PPB January 2020

howmuch will it cost in legal fees, time away from your business and potentially negative media coverage? Years ago I had a call from a hate group—they weren’t shy about telling me that over the phone, but were polite. I have no idea if this was a real sales inquiry or whether I was being “tested,” so to speak. I took all their information about what they wanted, andmy final question was, “When do you need this product?” After getting that information, I thanked them for calling and considering us to do their work but told themwe just signed on a major client that was going to have us printing ‘round the clock for the next 10 weeks to ensure we didn’t miss their deadline. I said, “I wouldn’t want to tell you I could get your job done and disappoint you.” They appreciatedmy “honesty” and I dodged a bullet. Always be cautious andmake it appear like you’re looking out for their best interest. CHRIS DAVIS Owner Advantage Screen Printing Tuckerton, New Jersey Inbox Overload It’s hard to stay on top of the influx of emails that come in every day. In fact, it’s overwhelming. How are other distributors keeping their inbox under control? Q A DISTRIBUTOR ASKS: I’ve been spending a ton of time cleaning out my inbox. It’s been a challenge to keep up with the influx of emails, which include promotions from suppliers and other unsolicited emails. Dedicating time to filter these emails is taking time away from my business. What are some of the strategies other distributors are using to keep their inbox organized? I have also dealt with an overwhelming number of inbound emails from customers, promotions from suppliers and distributors of our products, and general spam. I startedmy organizational efforts by creating folders andmoving the emails into the folders as they came in based on what kind of email it was. When those became just as messy as my inbox, because I wouldn’t go back and sort through the ones that weren’t urgent or customer questions, I added a second layer of sorting rules. I useMicrosoft Outlook and it has a handy feature called “rules,” where you can set up criteria to process your emails automatically into folders. This was the key time-saver, because once you set up the rules, it becomes an automatic process. You don’t have to do the manual sorting anymore. My first rule is to separate internal company communications from external sources. All internal emails go to an “internal communications” folder. I have additional subfolders to sort out general questions from resources I need to keep for long termand reference. This leaves communications being sent directly tomy inbox. My second rule is to set up tomove commonly sent promotional emails, based on the sender’s email address or a word or phrase in the subject, to a “promotions to read” folder. If I receive promotions, I would commonly just delete them, or if they aren’t relevant tome, I use the “unsubscribe” button. The goal of my rules are tomove outside resources, such as update articles on programs I use, and publications, such as PPB Newslink, to folders labeled for that topic. This way, I have all the resources in an easy-to-find location, but they aren’t clogging upmy inbox and I can focus on customer requests. I use the “categories” and “flags” features inMicrosoft Outlook for emails that I need to do something with. For example, I’ll set up a flag to follow up on a RFQ on a certain day and will categorize this as a RFQ as well. This way, when I search through my inboxes, I can quickly find what I’m looking for. KATIE TITUS, PMP Sales coordinator Orbus Exhibit & Display Group Woodridge, Illinois If you don’t run your inbox, it will run you. The good news is it’s quite easy to regain control of your inbox. First, you’ll want to unsubscribe from every email that doesn’t provide value. Be ruthless. Unsubscribe always. Next, youmust create rules. I personally use Outlook. My inbox can easily go from 100 messages to 1,000 in a matter of minutes. I move only the emails that are worthy of being included tomy inbox, which is basically my to-do list. Get over your fear of missing out (FOMO) and start unsubscribing and filtering your emails. It’s the best way tomake sure you don’t get overwhelmed by thousands of messages. BRET BONNET Co-founder and president Quality Logo Products Chicago, Illinois Do You Have An Answer? A Distributor Asks: I’m sure I am not alone in getting these constant questions from clients: “What’s the next big thing?” “I want something nobody has seen.” I receive catalogs, marketing emails and search the larger supplier sites on a regular basis to find new products. Is there a better method to find the latest and greatest products? Danielle Renda is associate editor of PPB. | JANUARY 2020 | 15 INNOVATE