Tag Archives | email

Tame Your Voicemail

By on April 28, 2010 in Technology, Work

Do you suffer from voicemail dread? I know, voicemail is an integral part of your communication system, but it can often be very frustrating. Phone tag, cut-off messages, long-winded messages and my personal favorite – the guy who talks like an auctioneer and even after listening to his message 5 times, you can’t decipher his phone number!

Here are some tips to make using voicemail easier:

  • Use integrated voicemail  – your voicemail is sent to your email account as an audio file, so you don’t have to dial in every  time.
  • Check your voicemail at scheduled times – just like you should be doing with your email. It can be anything from once per day to once an hour – whatever works for you.
  • Make sure you listen to all of the messages before responding because often there is a follow-up message.
  • Have your calendar and your action or task list available so that you can write down names, numbers and actions to be taken immediately – or at least a piece of paper to write them on if you are going to transfer them to your phone or computer.
  • Consider responding via email rather than a call back to avoid phone tag or getting stuck on the phone.
  • If the conversation is not going to be a quick one, try writing down the topics you want to cover or questions to be asked.
  • Delete all the old voicemails after you have listened to them so that your mailbox does not get full.

You can save so much time to use for more productive activities if you can trim some voicemail time from your busy schedule!

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Free Publicity – Really?

By on March 15, 2010 in Uncategorized

Ever heard of HARO – Help-A-Reporter-Out?

This website has been highly recommended in marketing and business circles, but I had never taken the time to check it out until recently. It is a portal where nearly 30,000 reporters from many of the major television news networks, prominent newspapers and magazines connect with sources for their articles and stories; even book research.

You can be one of those sources. It’s really very simple. You just sign up for one or multiple daily communication lists. They are listed by category; Business and finance, Lifestyle & Fitness, Education, Entertainment, Technology, Travel, etc. , as well as a general list that hits the highlights of them all.

The lists are sent out either once or twice per day and you can unsubscribe at any time if you find a particular list does not appeal to your area of interest or expertise. If there is a query you have some knowledge about, you simply click the link and send a short email to the reporter (not named) answering whatever the question is. If you are the kind of source they are looking for, they may use you in their article, TV interview, news story or book.

It’s free publicity for you or your company if you are selected and if not, you should only have lost a few minutes of your time. Don’t spend hours on this trying to answer every question you remotely know anything about. Just scan the list in your email inbox and delete it if nothing applies. If you see a query that is a fit, send a quick note and then delete it. Do not clog your inbox with these emails or save them for later. There will be more tomorrow!

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4 Steps to Get Control of Your Inbox

By on February 24, 2010 in Productivity

Use the rule of the 4 D’s to get control over your inbox. Perhaps the most important rule is to handle each message only once, make a decision and move on. This eliminates the bulging inbox and revisiting messages over and over, which often results in less than stellar efficiency!

DELETE IT – you can generally delete 25% to 50% of your messages. If you suffer from packrat syndrome and are wary about needing the message someday, use the following guidelines:

  • Does the message relate to a current objective you’re working on? If not, you can probably delete it. Why hold on to information that doesn’t relate to your main goals?
  • Does the message contain information you can find elsewhere? If so, delete it.
  • Does the message contain information that you will refer to within the next six months? If not, delete it.
  • Does the message contain information that you’re required to keep? If not, delete it.

DO IT (in less than two minutes) – Can’t DELETE IT, then decide, “What specific action do I need to take?” and “Can I DO IT in less than two minutes?” If you can, just Do it.

DELEGATE IT – If you can’t DELETE IT or DO IT in two minutes or less, can you Delegate it? You should be able to compose and send the delegating message in about two minutes. Once you delegate the action, delete the original message or move it into your e-mail reference system (or WOR folder).

DEFER IT – If you cannot DELETE IT, DO IT in less than two minutes, or DELEGATE IT, then you need to Defer it and deal with it after you are done processing your e-mail. Depending on which system you use for email, you can flag the message for follow up and file in the corresponding project folder, create a task out of it or create an appt. if that is what is required.

If you are using the 4 D’s model on a daily basis it makes it easier to handle a large volume of e-mail. Generally speaking, of the e-mail you receive:

  • 50 percent can be deleted or filed in a reference folder
  • 30 percent can be delegated or completed in less than 2 minutes
  • 20 percent can be deferred to your Task List or Calendar to complete later
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