Innovatively Organized | Productivity. Organization. Results.

Every Monday is now “Ask the Organizers” day! We realize that life’s busy schedules pose organizational challenges daily. With all of your business meetings, kids’ soccer practices, meal planning, and overcrowding closets, we know you are encountering some questions about organization and productivity. And since there is no time to sit down and write us an email, or do some research on solutions, we’re introducing “Ask the Organizers” Mondays. Simply ask us your question through Twitter or on our Facebook fan page. Send any challenge our way- kitchen organizing, team workflow, business processes, inbox management, mobile tools, time management ideas, anything! We’ll get back to you with a solution as soon as possible!

And the best part? Each month, we are going to choose one question thrown at us to highlight in our monthly newsletter. If we think your question would be beneficial for everyone’s organizational challenges, we’ll discuss it in our newsletter and send you a gift as a thank you! So start thinking of questions!

Additional resources

If you’ve already been using a CRM software for years, you’re ready to start focusing on social CRM. This is a fairly new term, designated to capture the type of relationships built through social media. According to “Why Your Company Needs to Embrace Social CRM,” it’s "designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide a mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment. It’s the company response to the customer’s owning of the relationship.”

Does your company have a Twitter, a Facebook fan page, and a blog? That means conversations are happening with your brand and new customers are engaging with you. Make sure you are there, listening to your customers.

Applying to college sounds overwhelming and stressful…and that’s because it is. But the process of taking SATs and researching schools can be simplified with a little organization. We’ve created a checklist of things you need to do in preparation for college applications, from writing a wish list of things you want at a school, to ensuring each school gets your application. This checklist will help you manage the application process and lower the piles of stress usually associated with college apps.

Get organized now with our Applying to College Checklist!

And for more Innovatively Organized checklists, visit our page of Organizing Checklists!

Too much physical paper clutter and online digital clutter? OfficeDrop is a great tool to help you go paperless and get organized. It converts paper documents and digital files into text-searchable documents in the cloud, which you can then access from the web, your mobile device, or your desktop. Whether you’re a small business trying to connect virtually, or a busy family trying to organize important documents, OfficeDrop can help you.

OfficeDrop works three ways:
1. You can mail your physical paper documents (files, receipts, taxes, etc.) in prepaid envelopes which are securely scanned and converted into PDFs
2. You can connect your scanner to your OfficeDrop, allowing you to upload your documents personally
3. You can save existing digital documents by uploading them as JPEGS/PDFs or emailing them to your OfficeDrop

You can also connect your OfficeDrop to other apps, like Evernote and Google Docs. Every document becomes text-searchable, making it easy for you to access and reference.

Description:

Zoho CRM is a great, affordable Customer Relationship Management software that allows you to follow the complete client-relationship lifecycle in one place. Zoho CRM is customizable for your business, allowing you to add what you specifically need to keep on top of all your customer relationships. Need to add an extra section on your homepage to track referrals from tradeshows? No problem! Need a quick way to email your staff new tasks you have assigned them? Easy! You can also integrate Zoho CRM with Gmail, Google Docs, Google Apps, Quickbooks, Microsoft Outlook and Office, and various other applications.

You’ll love it for:

Tracking leads, opportunities, and contacts
Sales forecasting
Managing inventory
Sharing information with colleagues
Workflow management
Linking with your email program

Cost: Free for 3 users, pricing plans start at $12/month

Available at: Zoho

Our theme for the month of September is “Contact Management,” where we’ll be focusing on ways to improve your CRM. But before we get started, let’s all get on the same page. What, exactly, is CRM?

CRM stands for “Customer Relationship Management.” Whether you’re a small business or a multi-billion dollar enterprise, it’s critical that you keep track of all of your contacts. You need some system to store, sort, and reference data about past and current clients, networking contacts, new prospects, etc. For a detailed description of the functionalities of CRM software, we recommend “What is Contact Management Software?”. Basically, CRM software allows companies to “better organize, access, and share data about customers, prospects, and their histories across all departments and functions.”

