Appendices

APPENDIX A

Centratel’s Strategic Objective

Note to Centratel staff: The Centratel Strategic Objective is the basis for all corporate and individual decision-making.

Clichéd mission statements that declare, “We want to be the best and we want our customers to be happy” don’t provide meaningful direction and do little more than make company stockholders feel good for the moment. And voluminous multi-year work plans can’t account for the day-by-day changes in our industry.

Instead, the Centratel Strategic Objective precisely describes our market and direction, as well as who we are and how we function. It reminds us of what is most important and it gives us an overview of general strategy.

By following its guidelines, growth and success will take care of themselves. In the spirit of simplicity, we limit the length of our Strategic Objective to one page. We’ve modified it through the years, but the fundamentals have never changed.

Statistically we are the highest-quality telephone answering service in the United States.

We understand that every result is preceded by a 1-2-3-4-step process. It is within these processes that we spend our time, as we relentlessly “work” the systems of the business to perfection.

Our guiding documents are this Strategic Objective, the Centratel Thirty Principles and Working Procedures.

Centratel’s primary offering is 24/7/365 telephone answering service for business and professional offices throughout the United States. Peripheral services are voice mail and paging for the central Oregon region only.

Through intense commitment to our employees, we will contribute to the success of our clients. The consequence of having loyal, smart, hardworking, long-term, and well-compensated people is unmatchable quality service to customers.

Our business is complex, with many human, mechanical, and computer systems in simultaneous motion. Success depends on refined communication and organizational processes, dedicated staff, documented point-of-sale procedures, first-class office space and equipment, rigorous quality assurance with continuous measurement, assertive innovation, intense planned maintenance/system improvement, aggressive and measured marketing, and relentless attention to detail in every nook and cranny.

Competitive advantages include a near-flawless level of message processing accuracy (because we focus exclusively on core TAS products: We don’t “spread ourselves thin”), products designed around the customer’s unique needs, thoughtful, immediate, and consistent customer service, the latest high-tech equipment, and personal/corporate integrity. We use extraordinarily efficient communication tools and protocols. We constantly refine and improve all internal systems and mechanisms.

To grow, we proceed with an “if we build it, they will come” philosophy, juxtaposed with assertive marketing efforts.

Although we tightly direct Centratel’s operation through guiding documentation, we modify that documentation immediately if an enhancement can be made: “Our operational framework is rigid, but that framework can be modified instantly.”

We segment responsibilities into specialized “expert compartments” with appropriate cross-training among departments. We have backup personnel for all positions.

Primary vertical markets include medical, veterinary, home health/hospice, funeral home, HVAC, property management, 24/7 business on-call, front-office/virtual receptionist, trade services, and utility.

(For help with your strategic objective, go to www.businessdocumentationsoftware.com.)

APPENDIX B

Centratel’s Thirty Principles

Company decisions conform to the Strategic Objective, Thirty Principles, and Working Procedure documents.
We are the highest-quality answering service in the United States. We do whatever it takes to ensure the quality of service to our clients, employees, and vendors is impeccable.
We draw solid lines, thus providing an exact status of where things stand. Documented procedures are the main defense against gray-area problems.
“Get the job done.” Can the employee do his or her job, or is there always a complication of one kind or another? This ability to “get the job done quickly and accurately without excuses or complications” is the most valuable trait an employee can possess.
Employees come first. We employ people who have an innate desire to perform at 100 percent. We reward them accordingly. The natural outcome is we serve our clients well.
We are not fire killers. We are fire prevention specialists. We don’t manage problems; we work on system enhancement and system maintenance in order to prevent problems from happening in the first place.
Problems are gifts that inspire us to action. They are “red flags for improvement.” A problem prompts the act of creating or improving a system or procedure. We don’t want setbacks, but when one occurs we think, “Thank you for this wake-up call,” and take assertive system-improvement action to prevent the setback from happening again.

