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Survive contact information upheavals with your business intact

WHOEVER SAID, "THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, the more they stay the same," never ran a home office. Whether you're an entrepreneur, freelance or contract-based worker, or work remotely full or part time for a firm someplace else, your contact information is your lifeline to clients, vendors, partners, and coworkers. Change it, and you'll render entries in hundreds of Rolodexes and Palm organizers obsolete. A simple change of address or phone number can snowball into a loss of business, or even call your professionalism or your company's stability into question. At the very least, it can annoy and inconvenience the very people with whom you've worked hard to establish relationships.

Like many home-based workers, Marilyn Milne has dealt with changes of all kinds. Over the past seven years, the Eugene, Ore.-based business owner has renamed her marketing communications firm and added new telephone and fax lines, e-mail addresses, and a P.O. box. On top of that, her phone company has changed her area code.

How has Milne managed to keep her business on track and growing? By approaching each change "as a twofold communications challenge" that involves "getting the word out" and ensuring that her "communications methods operate without glitches," she says. To help you develop your own strategies for surviving professional change, we've gleaned tips and advice from experts, home workers like Milne, and personal experience.

Leaving a Trail

"Managing change is in large part managing behavior," says Joyce Graff, a vice president of the Gartner Group research firm in Stamford, Conn. "You have to plan ahead, [but] human behavior is that we don't," she explains. "We don't react until we have a problem in our face."

To compensate, Graft recommends a mix of personal actions and high-tech tools. She says it's important to anticipate changes, moves, or disruptions in service or connectivity. For instance, if your e-mail address will change, "keep the old account [active] for a couple of months' overlap," she suggests. As soon as you know your new address or other information, print it on business cards and hand them out "so you don't just drop off the face of the earth."

# posted by Medical Information : 3:49 AM