Have you ever stopped in the middle of going through your emails and realized the task has taken over your entire day? This is what happens when you don’t employ an effective email management system or any management system on any other task, for that matter. Think of all the missed opportunities, undetected leads and loss in sales because of the time spent clearing your inbox.
The good news is that making a few changes and adopting a system that works for the long term can remedy this problem. Below, we have email management tips to help your sales team triumph over the cavalcade of emails that threaten to overtake and overwhelm them on a daily basis. Let’s go!
1. Set aside a time
It’s best for your sales team to knock out the bigger tasks from their to-do lists at the top of the day and this includes tackling going through their emails first. Since they’re just about ready for the day, their energy, focus and drive at their peak, it’s best to get their inboxes sorted out first, freeing up the rest of the day for other things.
Checking their emails first thing will also set the tone for the rest of the day for your sales team if they make it part of their email management tips. They’ll be able to scope out new leads, address inquiries from potential new customers and assist current ones with their needs right at the beginning of the day.
2. Get organized
It’s quite possible that your team has been in sales for some time but hasn’t worked out the wonders of email management that is organization or hasn’t used them to the max. Most email servers nowadays have flags, filters, labels, folders and commands, all of which make life a whole lot easier. Be mindful, though, that organization depends on the person. You can give your team tips to manage email but it’s up to the person to decide if they want to follow it.
You can organize your incoming emails into folders like leads, first contact, follow-ups and after sales and more. Spam emails can be flagged and sent straight to the Spam folder or even the Bin. Commands can also be created to filter emails based on importance or priority, making it easier for your sales team to know which ones should be addressed properly.
3. Integrate
Another one of our email management tips for executives is guaranteed to cut down on your prospecting and selling time. If you use an email marketing service, you can integrate it with your email so you can easily send out marketing materials using one address when you need to and automate the process.
You can also explore how you can integrate your email with your CRM and create rules so you can easily create and track leads, prospects and even trends or demands from your inbox and feed them into your CRM. Explore the other apps and software you can integrate with your email to help your team cast a wider net and make more successful sales. You can make communication so much easier and more fruitful as soon as you find the right integration that helps your team the most.
4. The 1-minute rule
Procrastinators won’t like this but an effective email management strategy is to follow the 1-minute rule. If an email takes one minute to reply to, don’t put it off. This helps your sales team in more ways than you can imagine.
The 1-minute rule teaches your sales team to filter their emails better into categories and from there they can tell which ones they can reply to right away. This includes prioritizing as well as cultivating their decision-making while also saving them time. Being able to adhere to the 1-minute rule will help make your sales team more efficient and productive in the long run.
5. Use templates and default replies
If you or anyone in your sales team finds that you send pretty much the same email over and over again in one day, another time saving one of our email management tips for your sales team is using templates. You can create a distribution list or get one from your CRM and send a blanket email to the whole group. Or you can create categories based on the replies that you send so you know which template goes with what category.
Canned replies or default replies also come in handy. If you have a concrete reply for a specific request or inquiry, you can compose a default reply that you can send with one click after making a few changes to personalize them.
6. Link to tools
If you haven’t already, our email management tips include linking your mailbox to various tools designed to make your life easier and your mailbox a lot more manageable. For example, you can link your mailbox with your calendar so you can set up appointments and confirm them at the same time.
You can also link your mailbox to your team’s so anyone in your team can look into your inbox especially when you’re unavailable. There are also certain tasks and project management tools that you can link with your mailbox so you can create tasks based on the emails that land in your inbox.
7. Unsubscribe and delete
Promotional emails can be tedious to clear out but necessary if you want to tame the chaos in your inbox. If you won’t be buying, you can unsubscribe at any time and say goodbye to the clutter. If you won’t be reading it, delete it so you can free up more space in your mailbox.
Keep in mind that your work mailbox should be reserved for work-related things. If it’s not essential or helpful to your job, don’t associate your email address with it. You will only inevitably crowd your inbox and promotional emails will take up the space meant for more important people and their emails from reaching you and your sales team.
