As a business executive or entrepreneur, you probably check your email 40-50 times a day. You check on your computer, on your phone, on your tablet, while you're at your desk, while you're on a call, while you're at a redlight. The number in your inbox ticks up and before you know it, you have over 500 emails and you are overwhelmed thinking about how to possibly go through them.
Reading and responding to emails is the number one time-sucking task that you face every day. Generally, our Virtual Assistant team finds that 70-80% of emails are repetitive, general issues. Emails can suck you emotionally and productively, especially when they come from a disgruntled customer. You may find it challenging to respond professionally to a problematic email if you allow yourself to take it personally, and it can affect your entire workday. Using a Virtual Assistant to craft those emails allows an objective person to respond without the added emotional value on top of it.
There are many ways that a Virtual Assistant can assist you with your dreaded inbox. We are experts at email management and helping executives free up a great deal of time every day. Getting help from a Virtual Assistant will allow you to spend your time on the things you excel at and less time on mundane tasks.
1: Color Coding: If you use Gmail or another platform that utilizes color coding, your virtual assistant can set up colors for each category: urgent, client emails, meeting requests, etc. Your VA can color code each email that comes in so you know what needs your attention immediately and what can wait.
2. Folders/Labels: Using folders or labels for your inbox can be a HUGE help. You can have a folder for each client or company you work with consistently, one for meetings or invoices. The possibilities are endless, and your Virtual Assistant can put emails in the respective folder.
3. Creating Filters/Rules: Most email platforms allow you to create automatic filters. The way this works is you set up the filters, and incoming emails are automatically routed into specific folders or whatever the filter you have set up instructs your email program to do; such as delete the ones labeled "Spam" put emails tagged from your financial institution into your "Financial" folder.
4. Template Responses: You and your VA can come up with template responses to individual emails, then when your assistant is checking your inbox, they can automatically respond to your emails with the pre-written answers you have helped create. For example, if someone requests a meeting, you can have a template response with your scheduling link saved in your email program and your assistant can simply add the personal greeting and hit "Send". It's as easy as that!
Email management is probably the most challenging task to hand over to someone else; that's why it's essential to use someone that you trust. We at Virtual Assist USA are trained, vetted, experienced professionals that do these tasks daily and have helped countless clients free up time and help businesses grow.
