unless specified in the authors byline.
Please respect all guidelines provided in this newsletter. If there are
no guidelines provided for a section of this newsletter you would
like to reproduce, please send print request to
jerpattips@moretime4u.org.
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