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April 2005 · Spring Has Sprung
Clean-Up Time at the Office
 to this month's edition of M45 Momentum, a monthly e-newsletter for the business community featuring tips, trends and trivia from the experts at M45 Marketing Services.
 The arrival of spring often gives us an incentive to clean up some of the clutter, to make our life more organized, to straighten up some of the mess. That messy desk, those overflowing files—and those oranges of old or bygone bagels sprouting a ripe crop of penicillin probably get your attention first. But don't overlook the importance of keeping your electronic files in order as well. It's important to the efficiency and productivity of your business to protect your intellectual property. You might choose to block off a day or two just to concentrate on this project, if your schedule permits. If not, set aside an hour a day or a couple of hours a week and keep at it until there's no clutter left in your office.
Many small business owners feel they are too busy to do this, but in reality, the time you'll save once everything is organized will more than make up for the time you invest in the clean up. Take a moment for some practical ideas for getting organized.
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How to Take Control of Your Intellectual Property
In the early days of building his empire, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wrote an open letter to computer hobbyists-as users were known prior to the age of personal computers—lambasting them for their penchant for "sharing" copies of Microsoft's Altair BASIC software with each other. "Who can afford to do professional work for nothing?" Gates asked. It took Microsoft's three amigos—Gates, Paul Allen and Monte Davidoff—a whole year to develop the idea into a commercial product. After inviting users to pay up, Gates then ended his letter quite prophetically with, "Nothing would please me more than being able to hire ten programmers and deluge the hobby market with good software."
World Intellectual Property Day was April 26, 2005—a reminder to get your company's intellectual property in order and exercise your legal dominion over them! |
- Capture Ideas
Audit your existing inventions, industrial designs, trademarks and trade secrets. Monitor ongoing R&D activity. Provide an environment conducive to generating fresh ideas.
- Keep Watch
Closely monitor market opportunities for your intellectual properties, what ideas your competitors are fostering and anyone who may be infringing on your protected ideas.
- Protect
Work with legal counsel to determine when to "rattle swords" and when to go to court to protect what's yours.
- Play the Market
There's a market for ideas! Sell or license yours or buy ideas from others to help your business. Keep in mind joint R&D arrangements that take advantage of the expertise in two different organizations.
For assistance in establishing an intellectual property management process, check out these books:
Essentials of Intellectual Property
From Ideas to Assets: Investing Wisely in Intellectual Property
Edison in the Boardroom: How Leading Companies Realize Value From Their Intellectual Assets
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 Getting Your Message Through the Clutter
Once upon at time, the corner grocer knew his customers and could tell Mrs. Smith that good blueberries would be coming next week if she wanted to bake a pie for the church social. He used what he knew and anticipated customers' needs. He was an icon of personalized marketing.
What better way to get your marketing message through the clutter of the information age than to show your customers that you know them—really know them.
For example, Ritz-Carlton hotels make their return guests feel special. The staff members discern and seamlessly deliver personal preferences such as favorite type of pillow, newspaper and mini-bar libations and snacks. Online, catalog and television shopping outlets glean information from your past visits and purchases to recommend other offerings you may like. Casinos cater to frequent players—not necessarily high rollers—with accommodations, drinks, food and other entertainment preferences. They all build personalized relationships that add value for the consumer.
The corner grocer's system for the personal touch was in his head. Modern marketers have a multitude of tools. At M45, we can help you explore ways to gather, store, and access the information you need to personalize your marketing approach for existing customers. You may even gain some new clients along the way! 
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Einstein’s Three Rules of Work
- Out of clutter find simplicity;
- From discord find harmony;
- In the middle of difficulty lies
opportunity.
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Don't Spring Clean—Spring GLEAN!
Ahhh, April. Spring showers, budding flowers, the return of green. And time for all the neatniks to start in about spring cleaning.
