How Inbox Zero Can Help You Provide Better Customer Service
As an Avon Representative, you are solely responsible for your Avon business.
And, it’s very likely you’re trying to do everything by yourself. Sometimes this can mean that things fall through the cracks.
There are many different ways to manage your email inbox. But here is one that many people use.
Developing an inbox zero strategy can help you provide better customer service because you’re less likely to lose emails and it’s easier to see new messages.
Inbox Zero was created by Merlin Mann to maintain and reach email inbox zero so that you can get more done in your day without missing important information.
He designed five reactions to a new email that you should do right away.
Each message you will choose one of five responses: delete, delegate, respond, defer, and do. Learning the right response for each type of email you receive takes some time, but as you practice, you’ll get better, and it will become second nature.
To get to this point, follow these steps:
1 – Set aside 10 minutes, three times a day to deal with unopened emails
You’ll want to make checking your email a habit. Checking three times a day for about ten minutes at a time will eventually lead you to the coveted inbox zero.
Spread the times out. Check in the morning, sometime after lunch, then the last thing before you end your workday.
Set a timer, so you don’t get drawn down a rabbit hole.
2 – Create appropriate folders
Set up some folders for your email that helps you know what to do with them.
You may not be able to process some of the categories in the 10 minutes, but you can add any to do items to your schedule and list, as well as delete and delegate within those ten minutes.
The goal is to process as much as you can and delete the rest.
3 – Set Up Automation
Depending on the type of email you use, there are add-ons and plugins to help you get more functionality.
For example, you can get Boomerang for Google mail that will enable you to reply now but schedule replies to go out at a different time.
This is great for dealing with emails late at night or early in the morning or off workdays.
4 – Delete Messages
When you open a message and read it, as you note to do items, add them to your to-do list and calendar.
Once you’ve taken the info from the email that you need, delete it.
Don’t keep it around. If you need information from it such as a name or address, add it to a client or customer database so you can have that information handy later.
5 – Unsubscribe
Subscriptions sometimes get carried away since you end up on a list every time you buy or engage with someone.
If you’re not regularly opening and reading the emails, do them and yourself a favor by deleting yourself from the list through the unsubscribe button.
Like most things that you do in life, when you make it a habit or a ritual that you must do each day at certain times, it becomes almost a rote process that you don’t even have to think of.
Like brushing your teeth before bed, you just do it automatically without thinking. That is where you want to be.
When you commit to this process, you’re more likely to succeed.
As you commit to this process within the next year, depending on how bad your email is, you’ll eventually end up at Inbox Zero.
Whatever method you use, controlling your email inbox can make all the difference between taking care of your customers and your business, and stopping things from falling through the cracks.
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