We focus on just a few manageable services. Although we watch for new opportunities, in the end we provide “just a few services implemented in superb fashion,” rather than a complex array of average-quality offerings.
We find the simplest solution. Ockham’s Law, also called the Law of Economy, states, “Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity. . . . The simplest solution is invariably the correct solution.”
The money we save or waste is not Monopoly money! We are careful not to devalue the worth of a dollar just because it has to do with the business.
We operate the company via documented procedures and systems. “Any recurring problem can be solved with a system.” We take the necessary time to create and implement systems and procedures, and in the end, it is well worth it. If there is a recurring problem, a written procedure is created in order to prevent the problem from happening again. On the other hand, we don’t bog down the organization with processes and procedures targeting situations that occur only once in a while. Sometimes we elect to not create a procedure.
“Just don’t do it.” Eliminate the unnecessary. Many times, elimination of a system, protocol, or potential project is a very good thing. Think simplicity. Automate. Refine to the smallest number of steps or discard altogether. Would a simple “no” save time, energy, and/or money?
Our documented systems, procedures, and functions are “off the street.” This means anyone with normal intelligence can perform procedures unassisted. The real-world evidence of this is we can hire an individual off the street who has good typing skills and have him or her processing calls by the second day. For this result, protocols have to be efficient, simple, and thoroughly documented. (Before we implemented our systemized training protocol, it would take six weeks to train a TSR.)

Do it NOW. All actions build on “point-of-sale” theory. We don’t delay an action if it can be done immediately. Just like any major retail outlet, we “update inventories and databases at the exact time the transaction takes place.” There is no paperwork floating around the office after a physical transaction. We ask, “How can we perform the task NOW without creating lingering details that we must clean up later?”
We glean the Centratel mindset from Stephen Covey’s books, including The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, First Things First, and The 8th Habit. As well, we consider Good to Great by Jim Collins; The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber; and Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins.
We pattern individual organization upon Franklin-Covey theory. We use organizing mechanisms that are always at hand. We prioritize, schedule, and document. The system is always up-to-date and we use it all the time. (For Centratel, this is Microsoft Outlook.)
Sequence and priority are critical. We work on the most important tasks first. We spend maximum time on “non-urgent/ important” tasks via Stephen Covey’s time-matrix philosophy.
We double-check everything before release. If a penchant for double-checking is not an innate personal habit, then it must be cultivated. Double-checking is a conscious step in every task, per- formed either by the individual managing the task or someone else.
Our environment is spotless: clean and ordered, simple, efficient, functional. No “rats’ nests,” literally or figuratively.

Employee training is structured, scheduled, and thorough. Assertive client contact is also structured, scheduled, and thorough.
We are obsessed with deadlines. If someone in the organization says they will be finished with a task or project by a certain date and time, then he or she commits to finishing by that deadline (or, if legitimate delays intrude, advise coworkers well in advance that the deadline is impossible).
We maintain equipment and keep it 100 percent functional at all times. If something is not working as it should, fix it now—fix it now even if it’s not necessary to fix it now. It’s a matter of good housekeeping and of maintaining good habits. This is just the way we do things.
Mastery of the English language is critical. We are aware of how we sound and what we write. We do whatever we can to improve. We are patient as a coworker corrects us.
We study to increase our skills. A steady diet of reading and contemplation is vital to personal development. It is a matter of self-discipline.
As opposed to “doing the work,” the department manager’s job is to create, monitor, and document systems (which consist of people, equipment, procedures, and maintenance schedules).
The COO (Chief Operating Officer) oversees department heads and overall systems. It is the COO’s job to direct, coordinate, and monitor managers.
We avoid multitasking activities. When communicating with someone else, we are 100 percent present. We give full attention to the person in front of us (or to the task at hand). We focus on listening and understanding. Read the classic Treating Type A Behavior and Your Heart by Meyer Friedman. “Mindfulness” is paying complete attention to one thing at a time: read Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

When in the office, we work hard on Centratel business. We keep our heads down and we focus, and in turn the company pays very well. That’s “the deal.” The workweek rarely exceeds forty hours.
Complete means “complete.” Almost or tomorrow is not “complete.” In particular, this is germane to administration staff’s use of task functions.
We strive for a social climate that is serious and quiet yet pleasant, serene, light, and friendly. Centratel is a nice place to work.

APPENDIX C

Sample Working Procedures

Here are sample working procedures from Centratel, exactly as we use them as of the date of this printing.

