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Home » Computers And Internet Articles » Organize Your Folders To Optimize Efficiency

Organize Your Folders to Optimize Efficiency

Files proliferate quickly on personal computers and, without a bit of planning, users can end up hunting through a long list of miscellaneous files with names that seemed sensible when they were created, but now appear very mysterious.

Windows automatically saves new text files in My Documents and graphics files in My Pictures unless you tell it differently- great for knowing where your files land, but not so great when it comes time to find them again. A little planning will help you create an easy to use organizational system for all your documents.

Using nested folders is an easy way to organize your documents. Do you use your computer for both personal and business projects? Think about creating a separate folder for "Personal" and "Business" documents. Within these folders, divide into additional categories.

In the "Personal" folder, you may find a mishmash of letters to friends and family, letters to the editor of your local newspaper, complaints to companies about unsatisfactory products, downloaded recipes and website pages about a variety of topics, and so on. A "Correspondence" folder could be divided into more folders labeled "Friends and Family" and "Business Correspondence"; the "Friends and Family" folder could be further subdivided into folders for each individual, assuming you correspond regularly; you could add a "Miscellaneous" folder for those you correspond with infrequently. If you communicate via email, you could also copy and paste or download your own emails and the responses you receive, particularly where the letters contain valuable information. Your "Friends and Family" folder may also be a good place to store personal photos.

Take a good look at the website downloads and miscellaneous files you've gathered. Do you have a lot of recipes, or information about vintage cars or alternative energy resources? Create broad categories, and then subdivide; "Alternative Energy Resources" suggests several subcategories: "Wind", "Solar", "Biodiesel", etc.

On the business end, you may have correspondence, project notes, background materials, finished and in-progress writings, and a variety of financial files. A number of organizational options present themselves; in terms of financial files, do you want to group them all together in a single folder and subdivide as necessary? Or do you want to keep the financial files with the corresponding project files?

Say you do freelance work for several companies, and have a variety of files for each company. One method of organizing is to create a "Freelance" folder, then a folder for each client; subdivide each of these into "General Information", "Projects", "Invoices", "Correspondence", and so on. The "Invoices" folder for each client could be subdivided again by year, and contain all invoices you've sent the client. "Projects" folders could be subdivided into "New Projects", "Work in Progress", "Done but not Sent" (for files you need to submit), and "Sent". This not only helps you saves finished files, but allows you to organize your work as you do it.

In the "Freelance" folder, you may also want to provide a "Financial Summary" folder containing one or several files which summarize the financial information for all clients.

While you're planning your file organization, also give some thought to how to name your files. It helps to create a systematic way of naming files. Invoices, for instance, could include "Invoice" plus the name of your client, the project, and the date submitted: "Invoice Harvard Stephen Crane 10-20-2005". Correspondence about the project could be labeled "Correspondence Harvard Stephen Crane 10-20-2005". It's easy enough to rename existing files to fit into your new organization plan; in Windows, simply right-click on the file's icon, scroll down to "Rename", left-click, then type in the new name.

Don't forget to back up your files! Burn a CD to save your information and free up your hard drive in the process. And apply the same type of planning with your backup files as you do on your hard drive. A little organization can make your life on the computer a whole lot easier.

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Communicating Value

Abstract: People buy for their reasons, not yours. This article covers the key elements that prospects want to hear you talk about.

Always, but especially during lean times, effective sales professionals know the importance of communicating value. Budgets â€" if they ever were discretionary â€" are tighter. Business customers are being asked to do more with less. Decisions are increasingly less on WHERE to spend the money and more on WHY we need to spend the money.

Value is the customer's perception of your worth, excellence, usefulness, or importance with respect to them or their business. Value addresses the customer's question, "What can this person or company do for me?"

Even spending time on the phone with you must return something of value to the customer. You must initially and continually earn the right to have the customer invest their time and money with you.

Position value by explicitly answering these questions throughout the sales cycle:

• How much? (What can the customer expect to gain by doing business with you in terms of increased sales, lower costs, etc.?)

• How soon? (When will the customer be able to receive the value? This is a critical question in today's economy.)

• How sure? (Where is the proof that the customer will in fact attain the value stated? References and examples are critical.)

How would YOU answer these questions for each of your prospects or customers? If you don't have the answers, expect resistance. If you do have answers and your solution is directly linked to your customer's articulated needs, you will be successful even in these difficult times.

Successful reps tell their customers what the value to them is â€" customers shouldn't have to work to figure it out themselves. If you don't explicitly quantify the value your customer can expect to receive, and your competition may be doing this work for your customer, who is going to win the business?