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5 Tips for Email Maintenance

Thursday, March 11, 2010 Posted in Organization, Productivity

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Email consumes so much of our daily attention and business energy. We spend so much time reading, responding, sorting message. And, we waste time re-reading them also. Think of your daily routine. Do you find yourself combing through emails trying to find that one email pertaining to a client? Do you find yourself reviewing an email for the 34th time unsure of what to do with it?

Here are 5 Easy Tips for Email Maintenance:

Wait one hour before checking email in the morning.
Unless you have something time critical (pending orders) in your email inbox, wait until mid-morning to check your email. Why? Because it allows you to get WORK done. It allows you to get something critical done before the barage of correspondence that consumes us every day. I’ve had days where I sit down to answer email and don’t get up for several hours because they keeeeeeep coming. Give yourself time to do WORK. Here’s another related post on waiting to check email in the morning.
Set up folders to help you file and archive email
If you don’t have folders set up yet, do so. And, make them easy for you to work with. I keep them broad enough so that I don’t have too search to hard through hundreds of folders. I have about 20-40 folders (depending on the inbox.) It can be as simple as “Colleagues” “Clients” “Personal” & “Travel”.
Auto-filter email
Set filters on your email so that email on specific subjects or from certain senders automatically go to one of the archive folders. For example, any email from one of the officers at Get Hitched Give Hope automatically goes to a “GHGH” folder. These are typically not urgent and I can respond to them when I have a little more time. Also, if you have newsletters that fill up your inbox, but you do enjoy receiving them, set up a filter that sends your messages to a “READ THIS” folder. Then you can read your newsletters in one sitting.
Start a HABIT of reading each message only once
A few months ago I realized that I was probably reading most messages 2-10 times. This is because they would sit in my email inbox and I would revisit them until I was ready to respond. I thought, “How much more efficient would I be if I took action on every email as soon as I saw it?” And, so this became my mission: read a message, act on it, and archive or delete it. This is a huge challenge to do. How did I do it?

- I set times in my day to only work on email. Therefore, when I’m reading email I have the time to respond.
- Ask yourself: What do I need to do NOW to act on this email and clear it out of my inbox?
- If the email requires that I take some action at a later time, I add it to my to-do list. Then, I file the message.
- I archive or delete everything that is done with.
- Any email that needs additional follow-up (these are usually messages that I can resolve within a day or two) stays in my inbox as “unread”. Having it “unread” is a trigger to me that I need to act on it soon.
- Keep my inbox to a maximum of 20-30 messages (MAX) with an ideal amount of 0-5 messages. (HAHA! This was hard to do… see my next point.)
Clear out your inbox for 30 minutes a day
About a year ago I had ~879 messages in my main email inbox. These were mostly messages of old “important” things that I felt I needed to have access to. The funny thing is that in a sea of 879 messages I never accessed them. They were mostly personal emails from friends/family that I wanted to read or keep. Or, they were newsletters that I wanted to dig into. Some of them were suppliers that I didn’t carry but “might” be interested in carrying down the road. It was a little nutty. So, I decided I was going to take on this behemoth and clear it out. I committed myself to 30 minutes per day of only inbox cleaning. During the 30 minutes I focused solely on old email only (nothing that just came in). I wanted to archive or delete those messages from 2004. And, little by little, I did it. About a month ago I was able to get to INBOX ZERO! This is the first time in 5 years I have a clean inbox. And, it has made the BIGGEST difference in the maintenance of my inbox… and my productivity in general. The clutter was bogging me down. It’s amazing what you can accomplish in 30 minutes a day over a long period of time.

So, there you have it… my quick-n-easy email tips for you! How about you? What are your email secrets?

by Michelle Loretta

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March 11, 2010 - 9:05 am Yara @ Bridal Horizons - Great post! First, timing wise, I blocked 2 hours every day for email maintenance. One hour between 11 and 12 and one between 4pm and 5pm. I personally created an additional e-mail account just to archive email. So when I get an urgent email, I deal with it right away and delete it. If it's not urgent, it will stay in my inbox as unread. If it's something I need to archive, I send it to my archive e-mail account. That way I don't have to look at it anymore. I could just put it in a seperate folder, but that way I have more space for archiving. It works for me!

March 11, 2010 - 1:31 pm Sharon Alexander - Soooo need help with this! My inbox is in the thousands. Just can't keep up with it.

March 11, 2010 - 2:29 pm Wendy - Love this post, Michelle! Cleaning out a massive inbox can be a real monster of a task...but if we take a systemized approach to it, it CAN be an easy thing!

March 11, 2010 - 2:29 pm Sharon - Thanks for the great post! The timing for me is perfect as I am starting to run into "email" overload! Can't wait to start scheduling in my 30 minute clearing time!

March 11, 2010 - 2:34 pm Lauren @ten23designs - #1 hit home for me... I usually try to wake up an hour early to respond to emails and then end up stuck there with the new ones coming in... Starting next week, I'm going to try it your way!

