As your company starts to grow, responding to emails can be a hassle. There are a lot of these! You may think this is a positive thing; however, in part, it’s because emails are an essential factor in attracting customers. However, you have to know how to effectively manage the process of sorting, responding, and responding to a variety of emails.
Some emails today are inquiries from prospective clients who are keen on collaboration with us. Some are tire kickers or want free guidance. In time you’ll not have the time to address all of them by yourself. Be aware that there are two main areas that you need to devote your time working on when you build your company:
Clients working with you and providing them with your services
Advertising your service to help increase your pipeline and gain customers
This is the reason why responding to emails can be a massively time-consuming task. I’ve experienced this myself when my business began to expand. After some time, I figured out that I had to set up firm boundaries to protect myself from situations that may take many hours but do not fall into the two categories mentioned above.
Here’s my method to deal with email inquiries. This could be helpful for you as well:
1. Stop responding to emails sent to your personal email address.
This is a huge first step, and a compelling one, though I’ll admit that it’s not a simple step to make. I needed to quit the task of responding to every email which came into my business email account.
I gave this job to my virtual assistant, so she could review them and forward them to be the ones that needed my attention. The rest she addressed her own. We developed a method to make sure she understood what I needed to have addressed. This took away a lot of my work and allowed me to concentrate on more business and marketing tasks.
2. Stop giving advice for free.
The art of setting boundaries is not just an efficient business practice. However, it is a skill that can be useful to have in life. If you don’t be, others will make a profit of you, not necessarily for the sake of doing harm. People are interested or have a real need and don’t be aware of the consequences of an inquiry.
If requests for free advice were overflowing, I came up with an answer which educated people on my interactions with them. You could tell me, “The answer to your question is contingent on a variety of factors. There’s no one size fits all kind of solution. If you’re looking to work with me, I’d be more than happy to discuss that with you, devise strategies, and help you decide which approach is best for you.”
Many of those who contact you via email are not willing to work with you. This is normal. Certain people may be angry with the way you conduct yourself. Be sure to express your opinions in a way that is positive and warm, and firm, yet firm enough to make sure you are available for the purpose of attracting clients.
Your Task:
What emails can consume your time? Find your solution and store it in word documents. You can also cut and paste your reply in case you’re not ready to give your email to a VA.
Discussion about this post