Email can be a huge time suck. And the more you send, the more you receive. But with a little organization, email can take up much less of your time. That’s why we asked 12 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:
Q. What is one step I can take to reduce the number of emails I send or reply to every day?
1. Pick Up the Phone
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It is so easy to hide behind a screen, whether it be your monitor, your phone or your tablet. A great way to reduce the in and out flow of emails is to use an old-fashioned piece of technology: the telephone. My general rule of thumb is the longer an email becomes, the more likely that the topic is better suited to a phone call. More phone calls equate to a lighter inbox. – Derek Hunter, William Roam
2. Include Everything the First Time
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Whenever you send an email, provide all the details needed to complete the task or make the decision. This will dramatically reduce the amount of back and forth needed to answer questions. For example, include relevant logins, documents, an itemized to do list, and answer potential questions all in your first email. If you spend 10-15 minutes on a long email, it could save you a week of back and forth! – Faraz Khan, Go Direct Lead Generation
3. Wait an Hour
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I find it tempting to respond immediately as soon as I get an email to get it off my plate. However, I find that my clients and vendors often have follow-up thoughts or other people chime in if I just wait. So, rather than responding after every individual comment, I just take a pause and wait an hour and review full email strings; it is much more productive. – Angela Harless, AcrobatAnt
4. Hire a Personal Assistant
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I hired an assistant on oDesk, and she has saved my life in terms of cleaning up my inbox. Now, she filters and prioritizes the most important emails so I never miss something important. Email used to be my biggest time suck until I hired her. I was nervous about giving up control, and now I can’t believe it took me so long to take that step! She also now handles my scheduling and HR tasks, too. – G. Krista Morgan, P2Binvestor
5. Delegate
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If you’re responding to more emails than you can in a day, you should start to delegate some of the responsibility to other people. Delegation is one of the best ways that I’ve helped clear out a lot of my inbox so only the most important things remain. – John Rampton, Due
6. Don’t Ask Questions
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Email has become a receptacle for other people to stash their problems. I try not to ask questions in email. The back and forth can go on forever when a quick call will fix it right then. After I take out all the question marks, I delete the last line I wrote in the email. Nine times out of ten it was superfluous or based on emotion anyway. I’m a phone guy now, and I prefer face-to-face. – Michael Portman, Birds Barbershop
7. Use Unroll.me
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Install a system like Unroll.me in your inbox so that it can automatically filter emails for you. Only the most important emails should get through to yourinbox. Supplement with ActiveInbox so you can prioritize emails that require action or that you are waiting on. Then make sure you clean up your folders at least weekly to stay on top of your tasks and emails. – Marcela DeVivo, Gryffin Media
8. Complete One Major Action Item Before Checking Email
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I find that the more I want to procrastinate from accomplishing real work, the more email I tend to send and reply to. It’s a throwback to the days of aggressively cleaning my dorm room instead of writing term papers. Now, I start each day by committing to completing one big item before opening email. This starts the day strong, and creates great momentum to continue achieving. – Joel Holland, VideoBlocks
9. Anticipate Potential Responses
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You can significantly cut down the number of emails by planning for what might be the response by the receiver. For example, if I’m looking to book a meeting I will suggest some times/locations in the first message and then immediately send a calendar invite instead of a confirmation email. This practice alone cuts down my email volume by more than 50 percent for each meeting. – Ivan Matkovic, Spendgo
10. Batch Your Responses
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Your inbox is essentially a to-do list that someone else created for you, which means reducing the number you receive is somewhat out of your control. However, if you batch your responses to specific times of the day, you’ll spend a lot less time responding to those emails and avoid all of the mental switching costs associated with responding to constant email notifications. – James Simpson, GoldFire Studios
11. Use “Slack”
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Slack will help reduce the number of emails you send or receive significantly by improving the way you communicate with your colleagues. You no longer have to get carried away in long email threads or answer the same questions multiple times because Slack channels and Slack search make it a lot easier to communicate. – Randy Rayess, VenturePact
12. Delegate Some Correspondence
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As a CEO, my inbox could easily overwhelm me, but I don’t let that happen. I trust my staff to respond to some email on my behalf. This helps build trust. When I started this practice, I required staff members to copy me on all correspondences, but I quickly recognized this only increased the email traffic. Now, my staff members only copy me if it’s absolutely essential. – Mina Chang, Linking the World
The post 12 Ways to Make Your Inbox More Manageable appeared first on AllBusiness.com
The post 12 Ways to Make Your Inbox More Manageable appeared first on AllBusiness.com.