At the beginning of the week we looked at the need to have a scheduled time each day to deal with your emails and then the importance of shutting Outlook in order to free up your time to deal with the other important aspects of your business. After some practiced discipline this technique will make you more productive.
Although we can all agree that emailing does take up a lot of time, most business owners have never reflected on the way they approach such a time-consuming aspect of their day. You need to quickly ascertain what emails you specifically need and/or want to deal with in your business and what can be delegated to someone else in the office. We have set up a system where all emails went to one of our client’s personal secretary’s email and then any information that the client had to deal with was sent forward from there. The client also created a separate and private work email that was only given to a select few of the client’s VIP customers and business stakeholders. This has meant that the business owner only has to deal directly with the people and businesses that are of paramount importance; empowering other employees in the business to deal with other customers and stakeholders. This increases the overall reach of the business to its wider customer and stakeholder base. If you don’t have an ability to delegate your emailing, a similar outcome can be achieved through the installation of filtering, filing and other application tools. Filtering tool such as “Skip The Inbox” or “Clear Context add-in” for PC users or “Mail Act-On” for Apple users and “MoveIT” – act like a personal assistant and will automatically file emails into designated folders.
Once you have streamlined what emails you receive, you then need to respond, delete or file them. In David Allen’s book Getting Things Done, he suggests that all tasks requiring action can be split into one of three categories: Do it, Delegate it or Defer it. Emails requiring no action can be filed, deleted or incubated. We always suggest that our clients spend time creating meaningful folders that are managed regularly in order for any email filing system to work effectively. If this step is skipped emails can be lost in poorly named folders, folders can be filled with emails that are better placed in another folder or with emails that could have been deleted.
Hopefully now you are starting to feel like you could “deal with your emails” effectively in your scheduled emailing time slots. Remember that once you have streamlined what emails you have to personally deal with, you can then respond with action, delegation, deferral, deletion or filing. Name your files meaningfully and keep them managed regularly in order for this to be successful.
If you are having challenges with your time management, workflow management, your ability to coordinate finding new clients as well as dealing with existing client enquiries or if you just think you could be doing better, give us a call. What’s important to you is very important to us.
Chrysalis Business Consulting
1300 257 948
www.c-consulting.com.au