The format of all working procedures should be the same, so it is important to establish a set template for all to use. We’ve created a software platform that has set templates for all three primary documents, ensuring consistency, privacy, and protection of all documents. (See Appendix H.)

Note to reader: The following Daily Deposit Procedure was reduced to twenty-three steps for a number of years, but in 2011 we added a check reader so our receivables manager would no longer have to physically deliver checks to the bank. This latest system improvement also adds up the checks into a total amount, saving even more time. With this additional subsystem, the procedure is now at forty-two steps (eight of the forty-two steps are to cover the rare times the “batch totals” don’t match due to an input error). So, with this system improvement, there are more steps in the working procedure but lots of saved time for our AR manager Teresa (at least three hours per week). Also, there is less liability as there is no longer any street time involved in making the deposit. It took a total of four hours to install and debug the check-reader system and tweak the working procedure. Yeah!

DAILY DEPOSIT

Updated 7/25/22

This explains how we process payments into TBS for any account as well as the instructions for depositing the checks into the Centratel bank account. Generally you will process deposits on a daily basis. If we didn’t receive many checks in the mail you can hold them until the next day.

In TBS, under Activities menu, select “Maintain customers”
Click on Tab 8 – Billing history. (during deposit this is helpful to see running ledger of the client to verify amounts, credits, check numbers)
Click on Activities menu, select “Enter Payments”
Select “Direct Entry”. – Choose batch entry if earlier in the day.
Select the hand to the left of the “Cust Ref” box and toggle until you find “Account”.
For each separate payment, enter the 4 digit account number and the account will automatically be pulled up.
Enter the amount of the check in the “Payment Amount” box, using the decimal point. (Verify that the amount is paying the account balance or most aged invoice balance. If not, keep track of those accounts so they may be reviewed later for discrepancies.)
Tab once to the “Check Number” field and type in the check number. (if there is an excessively long check number, only enter the last five digits -sc)
In the “Payment Type” field, select appropriate payment method (CHCK).
Click the “Post” box to apply the payment. Once posted, it will clear the screen so the next payment may be entered.
Continue until all payments have been entered.
Double check each check has not been postdated and has a signature.
When all payments have been entered, select “Payment Register.” This will show all payments entered on this deposit transaction.
Run a tape on the adding machine making sure the checks and TBS totals match.

Next step: Are you processing via check scanner? If so move down the list. If doing manual deposit move to page 3 for further instructions.
Go to website: HTTP://www.this-is-a-sample-website-where-you-can-do-the-deposit.com
Use credentials assigned
TheUsedBank Bank main deposit screen will come up, Click on Create Deposit located to the left
Create deposit screen – Enter deposit amount from batch total in TBS
Select account field: pick Centratel Check from drop down menu and click ‘OK”
Store number is not applicable to us – Leave blank
Click continue
Place checks in scanner furthest track with checks facing out. If large batch (over 75), scan in groups until finished.
Click scan
Once checks are all scanned, if there are errors or balance issues the button to “fix errors” will populate.
Make all changes as needed
Click – Submit Deposit, Verify balance box populates – click Submit deposit
Click on reports tab and then drop down menu in “export as”
Choose PDF report
Print this report and ‘x’ out, and attach to batch report in TBS.
Log out of program
In TBS under “Payment Register”, select “Bank Deposit”.
Verify the deposit date in the window. Click the green check mark. A window will open. For the Title, type in “Deposit” and the deposit “date” (7/25/22).
PRINT THIS DOCUMENT!! This is the best print of this document. However, if you don’t print it for any reason, you can print any day’s deposit record, although you need to print 2 reports – one gives you the detail per customer and one gives you the total – the two should match. To print those reports – in TBS under “Miscellaneous – Payment Register Summary. (click detail for account names)
After printing the document, close the window. It will ask “O.K. to deposit this payment batch?” Select “Yes”
Attach both printed reports together.
Attached adding machine tape to checks, write date and initials.
File the batch in the front of the box in 3^rd drawer of filing cabinet
Enter the amount of deposit in “Daily Receivables Journal.” I:\Daily Receivables (password is “1234“)

File the report in the appropriate folder for the month and year of the day’s deposit, file cabinet is in the receivable managers’ office and in the top drawer.

