Brief Summary
This video provides a comprehensive guide to email management for virtual assistants, emphasizing the importance of cleaning, responding, and taking action on emails. It covers strategies such as scheduling email checks, creating a "who list" of important contacts, using tags and filters, applying the 80/20 rule, managing subscriptions, and learning the client's voice. The video also highlights the significance of creating drafts, templates, reminders, and follow-up systems to streamline email management processes and improve efficiency.
- Schedule email checks to avoid constant inbox monitoring.
- Create a "who list" to prioritize important contacts.
- Utilize tags and filters to organize and manage emails effectively.
- Apply the 80/20 rule to focus on the most critical emails.
- Develop templates and drafts to expedite email responses.
Intro
Le-an Lai Lacaba introduces the video's focus on email management for virtual assistants, highlighting it as a crucial task that clients often delegate. She shares her experience in working from home and running a virtual assistant company, emphasizing her goal to guide viewers through the email management process. She encourages viewers to subscribe for more content on working and building a business from home.
What is Email Management
Email management is defined as the process of overseeing a client's email, which includes reviewing incoming emails, cleaning up the inbox, responding to messages, and performing various tasks to ensure clients see only essential information and business operations progress smoothly. The three main goals of email management are cleaning, responding, and doing, with a bonus of potentially attracting or retaining clients through timely and effective communication.
Schedule and Check
To effectively manage emails, it's crucial to schedule specific times for checking the inbox, ideally two to three times a day. Suggested times include the beginning of the day, before lunch, and at the end of the day to ensure timely responses and a clean inbox. Scheduling can be coordinated with the client to align with their workflow, such as before their day starts or as they wrap up.
Who List
Creating a "who list" involves identifying and categorizing contacts to understand their importance and frequency of communication. This list helps determine who to reply to promptly and who can be addressed later. The list, developed in collaboration with the client, includes details such as whether a contact is a client, freelancer, or essential advisor like a legal aid or accountant. Maintaining and updating this list is an ongoing process that is crucial for effective email management.
Create Tags/Filter
Creating tags or filters is essential for managing emails based on the three main goals: clean, respond, and do. The process depends on the software being used, with tools like Google offering easy filter and tag creation. Using keywords and the "who list," filters can be set up to automatically tag emails from specific contacts (e.g., "current client," "incoming client," "vendor," or "freelancer"). This system allows for easy searching, automatic tagging, archiving, and even deletion of emails.
80/20 Rule
Applying the 80/20 rule involves identifying the 20% of emails that are most important to the client and focusing on those. The remaining 80% can be delayed, ignored, or deleted. This approach requires understanding the client's priorities and goals, as well as maintaining the "who list" to discern which emails need immediate attention.
Delete/Manage Subscriptions
Managing subscriptions involves identifying and unsubscribing from unnecessary newsletters and promotional emails. This can be done by filtering emails containing the word "unsubscribe" and tagging them for review. The goal is to reduce clutter in the client's inbox by unsubscribing from non-essential subscriptions. Archiving emails is another cleaning method, where emails are stored for future reference but removed from the inbox, helping to achieve "inbox zero," where the inbox is clean daily.
Learn your client's voice
When responding to emails, it's important to learn and mimic the client's voice. This involves studying how they typically write emails, noting their tone (aggressive, friendly), use of emojis, clarity, and inclusion of action steps. Understanding their communication style ensures that responses align with their brand and personal approach.
Creat Drafts
Creating drafts for responses saves the client time by providing pre-written replies that they can quickly review, approve, and send. This approach streamlines the communication process, allowing the client to focus on other tasks without having to compose each email from scratch.
Create Templates for Responding
Developing email templates for common questions and scenarios, such as onboarding or off-boarding clients, is crucial for efficient email management. These templates, once approved by the client, can be quickly sent without needing to be rewritten each time. Templates serve as valuable assets, ensuring consistent and timely communication even in the absence of the virtual assistant.
Create Reminders
Creating reminders is essential for tracking emails that require follow-up or are pending a response. This involves setting up systems to remember to respond when needed and to send out important emails on specific dates. By scheduling these reminders and adding them to a to-do list, you can ensure timely follow-up and prevent important communications from being overlooked.
Follow Up on Emails
Following up on emails is a critical aspect of email management. A general rule is to send a follow-up email if there has been no response within three days. Maintaining a reminders list of emails awaiting a response helps in knowing when to follow up, ensuring that important communications do not get lost.
Create Signature
Customizing the client's email signature is important, including their website and a brief description of their work. This ensures that when emailing potential prospects, recipients can easily learn more about the client and their business. Sending a quick confirmation like "I got this email" can reassure the sender that their message has been received and is being addressed.
Create Checklist or SOP
Creating a checklist or standard operating procedure (SOP) for managing a client's email is essential for consistency and efficiency. This checklist should outline the steps to take when first checking emails and when wrapping up the day. Including links to email templates ensures that the process is frictionless for both the virtual assistant and the client, and it serves as a reminder of key tasks.
Outro
Le-an Lai Lacaba summarizes that email management is about ensuring clients see and respond to the most important things while the virtual assistant handles the rest. She encourages viewers to like the video, share their own email management tips in the comments, and subscribe for more content on working and building a business from home.
