How many have you got? Inboxes, that is.
How many emails are in your inbox?
How many unread emails do you have?
How many did you mark unread?
How many have a little flag?
We both know what we’re thinking.
It’s a pickle? Or you are amazing at this zero inbox thing and go about your business because this blog is not for you!
You can share your inbox you know?
It isn’t exclusive to you, whether you are working in Office 365 or Gmail, or some weird software that requires Webmail, I have seen it all. You can delegate access, securely share a login (so no-one else sees your password), share your POP, IMAP whatever that stuff is (someone call IT!), but you can share the load.
Why would you do this?
- You are going on holiday and your spouse will go nuts if you are checking your emails on the sun lounger
- You attend conferences, retreats, deliver training for days at a time etc which keep you from being able to reply rapidly
- You get a tonne of emails that need to be filtered on a regular basis
- You have multiple inboxes which is taking its toll
- You run campaigns or events which result in an influx of basically emails where responses need documenting e.g. dietary requirements, RSVP’s, nominations etc
- You are out and about all day long and the last thing you want to do when you get home is switch on a laptop to and sift through spam emails
These are just some of the reasons why business owners choose to share the inbox load with others, such as a Virtual Assistant. A who? Not Alexa or the Google one, a real person who works from home and remotely logs in to keep an eye on your emails, whether you’d like a fresh start in the morning or you need support on specific days when you are expecting a barrage of emails, or perhaps you have delivered a bunch of events and need to send stuff out (certificates of attendance, feedback forms, invoices!).
Whatever your reasons, you can get a bit of help to tidy up that unruly inbox and keep it that way, it’s one less thing to do, right?
Hiring a Virtual Assistant to support with inbox management will allow you to:
- Allocate a dedicated amount of time to checking your inbox, as opposed to dipping in and out, losing time.
- Not have to wade through spam emails or spend time unsubscribing.
- Assign your VA time to sort out your back catalogue of emails, setting up new folders and filing everything away in case you need it, but not keeping it in your inbox. After an event who wants to be filing emails? Delegate it and you can move on to the next event.
- Emails can be prioritised so if your time is limited you know which ones need your attention first, the others can wait a little bit longer.
- Holding messages can be sent out explaining that you are out of the office, but in your absence additional questions can be asked or answered to keep things moving.
- If you would like data to be taken from emails e.g. managing delegate changes or requirements, you don’t need to forward the email on, just pop it in the file for your Virtual Assistant to do!
Just imagine never having to open and read junk emails again?! No more of your time wasted, no overwhelmingly huge amount of unread emails when you make it back to the laptop.
If you would like to find out more/have less email mayhem on your plate, get in touch.
About Virtual Executive Services MK
Virtual Executive Services MK is a Virtual Assistant service based in Milton Keynes, supporting clients across the UK. Specialising in admin, marketing and social media support for small businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs. Find out more.