Introduction
To use Total Office Manager to it’s fullest extent, proper capitalization is important. There is a tendency for some personnel to enter data using UPPERCASE capitalization only. Even worse is the recent tendency to enter data in lowercase, using no capitalization at all! The “Preferred Way” to enter data in Total Office Manager is to use Title Case. Title Case means that the first letter of each word is capitalized, like in a person’s name, or the name of a city or a state, or the title of a book or movie (hint, hint).
THIS IS UPPERCASE. this is lowercase. This Is Title Case.
The Importance of Using Title Case:
One of the many benefits of using Total Office Manager is the ability to isolate important information and then use it in marketing materials. A very familiar example of which is the “mail-merge” marketing letter. Here, a data file of contacts and other marketing info is created by Total Office Manager, then used by word processing programs to generate marketing letters. Poor use of capitalization in Total Office Manager virtually destroys the effectiveness of performing such marketing.
Imagine using all caps when entering information in Total Office Manager. The contact information for a client might look like this:
JOHN FURNACEBURNER
1234 ANYSTREET
YOURTOWN, ST 00000
Granted, the outcome isn’t horrible (although experts consider UPPERCASE lettering harder to read than Title Case) and even though UPPERCASE lettering wastes valuable screen space, you could get along with UPPERCASE if you never, ever wanted to use Total Office Manager to it’s fullest. But when you decide it’s time to use Total Office Manager for marketing purposes and to generate business, UPPERCASE lettering becomes a problem. Look at how the UPPERCASE capitalization from our contact above, comes across poorly in a marketing letter to your customer:
Your Service Company
987 Service Way
Yourcity, ST 00000
November 1, 20##
Dear Mr. FURNACEBURNER,
As a valuable customer who currently owns one of our Safety & Efficiency service agreements, I’d like to tell you about a special offer.
As I am sure you are aware, Mr. FURNACEBURNER, by owning one of our service agreements you already enjoy the advantages of knowing your equipment is being maintained in top working efficiency and providing year-round comfort to your entire household in the safest possible way. In the rare case of equipment trouble you also enjoy priority scheduling and a 20% discount on all related parts and labor. Of course as a Safety & Efficiency Agreement owner you are entitled to drop by our shop to pickup a free furnace filter each month (be sure to grab a donut and a fresh cup of coffee while you’re here).
JOHN, our records indicate that your current Safety & Efficiency Agreement expires on 01/01/2013. Although it might be some time before your current agreement expires, if you decide now to invest in a Safety & Efficiency Agreement for the following year, we’ll discount your agreement investment by 20%! Imagine, in addition to all of the great agreement benefits listed above, you can get the agreement itself for 20% off the regular price. But this offer is only good through the end of this month.
I’m sure you’ll agree, JOHN, that this is a valuable offer which savvy homeowners won’t pass up. Don’t risk forgetting about this opportunity before time runs out. Contact one of our friendly representatives today.
Sincerely,
Service Businessman
Notice how the UPPERCASE capitalization doesn’t fit with the proper capitalization of the rest of the letter. It lessens the credibility and professionalism of your letter (or whatever marketing you’re doing). Take this example one step further and imagine how awful lowercase only would appear!
Be sure to take advantage of the everything Total Office Manager has to offer by using Title Case when entering data. Your marketing department will be glad you did!