March 11, 2010 - 3:27 pm Eliza - I've been working on this issue myself. I'm down to 53 emails in my inbox now, and I want to get it down to the single digits. As I've been clearing out the oder emails, I notice over and over again that the ones sitting around for ages are the ones that require something painful to do--a no to someone I'd rather say yes to, or a complicated request I don't quite understand. Those are the ones that bedevil me...

March 11, 2010 - 5:14 pm Raquel - Great post Michelle! I'm definitely going to try setting aside 30 minutes a day to clean out my e-mail. I probably have e-mails from a few years ago that I've kept because "I may need them some day". It's funny because I'm not that way when it comes to my home/closet. I have no problem donating something to Good Will if it hasn't been used in the past year. Now I just need to apply that same logic to my inbox - thanks for the great tips!

March 11, 2010 - 3:36 pm uberVU - social comments - Social comments and analytics for this post... This post was mentioned on Twitter by weditorial: RT @sageweddingpros 5 Tips for Email Maintenance ::: GET A HANDLE ON IT ::: http://ow.ly/1gwoK {great post!}...

Your Business Plan is Never Done

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Posted in Business Plan, Strategy

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Recently, I’ve heard a few wedding professionals comment to me that they already have a business plan or that they did their plan years ago.

I wonder, “YIKES! Have you stopped planning for your business? I sure as hell hope not!”

The day that you stop planning for your business is the day that your business is done. The business plan is a constantly evolving mechanism. It is a living and breathing document. As your business changes, as you grow as a business owner, your business evolves. You must be reviewing your business plan every 6-12 months. You must be revising, restrategizing, editing, and rebuilding. You must find new things you want to do. You must define new goals. You must reexamine your branding. You must tweak your sales forecasts and your expense budgets.

You must plan or your business is dead.

Don’t believe me? Read this post on Palo Alto Softward and their never-ending 22-year-old business plan.

by Michelle Loretta

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March 10, 2010 - 6:39 am Eric Kotara - Great post Michelle. It is so very true. Although only a few years into my business, several major changes at various times have forced to me to rethink my approach. Had I stuck to my guns and not adapted, I would be at a far worse place than I am currently.

Common Sense of Correspondence

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 Posted in Customer Service, Life Lessons, Organization, Time Management

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Lately, I’ve been a little shocked by people’s email and telephone protocol. What seems to me as something so simple and straightforward does not seem to be the case for everyone. I’m going to preface this post by laying down a few assumptions:

I believe in setting boundaries. No one should be answering email and phonecalls late into the night. I also believe in keeping weekends. It is OK to not respond to email on Saturday-Sunday. (Or Sunday-Monday if you work on Saturdays.)
There are days that our job requires us to be out of the office: meeting with clients, at site visits, at networking functions.
We all get busy and there are days where we are bogged down and can simply not respond to everyone’s inquiry.

Let’s address a few HUMONGOUS CORRESPONDENCE OFFENSES:

Not responding to email in a timely fashion

Email MUST be responded to within 24 hours. Here are my rules for ensuring his happens:

I quickly scan my email for personal and business. Personal email usually requires a little more time and thought. My friends, fortunately, do not require a quick response. Business correspondence does.
At the end of my workday, I check my inbox to make sure every single business email has received a reply of some sort.
If I do not have an answer or need more time for an email, I simply let the sender know, “I’ll get back to you before the end of the week.”
I archive and file all email once responded to. My inbox has only “open items”.

If you have trouble, organizing your email and keeping everything straight, you may need to set up folders and filters. See this post on setting up your email inbox.

Like I said, there are days that we have maxed out on our responsibilities as business owners and we must prioritize. Some times email must play a second fiddle in order to fry the bigger fish. This is completely understandable. The problem is when poor correspondence becomes the norm. Not only are you sacrificing potential business, but also you are sacrificing relationships with colleagues. You are sacrificing your image and your brand.

Responding to a phonecall with an email

I’m not a big phone person. I prefer email because I’m very visual. I need to see something in writing for it to truly set in. It also creates an easy reference for me to take action in the future. I know many wedding professionals agree. Planning a wedding is an intricate web of many little pieces that are nice to “see”.

There are times, though, that a phonecall is necessary. And, usually a phonecall is made when something is urgent and/or very important. If I’m calling you, do not email me back. There’s a reason I phoned you. Just like with email, ensure that you have returned every voicemail at the end of the day.

Now… there is only ONE reason a phonecall should receive an email reply and that would be if you want to set up a better time to talk by phone. There are days that I simply cannot take a phonecall. I understand this. Typically, I schedule ALL phonecalls if I can. If you receive a phonecall that you cannot take and it is NOT urgent, then a quick email asking to schedule a time is appropriate. Again, make sure the call is not urgent or this defeats the purpose.

Phone = Urgent
Email = Not Urgent

Please respond to phonecalls with phonecalls.

