Archive for June, 2007

Work Flow: Something that sounds a bit far fetched? Well it doesn’t have to be – you can create your own work flow within 1place without the need to create anything new or even think that much… 1place is a simple system that will work well for most service oriented businesses.

It’s important that there is a work flow in your operational process of providing your service to your customer for three reasons:

1. Faster administration
2. More reliable work timing
3. Impressions of how much work is coming up much easier to quantify

The way we do it at 1place is to have three main items to create against a customer for the operational side of things…

1. Quote
Not totally necessary but if you do quote make sure you fill this out. It’s a legal document so if you have any terms that are not on the quote (for example: what to do with extra time required), make sure you put these down. When the customer confirms the quote, then turn it into an order (just a couple of clicks to do this)

2. Order
This is your main operational information. This tells you how many jobs are coming up so you can schedule effectively. For example when someone calls up you can view your orders and tell them when the most likely time to complete the work is. If you are on the road, at least you will have viewed this in the morning or at night so you have a better-than-rough idea of where you are at.

3. Invoice
After you have fulfilled the order change it into an invoice. You can do this from the Order detail page. Any changes should be reflected in the invoice. The invoice is the legal document asking for money so ensure that it is correct and send it as soon as you can. Email is the best way so ensure you collect your customer’s email address.

Like all systems, the key is being disciplined and entering the information so you can use it later. The rewards for this discipline are huge – just starting and committing to it is the key!

If you have any questions on the work flow you can contact us and we will endevour to help you out as best as possible. We can’t give consultancy but we can point you in the right direction.

We have come a long way in a short time. 5 years ago software was expensive, and worked in a way that was often frustrating and limiting. Now we have more options – maybe too many!

Why have heavy software on your computer when something online will work – and often it’s free!

Below are some great options for getting the most from your budget and Internet connection (hey you already pay to get on the Internet – you should use it!)

Google
I know Google is known for web searches amongst us mortals of technology, but there is soooo much more to it. Check out www.google.com/a for email for your domain name (ie. you@yourdomain.com) that works just like Gmail (web-based email). The advantage here over a standard system is you can access ALL your email on any Internet-enabled computer but still have it based on your PC or laptop as well (in Outlook or similar). If you get your PC or laptop stolen – no worries – it’s all online! Best of all it’s totally free, works with your domain name, and has the best spam protection I have ever encountered. Added to that you have 2gb of space per account meaning you never have to delete email – just archive it.

Also, visit www.google.com/options for a full list of applications you can either download or use online. There is word processing, spreadsheets, mapping… and heaps more. So much so that the CEO commented last year that he didn’t even know about all the new projects going on…

Firefox browser extras
Firefox (for those yet to move to the best web browser…) is simply the best web browser you can get. AND IT’S FREE! Well of course it is they all are… Microsoft’s Internet Explorer in it’s newer version 7 is very good as well, although it doesn’t have the add-on features like Firefox. Below is a few extras (what we call “plug-ins”) that are useful for everyday stuff. Check out the full list at addons.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox. I use the add-on “Brief” to read news from various sources.

Netvibes.com
Having problems keeping up with all the information online? Then this might be the solution. You can view your web-based email, news, blogs all from the one website. www.netvibes.com. Try out the drag-and-drop feature where you can drag around the different boxes to suit your taste. Very trick! From what I have seen this is the best one around. Super-easy to sign-up and really fast to setup. Keep it as your home page.

If you find something that you can think is real cool for business or personal productivity comment here about it and share!

Creating invoices is the lifeblood of any business. Without invoices you can’t run a business, and if customers don’t have invoices and are on account they simply won’t pay you. The amount overdue in your business should be collected as soon as possible to ensure you have the cash in the bank – not someone else! I used to have a small business running, and at one point I was owed nearly 30k. This was a wake up call to get onto sending invoices & reminding people regularly.

So… here are five tips for helping you with invoice management:

1. BE DILIGENT in recording invoices. Don’t leave it till tomorrow or later – DO IT NOW!
2. LEAVE SOME TIME aside each week to view your invoices that are unpaid – this will give you a week-on-week payment performance benchmark
3. NEVER BE AFRAID of talking to your customer about payment. Be direct & pleasant at all times – this will enable you to collect money on time and also have great customer relationships (editor note: 1place has auto-reminder txt & emails that stops you having to call or send a personalized email reminding customers for payment)

Also, another tip…
Get Terms of Trade for every customer on account (ie. for payment on a certain date of timeframe). Terms of Trade outlines your requirements for payment and product/service details. If all our auto-reminders haven’t worked and your customer doesn’t end up paying you there is the ability to get the money through a credit controller IF you have a terms of trade document. If not – good luck!

Resources:
Terms of Trade (biz.org.nz)