Tweet

The Productive E-mail Process (PEP)

Written by: Erin Blaskie

Article Overview: One of the most important efficiency structures in your business is being productive in your e-mail inbox and managing large amounts of e-mail. As someone who receives hundreds and hundreds of e-mails per day, I knew that I had to create a process that worked and a process that kept me super productive.

The Productive E-mail Process (PEP)

One of the most important efficiency structures in your business is being productive in your e-mail inbox and managing large amounts of e-mail. As someone who receives hundreds and hundreds of e-mails per day, I knew that I had to create a process that worked and a process that kept me super productive.

Here is the process I take for managing and processing e-mail:

(1) Open E-mail — Now, you may be wondering why this is a step in and of itself but the key here is that you want to set your brain on e-mail mode. Say to yourself, “Ok, time to do e-mail” instead of wafting in and out of e-mail all day. It can be a huge time waster if you don’t set the intention of powering through your inbox.

(2) Delete Spam / Garbage — This step involves going through your entire inbox and deleting all spam / garbage e-mails. Just get rid of them completely. Delete and forget about them.

(3) The GTD Process — This step involves implementing a process from our great efficiency expert, David Allen. This theory goes like this… Anything you can reply to in 2 minutes or less, do it right then and there and move on to the next e-mail. This will eliminate so much e-mail out of your inbox and provides people with a much quicker reply from you.

(4) Stock Responses — This step involves the use of pre-written replies… aka “stock responses.” If you find yourself answering anything in your inbox more than twice, create a pre-written response to it that you can easily customize with a “Hello Name…” at the top. This will save you TONS of time. Another tip for stock responses is that if you use something like Basecamp, you can keep common links in there to quickly cut and paste from. Or, create a knowledgebase and download area like we have at Erin Blaskie Support.

(5) Organize E-mails with Labels — Ditch the use of a super hierarchy of folders. Being THAT organized will actually cause you to be less organized because then you are relying on your brain to remember which folder you placed specific emails in. Instead, do one folder called “Archived” (or use the Archive function in Gmail), and file all answered emails in there. Then, when you need something, use the search function to find it. Organize unanswered emails in your inbox with labels (Gmail) or colored flags (Outlook).

(6) Batch the Rest — Once you’ve done all of the above, batch reply to the remaining emails. What does this mean? Well, if you have a ton of e-mail from one client, get on the clock and answer them all at once. If you have a lot of e-mail on one topic, reply to all of it at once so your brain isn’t having to jump all around and so that you have all links and stock responses ready and at hand for that topic / client.

Doing this process should mean that you are only checking e-mail 2-3 times per day and monitoring the rest of the day. Monitoring allows you to peek in and apply the rules above and move on. Don’t spend all day or hours in your inbox — it’s a huge productivity drain.

Related Articles
  Enjoy Success From Home: How to Minimize Your Work Time So You can Maximize Your Free Time
  Dealing with Email Overload – Tips and Best Practices
  I’m Sending You on a Mission
  The Truth About Information Overload
  How to Reduce the Stress of Multi Tasking

Article Tags: basecamp, brain, e mail, efficiency expert, garbage, gtd, intention, knowledgebase, mail inbox, mail mode, ok time, reply, rsquo, stock, time waster, tons of time, written response
Referred by: http://www.success-stream.com



Related Forum Posts
Web magazine publisher - My duties 1) Research the articles that goes into each of my webzines - science fiction in all media, various sports (Yay, Lady Vols, 8th championship in 2008, by the way!) 2) Write the articles 3) Format and upload them to the web 4) Email and network various contacts to get out the word that new articles are available. 5) Email authors, actors, etc. etc. to see if they want to do interviews. 6) Advertise for more contributors - and then edit and upload their material!
How to you re-fresh yourself? - Productive time improvement is about increasing the time that you, your staff or your organisation has available for front-line service delivery; and making sure that time is being used to best effect - "working smarter" by: - doing the right things - (eliminate unnecessary work) - the right way - (use standard, streamlined processes) - with the right people - (right skills, availability, location) - using the right tools and equipment. But we all will agree that somewhere we don't follow these and give ourselves a break. When I give myself a break, I a. play online games b. chat on Internet c. Listen to some soft music What you do when you are not "working smarter"?
Re: Email Marketing - Yes, true. What kind of changes happened in Email campaigns except the opt-in? Finding the exact target and reaching them is always a challenge. What new methods can we have to reach the new customers? Thanks Robert
Re: Email marketing strategy - Email Marketing is successful only when you get a good list of targeted people. However, some people consider it as spam. It can work wonders for you if you have selected the appropriate list of people.
Re: The Best Method for Online Marketing - Email marketing can be very successful there's little doubt about that. But you need to build a solid list of subscribers and build a strong relationship with them. It's all about give, give, give, and then you can promote something. Takes a lot of patience and hard work but it can definitely be worth it later on.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Paint A Word Picture - Excite Your Customer

Stress: What Causes It and How To Deal With It

Do You Deserve To Be Happy and Successful?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.