*If you need tech support for the scanner call 541-617-6888

Steps to Finish Deposit manually:

Run an adding machine tape of all payments entered. (Checks, cash, money orders, etc.) Be sure the adding machine tape and the total in “Payment Register,” match.
Complete a deposit slip for TheUsedBank bank for all payment.
Stamp all checks with “Centratel” TheUsedBank deposit stamp on the back in the endorsement space provided. The stamp is located in left middle drawer of the Office Managers desk.
In TBS, click on the “ready” deposit and click deposit. Let program run
Verify the deposit date in the window. Click the green check mark. A window will open. For the Title, type in “DEPOSIT” and the deposit “date”. PRINT THIS DOCUMENT!
After printing the document, close the window. It will ask “OK to deposit this payment batch?” Select “Yes”
Have another management staff member verify that the adding tape and the printed deposit report amounts match. He or she should initial by the total deposit amount on the deposit report.
Enter the amount of deposit in “Daily Receivables Journal.” I:\Daily Receivables (password is “1234”)
Deliver the deposit to the bank, complete with all payments (checks, cash, money orders, etc.). The bank clerk will provide you with a receipt of that transaction. SAVE THIS!
Attach the deposit Payment Register from TBS to the deposit receipt from the bank.
File the initialed report in the appropriate folder for the month and year of the day’s deposit, file cabinet is in the receivable managers office and in the top drawer.

E-mail Signature

Updated 10/01/15

Your signature on your emails should conform to the following standards:

Use 10 or 12 point type in Arial, Times New Roman, Verdana, Tahoma, or Garamond.
You may have your signature in black or dark blue.
List your information in the following order:

Your name
Your title
Centratel
Telephone numbers
Fax numbers
Web site address

example:

Jim Jones
Telephone Service Representative
Centratel
Tel: 541-385-2616 or 888-482-4393
Fax: 541-388-2351 or 800-330-7303
www.centratel.com

To create a signature in Gmail:

Log into Gmail
Click the gear icon
Click the “Settings” option
Scroll to the “Signature” area
Select the radio button next to the text editor window
Following the guidelines above, type your signature
Check the box next to “Insert this signature…”
Scroll to the bottom of the page
Click “Save Changes”

TSRs: Bidding on Shift Blocks

This is the protocol for filling an empty shift block. Also, it is an opportunity for any TSR to indicate a preferred schedule block, even if their desired block is currently filled.

A new shift block opening will be announced by e-mail to all TSRs. If a TSR is on vacation, management will make every attempt to reach the TSR, informing them of the new shift block availability.
There will only be one bidding period and it will be at least 48 hours in duration. A deadline date/time will be given.
To apply for a shift block, a bid must be submitted by e-mail to the Call Center manager within the bidding period. No late bids will be accepted.
If a TSR bids on a new block and is ultimately awarded that block, their old block will become available. So, for any TSRs who would like a different block, even if that block is currently filled, he or she should indicate their preference so that if their desired block becomes available in the bidding process, they will be considered for it.
A TSR’s current schedule block will not change unless he or she bids on another block. In other words, TSRs who are happy in their existing schedule block do not have to do anything during the bidding process: TSRs who do not bid will not, under any circumstances, be changed to another block. In doing nothing, a TSR’s block is absolutely secure.
TSRs should not consider their bid officially accepted until he or she receives notice from the Call Center manager that it has been received.

If two or more TSRs bid on the same block, the block will be awarded based on seniority.
If there is still an open block after the bidding deadline has passed, we will look outside the company for a new employee to fill that block.
In accepting a new shift block, a TSR will be ineligible to bid on another shift block for a period of three months.

Filming an Interview

Here is a working procedure that we created in a matter of just a few minutes as we began to create marketing elements for our new Work the System Academy product. I add this rough-hewn draft to show that it is not necessary to be an experienced professional in a given endeavor in order to produce a procedure that will be entirely useful.

