Instead of using a regular stamp or the franking machine with your post this Christmas (business or personal) how about personalising your mail with Royal Mail Smilers?  You can add a photo, choose a stamp design, this is then printed for you by Royal Mail and the finished product is sent to you for you to use on your envelopes.  You can opt to just have a stamp design and no photo.  Not only is it a great way to cheer up that envelope but it can be a good marketing tool for business mail.  You can find more about them by using this link to the Royal Mail site – http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content2?catId=3800007&mediaId=3800008&keyname=SMILERS

As an alternative how about the Scouts?  In an earlier blog post I mentioned using your local scout group for card deliveries, it has official clearance to run a Scout Post Service and will cost up to 20p a card.   Ideal if you have lots of cards or mail to be delivered locally.

Whatever you do happy mailing!

I had a conversation this week with a business about what was different about us compared to hiring a temp?

Our focus is on the admin and secretarial service as a dedicated business resource and we work for a few hours or much longer depending on your project or requirements.  In some cases we have clients that started with us over 3 years ago.  But we try to establish a business relationship with our clients to provide a high quality service and become more of a business partner to you.  Additionally we only bill for time worked, not for any breaks, holidays, sickness, pension, NI – the list can be endless!

As we have grown and become more established our skill base has increased, we offer support for typing, data entry, invoicing, presentations, record management, newsletters, mailing services, event management, personal assistant, telephone calling, researching – our list seems to keep growing! 

We like to think we offer a service that provides real value – why not contact us to see how we can help you? 

Then shall I begin………….No this is not Listen With Mother but it is about whether you are sitting correctly at your PC or Laptop.

I have been doing some work on my Laptop recently and found that I have had some neck strain because with a Laptop you have to look down at the screen.  It is not very ergonomic and then I discovered you can get Laptop stands which lift the screen to make it more user friendly.

You can also get Copyholders to hold paper next to your PC/Laptop on a stand or you can get a clip to attach to your PC/Laptop instead.  This will help when you are inputting information onto the PC/Laptop.  For your wrist when working with a PC you could also get a gel mouse pad to ease the strain.

Some of the ones to shop for are:

• Kensington Easy Rider Stand for Laptop
• Fellowes Easel Copyholder for your Laptop/PC
• Kensington Flexclip Copyholder for your PC
• Belkin Waverest Gel Mouse Pad

Of course you should also take regular breaks and if you can - do some neck and arm exercises to loosen your muscles.

Happy working!

When you add a contact to your email address book or send an email from your own account did you know you can personalise this in Microsoft Outlook?  So instead of using the same standard email that you are sending to or from i.e. instead of info@name.co.uk you could alter it so that it shows up as Comapny Name (for instance Your Admin Assistant) in the recipient’s in box.   Also you could alter the display name of the recipient so that it is more personalised when the recipient opens the email and sees the “To” field at the top.

To change it:

• For your own email account to change how your name is displayed in the recipient’s in box, go into – Tools/EMail Accounts/Change existing account/Change/ – then change the Your Name field.  Make sure the email address field however is fully correct.
• To change how recipient’s see their own name go into – Contacts/Choose the contact you wish to change/change the Display Name As field.  Again make sure the email address field is fully correct.

If you need help with this function please do not hesitate to contact me.

Too may tasks on your admin to do list?  Feel you are stretched here, there and everywhere with no time for real work?  Here is a way of tackling them:

• First take a deep breath!
• Order them in priority – what needs to be done now, tomorrow or next week?
• Allocate the time they will take next to them
• Delegate what you can – either to a colleague, secretary or relative
• Draw up a schedule, could be handwritten, typed or a wallchart.  Microsoft Outlook also has a good electronic calendar, task list and reminder system
• Give yourself a little treat when you have completed a stage of them
• For the future allocate a little bit of each day to general admin tasks
• Look at ways of saving your time by delegating more if you can (ahem that is where we can help if you like!)
• Limit activities such as web browsing and email to a minimum, they can take up too much valuable time
• If all else fails go outside, take a walk, have a long break and come back refreshed.  Nothing is ever too important that it cannot wait for a little while!

Dell will shortly be bringing out some new colours for their laptop range based on OPI Nail Colours with cool names such as Strawberry Margarita and Kyoto Pearl.  This is in addition to their current range of 200 other colours and interesting artist designs you can currently choose from.  Perhaps a Christmas present for someone or even for yourself to add a little style in your office.

If you wanted to be uber chic you could marry it up with one of the new Samsung Genio mobile phones which also come in a myriad of colours.

The links for both of them are:

Dell – http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/design_studio/en/us/design_studio

Samsung – http://www.samsungmobile.co.uk/mobile-phones/samsung-genio-touch?kind=latest

Holiday occasions provide an opportunity to add a little bit of sparkle to your documents.  Particularly for training sessions and presentations.  They can add interest and life to what otherwise can be something that is a little boring.

