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Review your company’s discarded mail for opportunities and to be enlightened.
Analyzing the incoming mail tells you some of the following things that arrive:
- how your vendors bill you (look for ways you can improve your own invoices),
- how others are advertising (look for improvements to your own methods of advertising),
- what those vendors are giving away (what samples are being given away, what do other companies give away to get new customers),
- how other companies send invoices and backup (watch for the included backup with invoices to see what is being offered for review i.e. signed bills of lading, customer approvals or stamps, etc.),
- who is possibly competing with your firm (competitors will sometimes try to advertise to others in the field because they do not see you as a direct threat but someone they can get business from),
- pastdue tax bills or late notices you need to see and review (check if you paid these bills, are you missing property tax bills),
- who is threatening or giving you notice of a an upcoming lawsuit (any legal threat needs to be forwarded to your law firm to respond, not you),
- various notices from multiple courts (child support, tax garnishments, credit card debt),
- employees’ personal mail (not a good idea — request all personal mail be sent to employee’s personal address, not that of the company),
- which of your employees are in trouble with the IRS (you will know because your firm will be requested to deduct monies from payroll),
- what companies may have been in your facility before your lease started (mark these “MOVED” and ask the mailman to forward them the next day),
- names of fake companies trying to use your address (follow up on this, look up the company to see if it is registered in the state),
- incorrect mail to be ultimately forwarded to the correct recipients (mark “Please forward” and give to the mailman the next day), and
- sometimes the landlord’s mail, etc.
Even if it is not your job, review the mail for a few days and learn a great deal about your dealings out in the market with vendors, lawyers, accountants, tax agencies and a list of other parties.
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