While everybody else scurries about the office with their Formula 409, you focus on more important things: closing deals, finishing projects, satisfying customers. In fact, you think of spring cleaning as an annual nuisance, an obligatory hour or two to sort through stuff and tidy up in general...nothing that really provides any value to the bottom line.
This year, consider a new approach. Don't even focus on cleaning. Instead, take the opportunity to gather up and really look at all your businesses' materials. Are the messages consistent? Do they compliment each other visually? Do they contain all your latest information? Are you proud to share them with customers?
If your answer to any of these questions is "no," chances are you need to update your materials and freshen your look. You don't need to spring clean, you need to spring glean! Seize the opportunity to scrutinize everything printed—from stationery to business cards to brochures—and look at them with fresh eyes. (Then look at your website!) Make note of what is good, and do something about what isn't.
If you need help evaluating what you have, M45 can help you see through the clutter. We'll audit your materials or website and provide improvement suggestions you can either implement yourself or work with M45 to accomplish. So your materials will look better...and work better together. (Then, if you have time, toss a file or two to appease the neatniks!)
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Should you toss or keep?
 Are you using valuable work time searching through electronic files, paper files and basic resource materials just to locate what you need? When purging your files, use the following test to determine if an item is worth keeping:
- Have you used this file, email, or resource within the past year?
- Is the item serving a specific purpose?
- Do you have a place to store it where you will find it again?
If you answered no to any of these questions, consider getting rid of the item. If you decide to keep it, make sure you have a specific place to store it where you can locate it in a matter of minutes instead of hours.
As you deliberate the fate of that file or piece of paper, keep in mind that according to The Wall Street Journal 80% of what you file is usually never looked at again.
(From Let It Go: Seven Ways to Keep What's in Your Office from Owning You.)
The Cost of Disorganization
A disorganized worker spends at least an hour a day trying to find things so they can do their jobs, observes Jeffery Mayer, author of Time Management for Dummies. If your income is $50,000 per year, based on a 40-hour week, you're costing the company about $6,240 every year. When you enlist the help of others to help you find something, the cost goes up.
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If an income is:
$25,000/year, your company loses $3,120
$40,000/year, your company loses $4,940
$100,000/year, your company loses $12,480
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Are your files crammed? Is your office a mess? Do you have trouble finding what you need?
If you or your employees tend to be "savers," there may come a time when purging becomes a priority. As highlighted in this month's welcome message, big messes can cost real money.
Believe it or not, M45 made spring cleaning a fun event for a client who was excited about hosting an open house for customers, friends, and families. We coined a phrase, ("Operation T.O.S.S.," an acronym for "Throw Out Surplus Stuff") and put together a detailed plan for our customer. By focusing on the benefits, defining the priorities, establishing a specific timeframe, and rewarding the participants, this clean sweep was handled quickly and efficiently without major productivity woes. The facility ended up immaculate, and the employees were proud to show off their spotless, organized workspace.
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So you think you're organized. Office clutter will never be an issue with you. Your files are in perfect order. Nobody has a neater desk than you. Read on:
Quiz for an organizational over-achiever
My desk has four drawers. Two on the left, two on the right. On the left side, in the upper drawer, there are among other things envelopes, stamps, a box of matches and some paper towels. A few of the things in the lower drawer are a letter opener, a few pencils, a small radio and an extension cord. On the right side, in the upper drawer, you can find a nice ballpoint pen, a magnifying glass, a pair of scissors, and some empty 3.5" diskettes, whereas some of the contents of the lower drawer are a number of blank sheets of paper, a pair of wool gloves, and a packet of cookies.
Can you figure out the logic behind this arrangement?
Answer:
Objects are sorted into the drawers on the left side by how many times they can be used—things that are used a single time go in the upper drawer, while things that can be used many times go in the lower drawer. On the right side, objects are divided into things that were once part of something living, in the lower drawer, while those objects that were never living are placed in the upper drawer.
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Does a clean house indicate that there is a broken computer in it?
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