Virtual Assistants Can You Help You Organize Your eMail

Online eMail Management

The most popular choice for managing Client emails is through online email programs. The most often used of these is Google’s Gmail, but it can be done with other online email programs as well.

Since we primarily use Google’s Gmail I am going to tell how we access that as an example. Gmail now offers you the option of giving your virtual assistant administrator access to your Gmail account. This means you no longer have to provide your virtual assistant with your log-in information and you can both be utilizing the email at the same time.

To do it this way it does require that your virtual assistant have a Gmail account. If you are using the FREE version of Gmail then your virtual assistant if she does not already have one can create one FREE and then you can invite her to manage your email with administrator privileges.

If you are using Google Apps then you will need to create an email for your virtual assistant and send her the information so that she can sign into it. Then you can make her the administrator through that Gmail account. Once your virtual assistant has access to your Gmail accounts she can now go in and manage your email.

Other online email programs may work a little differently and you may have to give your virtual assistant your log-in information to access that email.

Offline / Desktop eMail Management

If you are using an offline or desktop email management system then you can give your virtual assistant access to that through desktop sharing programs. If you do not already have one in place you can do a Google search and there are tons of available options. Once you find the option that fits your needs and budget you can set your virtual assistant up with remote access and she can log in and manage your email right from your desktop.

Don’t want to use a desktop sharing program that’s okay. If you are using Outlook it syncs with Google’s Gmail and other online email programs. You can sync your accounts with the online system and do what we discussed in online email management.

Your Virtual Assistant Can Help You Organize Your eMail

Before you start the process, if you do not already have in place a well-organized structure for your email then you will want to schedule a meeting with your virtual assistant to discuss and outline the way you’d like to have your email organized.

Now your virtual assistant can go in and begin the process of cleaning up your email, organizing your folders, labeling, tagging, flagging, whatever the system you use allows. She can create rules, unsubscribe you from, delete junk and unnecessary email, save your documents, images, and contact information to the appropriate record storage system and archive the emails you need to keep.

Your Virtual Assistant Can Read and Respond To Your eMail

This is great to have someone to take almost full control of your email. This allows you to free up your valuable time and focus more on the tasks that you have to do. If your inquiries are technical in nature or fall outside of your virtual assistant’s realm of knowledge then you can overcome that by creating some canned (templated) responses. This way your clients are getting the answers they need, and if this is not enough for some of your clients then your virtual assistant can notify you or the appropriate person in your business that this client needs extra attention.

If someone is requesting a task to be completed, or you have a project in the works and are communicating by email then your virtual assistant can create a task list based on those emails for you. That way you only read the stuff you really need to be reading.

If someone is requesting an appointment and you have given your virtual assistant access to your calendar then she can schedule appointments for you within your parameters and have the calendar system notify you of the upcoming appointment and even create a reminder for you so you won’t forget it.

Your Virtual Assistant Can Even Manage Your eMail While You’re On Vacation

Allowing your virtual assistant to manage your email while you’re on vacation will allow you to go on vacation and not worry about that email piling up when you get back. By having your virtual assistant doing all of the above when you can get back your inbox will be clean and organized almost as if you never left. Of course, there will always be emails that you will need to attend to personally, but no worries as your virtual assistant has notified them that you are away and will return on a such-n-such a date and will reply at your earliest convenience. She can then flag those for you to follow-up on when you return and you will feel so much more relaxed while you are away and when you return knowing that your inbox isn’t going to be a total disaster when you return.

To learn more about email management please read Is your email getting out of control?

If you don’t already utilize the services of a virtual assistant be sure to contact one today! At Rhonda’s Virtual Office we would love the opportunity to discuss your business needs with you to see how we can help!