In the last couple of weeks, I have spoken with business owners who are struggling to juggle everything they have to do to keep their business afloat, I don’t mean financially, I mean all of the dull back office stuff that if you ignore doesn’t go away. These people are successful businessowners and know what they need to do to make the money, however what they have in common is that they really hate doing the boring admin side of things, especially dealing with emails.

You have two choices when it comes to emails – ignore them and let that inbox total continue to increase and then just turn a blind eye to it OR DEAL WITH THEM!

Dealing with emails doesn’t necessarily mean spending hours going through that inbox yourself, believe it or not there are people out there who actually enjoy dealing with admin tasks! I get a great deal of satisfaction out of knowing that things are organised and that you are starting afresh each working day with an inbox at zero.

Having a clear desk policy is something that people try to stick to, having a zero inbox policy is exactly the same. You can see clearly what has come in to your inbox and deal with things in an orderly and timely fashion.

MY TOP TIPS 

Use Folders – set up folders for each client, project, topic etc. However you feel this would work for you but you need to think of these folders as a filing cabinet. If you were looking for an email about a specific subject where would you start to look for it?

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Delete – get rid of all those emails you have dealt with, or at the very least move them to a CRM system where they will be stored securely (see below re CRM Systems)

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Action – if an email requires an action, then action it. Don’t use your inbox as a to-do list. Move tasks to a task list and get rid of that email.

Unsubscribe – if your inbox is filling up with marketing emails from people who you met at a conference but are never actually going to buy from then now is a great time to click UNSUBSCRIBE. You can always add yourself back on to their list in the future if things change. Don't continue to clog your inbox up for fear of upsetting someone through unsubscribing!

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Rules – I love a good email rule and I’m always surprised when I show clients how to do this and they’ve never even heard of this as an option. Having emails automatically move to a specific folder without you having to even touch them is like magic!

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Use a CRM system – there are a couple of CRM systems I recommend to my clients, the first is Capsule CRM and the second is Hubspot. Within both of these systems you have the option to blind copy (BCC) a specific contact address which automatically copies the email you are sending to a specific folder which allocates it against the client record. What I love best about this is that its not even any more work than sending the normal email, it is simply a habit you need to get in to, remembering to add that email address to the BCC box (you can always forward the emails later even if you do forget), but this means that you can delete the emails from your inbox and still have that copy saved against the client for future reference.

Inox dread...

If you take time away from your work and return to an overflowing inbox it could be a great idea to take some steps before you head off on your holidays so that you’re not having to check your emails while you are away or dreading opening your inbox as soon as you get back.

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Delegate your inbox management so that someone is checking the emails while you are away, this way you can have a far smaller list of emails which actually require your attention to deal with when you get back. Whoever you delegate to can make sure that all appointments and meetings are put in to your calendar for you, any urgent queries about products or enquiries are actioned or redirected to where they can find the answers they need and you can concentrate on the important issues which need your full attention without all the distractions when you've got your suitcases unpacked.

So exactly how can delegating improve your worklife balance?

Through outsourcing the dull admin tasks you dread, you can concentrate on the pressing issues, you can reduce the amount of time you are spending dealing with emails and have more time to deal with making sales and generating an income. Simple!