Three Cameras: Basic Setup

GUEST

HOST

CAMERA 1

CAMERA 2

CAMERA 3

At the site, allow at least one hour for setting up.
Camera 2 has host audio. Camera 3 has guest audio.
Use two light umbrellas: one between camera 1 and camera 2, and the other between camera 1 and camera 3.
Cameras are to be set up out of harm’s way so they can be easily monitored from behind.
Host framing (camera 2): vertical second button down/slight space overhead, with horizontal spacing at 60 percent left/40 per- cent right. Can be framed to shoot slightly upward.
Guest framing (camera 3): vertical second button down/slight space overhead, with horizontal spacing at 60 percent right/40 percent left. Can be framed to shoot slightly downward.
Camera 3 option: include back shoulder of host.
Carefully gauge backdrop so there is no vertical line converging with the host’s or guest’s heads. Is anything else distracting in the background?
Do the cameras have fresh batteries (transceiver and receiver for each camera)? It is the director’s job to make sure all batteries are fresh. The major danger is losing audio.
Do a sound check.
All cameras should be connected to AC power, if available.
All cameras operate unattended. Do not adjust zoom. Do not touch. Do not walk in front of running cameras.
The guest and host should remain in the same position in their chairs for the duration of the interview.
The guest and host should not slump back in their chairs. They should stay upright or slightly forward. (A fish-eye lens makes whatever is closer look bigger.)
Turn all mobile phones off (if there are any landlines, their ringers should also be turned off).
All three people must start the cameras at the same time.
Use 1-2-3 countdown to simultaneously start cameras.
Each operator must confirm that camera startup was successful.
The director steps between the host and guest and does a single hand clap to sync the audio.
The host and guest must not speak (make sounds of agreement, laughing, etc.) while the other is talking.

In an informal setting, the production people are not to drink alco- hol. (Perhaps it is OK for the guest.)
The production people are not to do anything that interrupts the flow of the host/guest dialog. They should keep their movements and chatter to a minimum; each should sit down, relax, and qui- etly monitor their own camera.

Summary Overview of Working Procedures, from the Employee Handbook

To Centratel staff: We base Centratel’s mechanical functioning on written working procedures. With hundreds of human and mechanical operating processes in action at any one time, keeping Centratel organized in any other way would be impossible. Working procedures guide everything from an emergency relay for a TAS account, to how we deposit payments in the bank, to job descriptions for staff members. Our comprehensive Employee Handbook is, in itself, a working procedure.

Strict adherence to our written procedures is critical, but we counterbalance this strictness with our eagerness to make instant adjustments should the environment change or if one of us comes up with a better idea. Whatever your position with Centratel, if you have a suggestion for making things better, pass it on! If it’s good, we’ll change the written procedure and implement it immediately!

Exact yet easy-to-modify procedures provide a huge degree of freedom to the individual staff member because the guidelines eliminate guesswork. Answers and instructions are right there.

APPENDIX F

Centratel’s Procedure for Procedures

It is critical that each document shares the same format and tone. Following is our master Procedure for Procedures, which contains precise instructions for creating a . . . working procedure. (See document at end of this appendix.) This is the “Mother of All Procedures,” the master template for creating the hundreds of working procedures that are necessary for our operation. Don’t be discouraged by the length and complexity of it, and don’t

get bogged down in our technical parameters. Of all the procedures at Centratel, it’s one of the longest and most intricate. Simply consider its essence and then create your own preferred format (or feel free to copy this one). Centratel’s method of operation for all departments is based entirely on written procedures. There are too many simultaneous operating systems, both human and mechanical, to keep things together in any other way. Documented procedures are the bedrock of the company, guiding everything from emergency relay for a TAS account to how we deposit payments in the bank, to job descriptions for staff members, to the most fundamental direction of the company (the Strategic Objective). At the same time, these guidelines allow a huge degree of freedom to the individual. Centratel’s functioning is based on “freedom and responsibility within a highly developed system of systems.”

