Are you looking for ways to manage your time more efficiently? One of the first things to do is to look at the daily tasks you could outsource – and you can definitely outsource your inbox to an email management virtual assistant.
Why delegate?
Email is incredibly distracting. Unless you have outstanding willpower, you’re likely to be checking your email several times every hour and, if you’re on the move and you can see emails coming in on your phone or tablet, you could spend all day dealing with them and wasting time that could be better spent on working for your business.
In fact, a survey by the Washington Post suggested that, on average, we spend 4.1 hours every day on email management. Imagine how much income you could be losing by being on your email account when you could be doing something much more effective.
Delegating to an e-mail management virtual assistant seems like a sensible thing to do, then. But there are often reasons why business owners are not sure about relinquishing control over the inbox. So here are a few of our top tips to set your mind at rest:
I won’t know what’s happening – when you delegate your email, you set up a range of criteria with the virtual assistant email manager. These criteria mean that your assistant knows exactly what to do with each email, and you will know where to find everything, and most importantly, which emails need action from you.
I don’t know how to share access to my inbox – this is something that is easily set up on one of the many cloud-based email clients. It means you can see your inbox in real time at any time, and your assistant can handle and manage your emails simultaneously. You can also set up controls so that your assistant can only access work-related emails and not personal ones.
I’m worried about someone else responding to my clients – this is a common worry, but it is actually easily manageable. Your assistant doesn’t have to answer everything – you can agree between you that certain emails can be answered, such as general enquiries or diary confirmations, but that more complex emails are flagged for your attention. That way, you can concentrate on the most important enquiries.
They won’t organise things like I do – when you delegate to any email management solution, you are still in charge. So if you have a certain way of organising things, you can work with your assistant to make sure your system is followed. If you don’t organise your email at all, it’s certain that your assistant will be able to put some simple, clear filing rules in place and you’ll suddenly find that your relationship with your inbox is transformed.
It’s too much hassle – managing email effectively releases a huge amount of time each day, and business owners who take the plunge quickly find that they are more productive, more efficient and feel less tied to their inboxes. What’s more, customers often get a faster response to queries and that improves their impression of your business. It may take a little while to set up and get used to, but the time savings alone are well worth the effort. And very soon you’ll notice cost benefits too – you’re only paying for the time you use the virtual assistant for, and time you used to spend on emails can now be spent on income-earning tasks.
If you’re thinking about taking a new approach to email management, virtual assistant help could be the answer. Affordable, efficient and time-saving, it’s increasingly popular with self-employed workers and small business owners. If you would like to find out more about our virtual assistant email support or any of our other virtual personal assistant services, feel free to call us on 0800 994 9016 or use our contact form in the menu above.