Whenever I want to create something new and need a graphic I go here for ideas. I, almost always, will find the layout I need right here. I use it as a template. All I need to do is modify it a little bit to fit my current need. All the hard work has already been completed.
armand morin
Reutilizing Your Assets
What do I mean by “reutilizing your assets?” I mean utilizing something I’ve done before. In almost every project I do, I make the best use possible of something I’ve spent time and money on in the past. It might be a PowerPoint template I have, a PowerPoint presentation or maybe a graphic I have used before.
You see, I save everything…I’m an online hoarder! If you could see my computer you would realize that I save all all my graphics in a folder…there are a lot of them! These are all graphics that I created or had someone create for my projects, products, or for students of mine.
Whenever I want to create something new and need a graphic I go here for ideas. I, almost always, will find the layout I need right here. I use it as a template. All I need to do is modify it a little bit to fit my current need. All the hard work has already been completed.
Having these graphics stored has been a life saver when I need something fast or just can’t put my finger on the look I want. All I have to do is browse through my stash and find the exact graphic I can modify or find the idea or concept if I want to create a something new.
I do the same thing with headlines, websites, PowerPoints, etc. I go to the folder where I’ve saved the particular thing I’m looking for and scroll through it looking for a template, design, creative stimulus, etc. I even save my sales letters and go back and look at them when I create new ones.
I no longer need to start from scratch each time. I no longer need to reinvent the wheel each time I need to create something new.
One of the things I reuse regularly is the introduction and sales close in my PowerPoints. With the intro, I just need to change the product name and graphic. Everything else has pretty much stayed the same over the years. I’ve just need to do minor changes and updates. I scroll down my “close” slides, and modify them for whatever product I am creating.
Over the years I’ve basically used the same PowerPoint intro and close over and over. I just change the graphics to match my new product and plug in the pertinent information regarding the pricing, etc. of the new item, and presto I have my new sales close! All’s that is left for me to make is the middle portion for the new product.
Back when I was doing webinars on a frequent basis, I would sometimes forget about one until 15 or 20 minutes before the presentation. I know my subject matter inside and out so the content was easy, but I can’t just get on and talk.
After all this is a webinar—it’s visual, so I need a PowerPoint and I need it in a very short period of time. By utilizing my previous PowerPoints I was able to get one ready in a matter of minutes.
I do NOT recommend you make a practice of doing it at the last minute, but if you ever find yourself in a situation like that you can save yourself and your presentation by reutilizing one of your old ones. It’s saved me on a few occasions!
Maybe you are just starting out or haven’t been a dedicated hoarder like me, what can you do? Well, from this point forward start saving everything. But, in the meantime you can borrow/buy someone else’s. You can go online to places like themeforest.net or codecanyon.net.
By logging into the www. marketinguniversity.com, Member’s Area, and viewing the “Productivity Secrets” training video you can watch as I log into Code Canyon and go through the material they have—things like PHP scripts, CSS form layouts, HTML5 games, multiple skins for just about everything. They even have scripts to start my own Social Network. Maybe you’re using WordPress—well, they have countless plugins for that!
All of this helps make your work go faster and your life easier because someone has done all the hard work for you—you just buy the solution you need.
armand morin
A friend of mine once told me there are two ways to do things, earn your way or learn your way. Learn your way is often called the school of hard knocks. Earn your way basically means to buy your way in—buy the knowledge or expertise you need.
The buy your way method is obviously the faster, easier way to do it.
It enables you to take something that already exists and modify it to fit your use.
Once you buy and modify it, it’s now yours to use as you please. But…make sure you now save it for future use or reference!
What Else Can You Save For Reutilization?
Inside of our Help Desk we have an automated response feature that saves us a lot of time. Customer Service receives a ton of repeat questions. For example,
- How do I update my credit card?
- How do I log into the Member’s Area?
- How do I upgrade to a different membership level?
- I forgot my password, how do I retrieve it?
- Where do I find training on __________?
One way to handle questions like these is to offer a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section that lets your customer look up the answer. Unfortunately, while it should take a big load off Customer Service, many people, including me, hate using the FAQ model. I usually skip it and ask my question.
The way we handle frequent questions like these and still offer personal service is with the automated response feature. Automated response is a little bit of a misnomer. Their questions are not automatically replied to with the correct response. Instead, in our Help Center backend we have a
place where we have canned responses for all these questions.
We continually build this database of responses. So, when a question comes in such as “How do I change my credit card info?” We reply by adding a personal greeting and paste in the proper response from our database of canned replies.
Sure, we need to edit a particular response slightly, but it saves us a
LOT of time. The customer is happy because they received a fast, personal response and we’re happy because we could take care of the customer in just a couple of seconds. It’s truly a win, win solution.
Email templates are another place where you can save time and become more productive.
Most autoresponder programs have a way for you to save templates you have created. Once you create the template with the look and feel you want, you can then add information that you use in every email. The greeting at the beginning and the close at the end would be two pieces that can be added to the template.
Make sure you include things like names of your products with links to them. You should do this at the end of every email. Just because people are doing business with you or asking about one product doesn’t mean they are aware of all your products. Listing them at the end of each email is a way to present them to every customer.
You should create templates for anything you do on a repeat basis. They are a HUGE timesaver. Sure, it takes a bit to create, but once they are created you can use them over and over. Even if I can’t use the template in some instances, I can look at it and get ideas for the new one.
I don’t have to spend a lot of time thinking about it. It gets my creative juices going to create whatever it is that I’m trying to build now.
Remember, “Time Is Money” but unlike money you can’t earn or stockpile time so spend it wisely.
