Got an hour?

Home Office Computing, March, 1998 by Bonny Georgia

The phone rings. A client cancels your 2 p.m. meeting at the last minute, leaving you with an unexpected gift: an hour to kill between appointments. You might be tempted to spend your free time fuming, but don't get mad. Get busy. In just an hour you can trim several important tasks from your to-do list and turn wasted time into a golden opportunity to get ahead.

You maybe surprised at just how many worthwhile projects can be squeezed into an hour. We've compiled a list of a dozen business-boosting activities that you can accomplish whenever you have 60 minutes to spare. So the next time unplanned free time threatens to throw productivity off-track, check this guide. Time is money, after all.

1. Take the Pulse of Your Business Attracting new customers is hard, but keeping them can be even harder. Select three current clients and two former clients from your Rolodex. Then conduct a brief, informal telephone survey to see how they rate your overall business performance. Here are some questions to ask.

* Why did you choose to use our company?

* Are you pleased with the service you receive from us?

* Would you recommend our services to colleagues and friends? If not, why?

* Do you use the services of our competitor(s)? If so, what do they provide that we don't?

* What could we improve to ensure your business?

2. Update Your PIM Wading through a stack of business cards for a phone number or e-mail address is far from efficient. Whenever you've got some time to spare, organize your contact list with a personal information manager such as Sidekick 98 (888-Starfish, www.starfishsoftware.com; $49.95). Toss out-of-date cards, then sort the rest into categories.

If the idea of typing all those names and addresses turns you off, enlist the aid of a business card scanner such as Corex CardScan Plus 300 (617-492-4200, www.corex.com; $299 street). Simply slide each card through the unit to instantly add the information to CardScan's searchable database. Afterward, transfer cards directly to Sidekick, or access the database from within such software as WinFax Pro.

3. Give Yourself a Push If you don't have time to seek out relevant news on a regular basis, use that spare hour to bring the news to you. Sign up for a few push technology services (which regularly broadcast customized information from the Internet). PointCast (www.pointcast.com) uses custom-configured channels to deliver stories from various wire services. Once you launch the application, you can receive updates of business and headline news, weather reports, stock prices, and more. Backweb (www.backweb.com) has similar features and will alert you with messages when you've received requested information.

4. Balance Your Books Keeping records tidy for the tax man is easier when you balance your books regularly with software such as Intuits QuickBooks 5.0 (800-4intuit, www.intuit.com; $99 street). Once you've updated your accounts with that stack of receipts and payables, select Reconcile from the Activities menu. Choose an account, then enter the opening balance on your bank statement in the Reconcile window. Next, key in the ending balance on your bank statement, along with any bank fees or interest not already added to your register. Check off each QuickBooks transaction that matches the bank statement, then click Done to complete the reconciliation.

5. Organize Your Bookmarks If it takes you longer to find a favorite Web site than it does to explore it, put your unplanned hour to good use by getting your bookmarks in order. By default, all newly created Netscape Navigator 4.0 bookmarks are placed at the bottom of the list. Select Go to Bookmarks to bring up a window of bookmarks in a hierarchical tree. Then open the Item menu and choose Insert Folders. Finally, drag and drop sites to the folder of your choice. The next time you use your Bookmark menu, you'll see dropdown menus showing the folders you created.

With Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, Favorites are small, separate files on your hard disk. Open the Favorites menu and select Organize Favorites. You'll see windows for creating folders and dragging and dropping the shortcuts (identifiable by the little arrow on the icon). Once you've put Favorites in folders, Internet Explorer automatically alphabetizes them for future reference.

6. Improve Your Image Don't let bad first impressions ruin your chances of earning new business. Put your best foot forward with new and existing clients by updating your business image.

* Compose a new outgoing message for your answering machine announcing new products and services.

* Use the mail-merge function and templates in your word processor to standardize customer form letters.

* Review your brochures, price sheets, and sales presentations, and make any necessary updates.

7. Spare Your Fingers Do you have a bunch of important numbers you dial almost every day? When you've got some time on your hands, dig out the manuals for your telephone and fax machine and program their speed-dial capabilities to give your fingers a break. If you use your PC's telephony or fax functions, such software as WinFax Pro 8 (800-441-7234, www.symantec.com; $99 street) will also let you preprogram your frequent contacts.