Halloween is one such occasion.  If you have a powerpoint presentation why not choose a Halloween theme?  The shops are brimming with decorations and gifts for Halloween.  You could use the gifts as handouts or have place cards that look a bit more interesting!

Need to display some posters round your workplace – why not choose a Halloween background to catch people’s eye.  Perhaps you have some clients or friends to mail, how about adding a theme to your labels? 

There are some templates to try on Microsoft Office – http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween

With a strike by Royal Mail possible what can you do to minimise the effect it will have on you and your business?

The Royal Mail Service is actually very competitive and effective but it can have a real impact when service is suspended.  Here are some alternative strategies:

• Get organised and think ahead, send your mail early if you can (for instance cards)
• Send things electronically, although e-mail can be unsecure so think about web servers.  If you don’t have a secure log in web space you could try using Box Net or You Send It for storing, sharing or sending large files – www.box.net and www.yousendit.com
• Use a courier service - although shop around for quotes as they will differ, the big ones are DHL and Parcelforce but there may be ones local to you that could provide a more competitive localised quote – www.dhl.co.uk and www.parcelforce.com
• If it is leaflets or brochures you need delivering consider a distribution company such as Link Direct or DBS Limited, again you may find a more competitive and targeted quote from a business locally though – www.linkdirect.co.uk and www.dbslimited.co.uk
• Get in touch with your customers and suppliers in person – walk, enjoy the fresh air and personal contact!  In the last strike we delivered some mail for one of our customers ourselves and the free exercise and fresh air was a treat!
• Use the Royal Mail Special Delivery Service – this is likely to continue even with a strike, it is a premium cost but guarantees next day delivery
• You could try your local scout group for card deliveries, it has official clearance to run a Scout Post Service and costs up to 20p a card
• Royal Mail has its competitors since the market was opened and you could try one of these operators – TNT and DHL - however even in a strike they are likely to suffer as well because they rely on the postman to deliver the mail for the “last mile” i.e. direct to the door – www.tntpost.co.uk and www.dhl.co.uk
• Sit it out – the strike is not going to last forever so you could just bide your time!

As ever if we can be of help with your mailings, printed or electronic please contact us.

Further to my post last month this week it is National Customer Service Week (visit http://www.nationalcustomerserviceweek.com/Default.aspx for more information).

As a special promotion we are offering a 25% discount to customers for any bookings taken this week.   So if you need some secretarial or admin tasks doing please get in touch – we are happy to help.

What is your business going to be doing for the week?  Here are some ideas:

• Throw open your doors to your customers and invite them behind the scenes (our local council in Bradford is doing this)
• Conduct a survey with your customers asking them for their feedback on your service – you may be surprised by the results!
• Offer a discount or gift with purchases
• Motivate your staff with a promotion to encourage good service
• If you are a boss get back to the shop floor and interact with your customers directly
• Invite your staff to pitch ideas for improving customer service and implement the best ones (you could do a Dragons Den style to create a little fun!)
• Think of the customers in your business - perhaps other departments who are internal customers and deliver extra special service for the week
• Some of the best ideas come from children – invite their ideas and ask them to get involved
• Send out a special bulletin or newsletter about the week and highlight good service delivered in the past year
• Feedback is two way – if you are brave!  Tell your customers “What makes a good customer”
• For every 100th or 1000th customer (or pick a suitable number) award an on the spot prize
• Have a supply of gold stars in a central work area and ask staff to award the stars to other staff members when they spot good service
• Wear badges or T Shirts about the week to encourage awareness
• Display promotional literature about the week in your reception areas

Of course if we can be of help then contact us or if you have some ideas please post them here for other people to view!

Going digital with your dictation is a smart move.  Transferring to digital with your dictation from the old style of using cassette tapes makes life much easier for your secretary and for yourself.  Whilst there is an initial outlay the long term benefits make this a wise investment.  Some of the key advantages are:

• Quality is superior and it saves times
• Dictate away from your desk
• Eliminates the need for individual tapes
• Can be voice activated thereby avoiding those long silences
• Faster and easier to transfer work to your secretary and add additional voice instructions
• The transcriptionist is able to manage different recordings much more easily
• Sound quality can be enhanced when transcribing
• You can record for much longer time spans
• You can work hands free
• Edit your voice file to add in further comments for those moments when you forgot to say something
• Much easier and quicker to send files to your secretary via the web

But which equipment to choose for your dictation?   Here is a little list:

• Personal handhold devices which you use with a USB to interact with your PC
• Dictate directly into your computer
• Pocket handheld PC or Smartphone
• Dictate into a telephone
• Dictate via the internet from anywhere in the world
• Desk microphone, good for conference meetings

Perhaps you are a writer that wants to record your thoughts whilst on location, a scientist recording notes at a conference or a surveyor wanting a record of your site visit, going digitial with your dictation enables you to have that option.  Making the transfer will enhance your workflow and of course you are able to transfer files easily to a firm like ourselves to be transcribed! 

If you need help on this subject or would like to talk to us about outsourcing your transcription work please contact us.