Not setting an “out of office” responder

I am a HUGE fan of the “out of office” auto-responder. You should be setting this on your email any time that you cannot or will not be responding to email within 24 hours. If you have the slightest doubt that you will be able to respond to email, just set the auto-responder. This is a great habit to establish. Here are some examples of when to use this:

Out of the office for site visits
Away from your desk for client meetings
At home with your kids for the day
Have family visiting from out of town
On vacation or business travel
On the weekend (especially if you take an “unconventional” weekend such as Sunday – Monday)
You are simply too swamped to respond to email

The last point is VERY important. If you are slammed with work, you need to let people know. Otherwise, you look irresponsible. If you cannot take any more business and don’t plan on responding to inquiries for some time, please let people know: “We are booked through the end of April. We will be meeting with clients beginning May 1. If you are interested in setting a time to meet, reply with your May availability.” If your heavy workload is confined to a short window of time, let people know, “I’m in the throws of invite assembly! Woohooo! Please know that I’ll be in touch with you within 72 hours and not a minute more.”

The auto-responder is awesome for giving you breathing space. It allows you to work on email when you can best respond. Not only does it curb the expectations of the sender, but also allows you to be present with your other commitments.

How about you? What are your correspondence pet peeves and what are your solutions?

by Michelle Loretta

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March 9, 2010 - 8:35 am Tiesha Frazier - Such valid advice. So many people disregard the importance of good communication. Timely and appropriate communication builds trust, which is fundamental, especially as a small business owner.

March 9, 2010 - 9:32 am Sumer Schmitt - I could not agree with you more!! Too often I see poor communication skills by wedding "professionals", and to be honest, those so-called "professionals" leave a bad taste in my mouth when they are taking days or weeks to respond to a simple email or voice mail. This is definitely a post that all business owners should read...very sound advice. Thank you for taking the time to write what many of us often think in our heads.

March 9, 2010 - 10:40 am Rachel - THANK YOU for this post. The one that drives me nuts is when I email a vendor for information and they call back to talk about it. I emailed because I don't have time to sit and chat with every vendor about their pricing, etc. Send me the information I asked for and be done with it. Those who call me instead are less likely to get my business because they cannot respect my time and space. I use email because, as you said- I need the virtual "paper trail" and also because I have a 5 month old business partner who makes talking on the phone difficult. I save the calls for "urgent".

March 9, 2010 - 10:40 am kellye - Wondefully said! Can we let Brides no too? I have so many people that I send proposals too and they don't get back to me for a week! All I need is a " Hi there, we recv'd your proposal and we'll get bcak to you soon" not that hard huh?

March 9, 2010 - 12:20 pm Melinda Massie - Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!! It amazes me how people that don't respond in a timely manner can stay in business. I have two pet peeves - the one Kellye mentioned about not responding to say you've recieved information. My other are the people that call and don't leave a detailed message with what they need because if I call back and get their voice mail, I can't answer their question and we're stuck in a time-wasting game of phone tag.

The Simple Plan Washington DC Location REVEALED!

Monday, March 8, 2010 Posted in Workshops

We are THRILLED to be partnering with Cafe Deluxe for the Washington DC workshop!

The Simple Plan on March 29-30 will take place at:

Cafe Deluxe
Cleveland Park
Near the National Cathedral
3228 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016

For those of you who follow me on Twitter you’ll know that the way to grab my attention is to start chattering about food. (“Did someone say cheese?”) And, I cannot wait to taste the deliciousness that I am seeing on their menu. The staff and crew have already been nothing short of amazing to Kelly and me. This is a workshop marriage made in heaven.

For tickets and information on The Simple Plan visit Eventbrite.

We recommend the following nearby hotels:
Omni Shoreham Hotel – 202-234-0700 (rates starting at $198)
Savoy Suites Hotel – 800-944-5377 (rates starting at $179)
Holiday Inn Washington DC – Georgetown - 202-338-4600 (rates starting at $158)
Days Inn Washington DC – Connecticut Ave – 202-244-5600 (rates starting at $139)

Cafe Deluxe is near the Cleveland Park Metro Station.

Can’t wait to see you there!

by Michelle Loretta

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Sage Declaration No. 13 ::: Differentiate

Monday, March 8, 2010 Posted in Niche, Strategy

What is the one thing that you do different from others?

What are you best at doing?

What work do you prefer to do?

Ask yourself these questions at least once a month until you feel you’ve defined your niche.

You must learn to differentiate in order to truly compete in the market.
You must be different.
You must have a unique niche.

This differentiation can be revolutionary, but it doesn’t have to be. However, you MUST offer something different. McDonald’s was not the first fast food restaurant. But, Ray Kroc was able to introduce a new system by which his restaurants were run. And, he was able to sell this formula time and time again until he had started the first franchised network of restaurant chains. What he did with McDonald’s was completely different from anyone else at the time.

I love this post by Sean Lowe, author of the blog The Business of Being Creative on changing the game.

Be DIFFERENT.

For more wedding business insights… read our sage declarations.

by Michelle Loretta

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March 10, 2010 - 12:06 am alice - I just discovered your blog and it's so insightful! Great questions and great challenge to continuously as ourselves these things!