CRM software does much more beyond simply storing and organizing your contacts. When used correctly, good contact management can improve your sales, consistency, and efficiency. Less time is wasted scrolling through a long Excel document when using automated CRM systems. Many systems can also provide reports, forecasting, and opportunity management. Learn more about the benefits of CRM with “What Can Contact Management Do for Your Sales Force?”.

As explained in “How Customer Relationship Management systems can be of benefit to your business,” “Knowing, understanding and predicting what your customers want - and will want in the future - is vital to the success of small to medium-sized enterprises…and CRM is the key.”

Now that you understand what CRM is, and the importance of good contact management, join us every day this month for tips, product spotlights, interesting articles, and statistics about CRM.

What does CRM mean to you?

Description:

Do you have piles of paper on your desk, on your kitchen counter, in your bag, and at work? Do you know they are all action-items, like forms to reply to or bills to pay, but can’t remember when they are due? Do you sometimes miss deadlines because papers got lost in the clutter and shuffle? These Day of the Week Clips are not only adorable, they are helpful in organizing papers. You can combine all your action-item papers and clip them with the day you should complete them. No more missed deadlines!

You’ll love it for:

Paying bills
Planning a party or event
Homework assignments
Filling out your child’s school forms

Cost: $8.50

Available at: Tahoe Blu

The Young Female Entrepreneurs blog has dedicated this week to Seattle women. The site is “focusing on featuring young women who are building businesses in the city of Seattle for the week of August 29th.” As they explore what “building a business in Seattle as a young woman is really like,” YFE has chosen to spotlight Elizabeth Bowman, president of Innovatively Organized! The article, “Elizabeth Bowman: Seattle Productivity ‘Geek’ Expands Her Organizing Team,” discusses Elizabeth’s motivation for starting IO, her challenges as a young, female, entrepreneur, and her advice to other women. Check it out to learn more about Elizabeth Bowman and Innovatively Organized!

Young Female Entrepreneurs is a “support group for women in their 20s and 30s,” with a mission to help each member “on their path to profitable businesses while building a collective reputation that is philanthropic, successful, multi-faceted, and collaborative.” Thank you, YFE, for highlighting Innovatively Organized!

You’re a busy professional, so sometimes the thought of crafting a tasty dinner after a long day’s work is overwhelming. It’s hard enough going to the grocery store and getting more food during the week, but finding the energy to cook at night can be too much. If you don’t always have time to make dinner, but don’t want to just order takeout all the time, Dream Dinners is a good solution.

At Dream Dinners, you can pre-assemble delicious meals. They have all of the ingredients, instructions, and proportions ready for you to prepare. You package everything up, take it home to the freezer, and pull out your desired meal when you’re ready to cook it. You can pre-assemble every dinner for the next two weeks, or simply store a couple for days when you don’t feel like cooking.

Each month, the menu changes to 14 new recipes, so you don’t have to eat the same meals each week. You simply read over the menu, choose how many servings of each meal you will need, pick a location to prepare your order, and head over when you are available. In just an hour or so, you will have all of your meals put together and ready to take home. It’s also a fun activity to enjoy with your spouse or kids- the people are friendly, the employees are helpful, and food is out to sample.

Description:
Design your perfect notebook with Arc- completely customizable and functional to fit your lifestyle! You can choose poly or leather notebooks in a variety of colors, patterns, and designs. Then complement your notebook with a system that works for you, including dividers, page flags, filler paper, and expansion discs. We especially love the task pads, which you can add to differentiate your action items. Everything can be added, removed, or rearranged within the notebook, making organization a breeze.

You’ll love it for:
• Busy families- you can make a section for each member of the family
• Business owners
• Every profession- architects, event planners, graphic designers, bakers, etc.
• Taking notes in a meeting
• Planning a wedding
• Students- college, high school

Cost: $14.99+

Available at: Staples

Thought: Ask the Organizers!

Additional resources

Article: Social CRM

Checklist: Applying to College

Digital Clutter: OfficeDrop

Product Spotlight: Zoho CRM

Thought: What is CRM?

Product Spotlight: Day of the Week Clips

Article: IO Featured on Young Female Entrepreneurs Blog

Innovative Idea: Dream Dinners

Product Spotlight: Arc Notebooks

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