Specifics:

Is there a recurring problem or task? Then a procedure is necessary or, if there is already a procedure, and there is a problem, modify the procedure to eliminate the problem or to streamline the task.
When creating a procedure, get feedback from those people affected.
Procedures can be changed. It’s a matter of company policy that if a procedure can be improved by modification, addition, deletion, or outright elimination, it will be done quickly and without hesitation: “We operate within a strict framework, but that framework can be adjusted instantly.” However, it is mandatory that the relevant department head be advised of any changes before they are made and, in fact, this person must be involved with the revision and must give final approval to the changes.
Recommendations should be made by using the Track Changes feature in Word. The date under the title and date in the footer should reflect the day the updates were actually made.
All procedures are posted on the Procedures drive.
Upon posting, each affected staff member will thoroughly review the newly posted procedure. Questions and suggestions should be directed back to the person who created or updated the procedure.
The new procedure will be followed exactly. If there is a problem, we must change the procedure, not work around it!
Changes in a procedure should be immediately emailed to affected staff. Show the recent modification in blue type, to be removed later.

Design:

Use template on P: drive entitled “Procedures Template” and in the Template folder.
Create the procedure with an “off the street” simplicity. Be simple, concise, and thorough.
Remember the overall goal: “Freedom and responsibility within a highly refined system.”
How much information should be included?
- » For narrative procedures: Add as much information as possible, but do it in a way so that the information is easily found (use alphabetical listings, logical subheadings, numbering and bul- let formats, simple and concise sentence structure, etc.).
- » For charts and graph procedures: Design to be simple, concise, and quick to read. Often it will be necessary to leave out infor- mation in order to make it more readable. Limit the typefaces and sizes, special formats, etc.
Start with the title, in the Heading 1 style (Verdana bold size 12).
Follow the title with the date, in the Procedure Date style (Verdana regular 10).
For subheadings, use the Heading 2 style (Verdana bold size 10); and if further subdivision is needed within those subheadings, use the Heading 3 style (Verdana italics size 10).
For the body text, use the Normal style (Verdana regular size 10).
For any bullets or numbering, use the default bullets and number- ing styles.
Procedures are addressed at the bottom of the last page in this way:
1. Select View, Headers and Footers.
2. Click in footer.
3. 1st line: Choose Insert AutoText – “Filename and Path.”
4. 2nd line: Choose Insert AutoText “Created By.” Add your name. You may have to do this manually, depending on what computer you are using and how it is set up.
5. 3rd line: Choose Insert AutoText “created on.”
6. Enter the date.

Use italics and bold sparingly.
Use the 1-2-3-step format when applicable.
Use bullets or numbers when applicable.
If there is a relay involved, use numbering and the same acronyms and methodology used in TAS relays.
Do not assume anything, especially if you are creating a technical 1-2-3 procedure. Every step must be obvious and logical. Do not assume anything. Do not assume the user of the procedure will be knowledgeable or can read your mind: remember the “off the street” requirement.
General layout: After the title, start the procedure with a concise narrative that provides a quick overall description of the what, why, how, who, and when of the procedure. This is followed, if applicable to the particular procedure, with bulleted or numbered instructions.
Never title a procedure “Procedure for . . . ” The title must be concise yet descriptive and make sense to an “off the street” staff member. The title must be logical so if there is a need to find the subject, it can be quickly found. Start the title with the subject and then a description defining what the procedure is meant to do (use this procedure title as an example).
Critical: test the procedure before release! Use an “off the street” subject. This is a staff member who is not necessarily involved with the subject.

APPENDIX G

Centratel’s Communication System

At Centratel, following the tenets of our Strategic Objective and General Operating Principles documents, we employ the latest communications technology. It’s an interesting paradox: the simple effectiveness of our internal communications hinges on highly complex yet readily available technologies.

Right at the beginning of our transformation, we developed a working procedure for communication for use among ourselves, and for communicating with the outside world. Because it’s simple and easy and fast, our people communicate a lot. Remember that a high quantity of communication leads to a high quality of communication.

With some exceptions, every Centratel staff member uses the same basic protocol. There is no confusion. This procedure has evolved with the technical and even social changes that have occurred in the last few years. Here it is.

INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS: PROCEDURE AND FUNDAMENTALS

The tools of active communications:

Voice Mail (VM)
Email (EM)
Emailed voice mail (EVM)
Instant Messenger (IM)
Text messaging (TM)
One-on-one via phone
One-on-one in-person
Hard copy memo/procedure

What form of communication should I use?

