System to Keep Track of the
12-Weeek Postcard Training

So you have a postcard training, but how in the world do you keep track of who should get what postcard and when??  Without going crazy or involving a lot of time?  It's easy IF you have a system!! :-) 

System #1 - for those that need to go to a copy store because they don't have their own copiers/printers at home.
 

FIRST: Have several of your 12 different postcards made up ahead of time on cardstock.  All cut and ready to go out.  Could even be stickered with your return address and stamped if you wish - or pre-printed.
 

SECOND: Store them in an expandable 12-pocket file folder in the order they should go out. 
Ex: week 1 postcards are in pocket #1 - week 2 postcards are in pocket #2 - etc...
 

Or - do all the postcards pre-sorted into bundles - rubberbanded together so when you have a new recruit you just grab a rubberbanded bundle to address.  (this is Charlene Harris's idea and a great one!!)

THIRD: When you have new recruits make up an entire set of 12 labels with their addresses.

FOURTH: Pull out the postcards and put the labels on in order so you have a complete set.
Get them ready to be mailed so stamp and put return address on at this time if you haven't already.  Keep them in order because this is how you will keep track of which and when to send to whom...
 

You'll need a 12 slot sorter that is pictured below.  I found mine at Sam's Club for only $15-$16.  And you'll also need a duck or some kind of "marker" to know which week you are on.  Simply start where the duck "marker" is and put your postcards in the slots in order - top to bottom, left to right.  Do this at a quiet moment or if you're like me you'll forget which slot you were on. ;-)  

The beginning of each week mail all the postcards on the shelf where the duck is
and move your "duck marker" to the next shelf. (picture below)

Whenever you have a new recruit postcard training to go out, you follow the steps above and then put them into the slots - always using the duck's new location each week as your starting point.

This is a very simple method of keeping track of which and when to mail to whom!! :-)  And once they are in your 12-slot box you'll just mail them automatically each week.  If you forget to mail the postcards one week, that's okay... just mail last week's at the beginning of the week and this week's at the end of the week to catch up.

Now isn't that simple!! :-)
 

And it is a great way of letting new recruits know vital information!!
 

Postcards are better than emails because...

#1 - they include everyone - even those w/o computers!
#2 - they are more personal!
#3 - they can't get "accidentally" deleted - especially on shared accounts
#4 - gives you "for sure" weekly contact - even if your time is limited!

Total Cost of Mailing per New Recruit: $3.18
Cost of weekly contact w/o weekly phone calls??  PRICELESS!! ;-)

Or - instead of pre-sorting postcards into a literature holder you can do what Charlene Harris does with this system.  She rubberbands all the postcards for each new recruit together.  Then every Monday and Thursday she takes the top postcard from each rubberbanded pack for each new recruit.  For those of you with small office space or if you are afraid that your kids would knock over the literature holder this would be a better organizational method.  (my office assistant knocked the whole thing over once and it WAS a mess to sort out ;-) but I still like the quickness of using the literature holder with multiple new recruits. 

System #2 - IF you have your own printer at home that can pull through CARD STOCK.

You could have 4 different postcards saved together on one page so you are printing out each person's postcard training individually and cutting them up individually.  The advantage of that is you could also print the backside of the postcards with your return address and their name w/o having to apply stickers.   Stamp and get your postcard training in order and then follow the steps above for putting them in the 12-slot box.