People who have the responsibility of managing a business often look around the office and wonder where all the clutter came from. Unopened mail seems to have taken over desktops, and other flat surfaces. Going through all of it is very time consuming, and no one wants to do the task. Mail that has been shoved aside for reading will accumulate at a rate that can be overwhelming if it is just left alone. Office mail management is a facet of business that should be of great importance because there may be correspondence that is vital to the business being overlooked.
Every office should have a mail management system that will eliminate the clutter and the piles of unopened mail that could be essential to the business. This neglected aspect of business management is one of serious concern for major corporations as well as the small business owner.
There are management training courses designed to help with the organization of different components of a business. The best recourse for mail management is to follow a few tips or a well-devised plan to clean it up and leave it clean.
- Start the process by appointing a specific area in the office for incoming mail. Once the mail is delivered, or picked up, from the post office, it will go to this designated spot that is visible to everyone. Having slots for the different categories of mail would be ideal. Put a trash receptacle close by for all of the junk mail.
- Develop a filing system for important mail that may need to be referenced again.
- Arrange the categorized mail, especially bill payments for the business, into dates so that no bills get behind. An efficient office is one where everything is kept updated.
- All important documents should be kept separate from the other mail, and placed in the files and labeled as such. Once the mail comes from the local Peoria post office that may contain vital documents, it should be opened right away in case something has to be signed, and returned in a prompt manner.
- There should be a specific place for tax records that have been filed by the year from the most recent tax year. Often times, these records are needed for various reasons and should be easily accessible.
Managing the constant influx of mail is not for everyone in the office to do. Too many people trying to handle the mail situation could lead to missed mail, and the discarding of important pieces. The best way to accurately handle mail management is to assign the task to one person who, when needed, can inform of any urgent mail, or easily obtain a piece of mail at the owner’s request.
This will alleviate the excess clutter of piles of envelopes lying around on desks and other work areas. This is an indispensable part of a business because many of the clients, industry professionals, and partners communicate by mail. You do not want to overlook anything even if you cannot get to it right away you want to know where to find the correspondence when you need it. Keeping things in order is vital to the successful management of any business, or office.