If you are anything like me, you are bombarded with email.
In Particular, you get messages from clients, spammers,
friends, family and associations or groups of which you are
a member. Without proper preparation for such a massive
amount of email, you might find yourself swimming in email.
Email was created to be a tool to save you time, but if
you can't find an effective way to organize it, you will
most definitely be losing time to it instead of gaining
time from it. The following are some ideas that will help
you use your email program to save time:
* If your email's spam filter isn't doing a good job
catching unwanted emails, check its settings. Usually in
your email options, there will be junk email settings. Set
the protection to a higher level. This should take care of
at least a little more of the unwanted spam. If you have
your email set to a high level already and are still
receiving lots of spam, consider getting spam blocking
software. Googling "stop spam" or "spam blocker" will give
you a large list of options from which to choose.
* Consider setting up an autoresponder. An autoresponder
can handle a great deal of general questions that you get
on a regular basis. All you have to do is set it up once
and your message(s) can go out hundreds or even thousands
of times. Autoresponders are also great at sales, so to
speak. They do all the work for you. When someone opts in
to your list, you can set up your autoresponder to send a
series of messages in a specific order at set intervals.
* Save commonly sent email messages as signatures.
Signatures don't only have to be actual signatures. You
can save whole email messages as signatures and name them
accordingly. For example, if you commonly follow-up with
individuals you have met at your local Chamber of Commerce
meetings, you could title your signature "follow-up" and
save a message such as:
"Dear Mr. X,
It was such a pleasure to meet you at the last Chamber
meeting. I hope that we have a chance to speak again at..."
Of course you would have to change details such as the name
the email is addressed to, along with other more specific
information, but the template will be ready within a few
clicks of your mouse.
* Read and respond to email at set intervals throughout the
day. Checking your email as messages come in is most
definitely a common mistake that people make. Stopping the
work you are doing to check email is extremely inefficient.
Your tasks will take much longer to complete if they are
subject to constant interruptions. Set a recurring
reminder on your email calendar to check email 4 times per
day. Only check and respond when you are scheduled to do
so.
* Separate your email into folders. Just as you organize
your documents into folders on your computer, so should you
with your email. A good organizational system will make it
much easier to find what you need when you need it. You
can also set up rules in some programs so that your email
gets automatically sorted as it arrives.
* Color code your email. Some email programs such as MS
Outlook allow you to color code your email based on certain
criteria, such as who it's from or the subject of the
message. This will allow you to more easily differentiate
between important and insignificant emails. For example,
if you color code all of your client emails in red, then
you will easily be able to see them within a sea of email.
Email is a great tool if it is used properly. When it's
not, it can have a very negative effect on your time
management. By learning to implement even a few of these
simple steps, you can become a more efficient email user
and stop losing time to a technology that was meant to help
you save it.
----------------------------------------------------
Kelly Sims is a Virtual Assistant and Owner of Virtually
There VA Services. To find out if you should simplify your
life, please take the "Simplify Your Life" quiz at
=>http://www.virtuallythereva.com/quiz.html . While you are
there, don't forget to register to receive her new free
mini e-book, "How to Add 2 Hours to Your Day: Lessons in
Efficiency". Virtually There VA Services can be found on
the web at =>http://www.virtuallythereva.com .
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