Keeping appointments and deadlines in a calendar is essential. Without one, unless you’ve got a fabulous memory (I don’t), things go bad quickly!

Unfortunately, many people still struggle with electronic calendar set up, something I see with clients every day. This is how it usually happens:

• They have a job before they start their business, and they use a calendar associated with their personal email for their personal life. That makes perfect sense.
   
• They start a business and decide to keep business and personal lives separate (just like when they had a job). So they get a new email account for work, something like, mybusinessname@gmail.com account. Now there are two calendars.
• Then (sometimes), they get a “paid domain” email account (e.g., rocketgirlsolutions.com ). Then they get a calendar with that and there are now three places to log into and three places to track.

I was one of these people until 8 years ago when I decided it was time to consolidate everything in one place.

If there is resistance to this idea, it’s usually from people who want to keep their “work life” and “personal life” separate. I understand, but, since there is only one you and only one place you can be at any one time, it makes more sense to keep everything in one place.

You can even have other people’s calendars show up (with their permission, of course). For example, I can toggle on and off my daughter Emily’s calendar as well as my boyfriend Greg’s. This way, we can all coordinate our activities, reducing the confusion.

Sorting this out can take a little time, but I guarantee it’s worth the effort. Here’s how to start:

1. Decide which calendar you’re going to use. Open the other calendars and transfer your appointments manually or hire someone to migrate them for you. Be sure to look a year ahead so you don’t miss any recurring events, like anniversaries and birthdays that might be months in the future.
    
2. Make sure all calendar invites sent and received are done so using the email address tied to this calendar.
    
3. Ask other calendar owners, like your children, significant others and select clients, to “share” their calendar with you. If you use Goggle calendar click here for step by step instructions, click here if you use Outlook.

When you’re finished with the consolidation, you’ll be able to access your calendar across all your devices knowing that everything you need is in one place.

Last week, I opened a new business checking account at a small local bank nearby. As we were finishing up with the paperwork I asked my banker, Maryanne, how to sign up for online banking. She told me I could do it on the bank’s website.

The next day I discovered that in order to gain access to online banking, I would first need to download a file, print it out and fax it back to the bank (fax it?!). Now frustrated, I called the branch and they said they would get the paperwork ready and if I stopped by to sign the form they would take care of it. I went back to the bank, signed the form and was told that I would get an email with detailed instructions. Awesome.

Several hours later, I received two emails, both pretty cryptic. One welcoming me with “marketing speak,” the second containing my temporary password. I went to the website, clicked the link for online business banking and was asked for my “Access Code.” I knew my username and I had the temporary password, but I had no code. There were no further instructions.

Two phone calls to the bank later, we figured it out – but the whole process was unnecessarily frustrating and time consuming.

My frustrating experience as a new customer leads me to ask a question: What’s it like for your customers and clients when they’re working with your seemingly routine processes? Here’s how to find out:

1. Map it out. Whether you’re simply onboarding a new client, or selling a product online, map out all the steps and write them down. Post-it notes are great for this. Put one step on each note and put them on the wall. Keep asking the question, “And then what happens?”
2. Try it yourself. Go through every step as if you are the first time user. Look for the missing pieces and challenge yourself to find them. Make any necessary corrections. You can also ask someone else, who’s not familiar with the process, to try it out and give you their feedback. (Better yet, watch them as they go through it.)
3. Mark your calendar. The key to a great process or customer experience is to review it from time to time to make sure it’s still working as planned. I suggest doing this twice each year for every process you’ve got. Sign up for your own newsletter and see what happens; sit in the back of the room and look at your PowerPoint presentation to make sure it’s readable; send yourself a message using the “contact us” form on your website.

We get so accustomed to looking at the world through our own lens. Take some time and have a look from the client and prospect point of view. Believe me, they’ll thank you!!