Opening the Mail

April 13, 2006

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The check is in the mail, or is it? One ongoing commitment should be to always open any and all mail yourself, personally. Don't ever delegate this chore. Most of the mail you'll receive will be routine in nature, and this task could easily be assigned to an employee. But that one piece in a thousand is the one you can't afford to miss seeing first. You will be amazed at the things you can learn from tending to this seemingly low-level task.

If your bookkeeper were to embezzle funds and use the cash float to cover up the ensuing overdrafts — and you always hand the unopened and unread bank statement to your bookkeeper because, after all, bookkeepers reconcile bank statements don't they — there's no way you could learn of this problem until it's too late. Returned check notices come in the mail, but if you don't open the mail you'll never know what they are or why.

Sign all checks yourself and be sure to limit company credit card holders to yourself and key employees. If you see the monthly bank statements and credit card statements every month, and you will if you open all the mail personally, you'll be in much better control of your business.

Complaints come via the mail as well. Do you want them hidden from you? Valuable information and opportunities come in the mail, but if you're not exposed to these you'll never know what you missed.

It's not necessary for you to process the mail. That can be delegated once you've opened it. But you must permit yourself to learn first-hand what's coming into your business or, in some cases, what isn't coming in.

Work Smart

And don't confine your daily vigil to the "snail" mail delivered by your friendly post person or FedEx minion. Keep an eye on your "e-mail" too. Use those passwords to protect access and to read this kind of communication daily. Let your customers know how to reach you in this manner. You'll be glad you did.