Routine, not time sensitive: VM, EM, EVM
Time sensitive: IM, TM, one-on-one via phone or in-person
“Getting all my thoughts in order” detailed explanations: VM, EM, EVM
Personal and sensitive issues: one-on-one in person or via phone
Documentation is necessary: EM or hard copy memo/procedure
Information is complex/detailed: EM, hard copy memo/proce- dure, one-on-one via phone
Procedures: Soft copy on procedures drive and hard copy

Point-of-Sale

Point-of-sale communications means, most of all, that when someone asks a question, the response is right now. For instance, avoid saving a message for a future response. If you must delay your reply, immediately take the time to answer the message sender to say you will get back with a detailed answer later (and be sure to provide an approximate time he or she can expect your response). Understand this approach is especially applicable to email: the most basic rule is to keep your inbox near-empty by dealing with the issue now, via the point-of-sale mandate. With all of us playing this game all day long, things move astonishingly fast. Always remember that it’s your job to get the wheels spinning NOW and to keep them spinning at maximum speed.

My Personal Inbox and Task List

In early 2014, I developed a dirt-simple personal organizational system in which my task list is incorporated into my Gmail inbox. For me, the simple beauty is that my incoming emails, my delegated tasks, and my personal tasks are all in one place, to be accessed from my laptop, smartphone, or desktop. To delegate a task, I compose it in an email and send it to the recipient, cc’ing myself. For personal tasks, I send the email to myself with the task title noted in the subject window. For tasking myself or others, or to double-check that a task was actually completed, I send myself messages to be delivered back to me at a future date.

It really is that simple. Emails and tasks are in the same place, thus avoiding the trap of a separate task list being shuffled to the back of the bus, only to be occasionally checked. I work hard to keep my inbox at less than twenty messages and tasks. This is my protocol for email. Use it or choose your own, which might include an outside task list and calendar.

Giving (Delivering) a Message via Any Medium

Consider quantity before quality. Centratel’s definition of quality communication emphasizes high quantity. But note that the quantity aspect has more to do with frequency than with volume of content. If there is lots of communication, quality will evolve.

If in doubt about whether to communicate or not, you should communicate.

Rambling dispatches that contain more information than necessary, or messages that keep repeating the same detail, are a waste of two people’s time. The voice-mail medium is particularly susceptible to fatiguing, inefficient messages. But then, sometimes a voice-mail message is faster and more meaningful than an email message. Sometimes a thirty-second voice mail will deliver the same message as a fifteen-minute email. Whatever the communication protocol, remember this when sending a message: “A great message is a concise message.”

Not many people go a layer deeper to think about the mechanics, much less the quality of their communications. At Centratel, since our entire purpose is to provide the very best communication services, we have to be good at it! Much of the reason we are “the highest-quality telephone answering service in the United States” is because we unceasingly refine and improve the communication services we sell as well as our own internal communications. We think about communications all the time. It is a primary system that we relentlessly analyze and refine.

We have many communication tools. At any given time, is the best protocol being used? Before leaving a message for someone, what preparation is necessary for the message to be complete, clear, and concise? While leaving the message, is too much being said, or too little? Are you rambling? Using “um,” “I mean,” and “like” too often?

An effective training process is to record and review conversations with callers and clients. For most of us, there is incongruity between how we think we sound and how we actually sound. Recording our own conversations for self-analysis promotes conciseness, and points out flaws that would otherwise go unnoticed. Here are 90 percent of annoying verbal flaws (I list them in my own personal order of vexation):

Interrupting, or stepping on the end of the other person’s sen- tences (obviously not listening)
Up-talking (“Valley girl”)
Repeatedly adding “like”
Verbal fry (curiously, a mostly female anomaly)
Repeatedly saying “um” and “ah”
Beginning sentences with “so”
Repeatedly clearing one’s throat

As of this writing, here’s a great recap to most of the above: https://www.businessinsider.com/bad-speech-habits-2014-8

APPENDIX H

Business Documentation Software

BDS exactly conforms to the Work the System Method. It’s an intuitive platform designed to make it easy for you to create, tweak, store, and distribute your three primary documents (especially including your working procedures).

With the included Quick-start guide you’ll be up and running in minutes.

BDS is simple to use. There’s no fluff or excess. It’s about “bottom-up,” point-of-sale, and constant refinement. Developed and hosted on the Cloud, it is accessible from anywhere at any time.

BDS ensures that your documents are available for use only after they’ve been thoroughly reviewed and approved per your management chain of command. This guarantees that your people are following the most accurate and up-to-date policies and procedures.

BDS’s architecture is engineered so anyone within a department can recommend a system-improvement to a procedure by simply and privately submitting the idea to the department head or administrator.

Automatically via email notification, newly published documents, document changes, requests, questions, etc. are delivered to your preselected staff. No need to constantly check in to see what’s new and what’s changed. An important feature is the administrator’s ability to insure confidentiality of documents between people and departments.

Subscription to the platform is month to month.

For a comprehensive overview, go to www.businessdocumentationsoftware.com.

Note from Sam: In 2018, I gifted ownership of this platform to my long-term developers, Emanuel Gug and Marcello Scacchetti. I receive no ongoing compensation for sales, and I am not involved with the internal affairs of the operation, except as an advisor.

APPENDIX I

Other Offerings

AUDIO, KINDLE, AND TEXT VERSIONS OF THIS BOOK

Text versions of this 4th edition are available via Kindle, or for free download in simple PDF format at workthesystem.com. Find the audio version on www.audible.com. For the hardcover version, go to Amazon or your favorite local or online bookseller.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

Sam will occasionally travel for presentations and workshops. Call 1-800-664-8351 or email at info@workthesystem.com.

PATHWAY ONE

Pathway One is an end-to-end, full-scale online marketing service designed to optimize online leads and sales for small- to medium-sized businesses: www.pathwayone.com.

APPENDIX J

Kashmir Family Aid

Just after the October 8, 2005, earthquake that devastated great swaths of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and the northwest frontier province of Pakistan, I traveled alone to Muzaffarabad, the capital city of AJK, the epicenter of the quake. Local Kashmiris housed me as I assisted where I could. Not restricted to a guarded encampment, I was perhaps the only Westerner to roam freely through the region, unattached to an official NGO or the US military. I wrote newspaper articles and took photos in order to publicize the plight of the millions who were homeless, and I gave away cash.

The dazed survivors wandered the tent camps and streets wondering what to do next with their lives. It was devastation, with eighty thousand dead—a disproportionate number of whom were children who had been trapped in schools when the quake struck. Nearly every family I met had lost one or more close family members.

I came home and shortly thereafter created Kashmir Family Aid, a 501c3 nonprofit. Its narrow purpose is to provide assistance to the school- children of the region. I had been to Pakistan several times on business before the earthquake, and I have returned many times since.

Note that Bend, Oregon, and Muzaffarabad, AJK, have become official sister cities.

I have an on-the-ground manager in Muzaffarabad who has been assisting me for the last fifteen years.

Please visit the Kashmir Family Aid website (www.kashmirfamily.org) and view the slide presentations and photos. You will find some of my newspaper articles there too. Will you consider helping us? A school with two hundred students and eight teachers can be totally supported for less than US $500 (tax-deductible) per month, but any donation goes a long way. Thank you.
—Sam Carpenter

APPENDIX K

Despite my feelings that the first printing of the book needed more work, others saw the value of my writing, copying and (subsequently) profiting from it (with the help of offshore copywriters). So, between 2012 and 2016, I fought to preserve and protect my intellectual property in the book. First, I defended against a suspect declaratory judgment action filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (1:14-CV-21838-UU) and appealed to the 11th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals (14-13776 and 14-14283), with both Courts ruling in my favor. Simultaneously, I filed and prosecuted my own copyright infringement case against Schefren Publishing, LLC in the U.S. District Court of Oregon (6:14-CV-01395-TC), which was resolved in late 2015 with the entry of a stipulated judgment that specifically confirmed Schefren’s copyright infringement by copying and publishing material from my book without my permission or attribution.