{"id":330,"date":"2023-03-22T13:51:41","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T13:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/?p=330"},"modified":"2023-03-22T13:51:41","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T13:51:41","slug":"get-control-of-your-email-with-the-five-ds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/?p=330","title":{"rendered":"Get Control of Your Email with the Five D\u2019s<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last RAM, I talked about The Basic Foundational Skill of Responding to Messages<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We agents get messages from multiple sources, of course, but it’s email where most of us have a colossal organizational problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you know how often I email another agent whom I know and respect, yet I never get a response? Way too often! <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I follow up with them, and they provide the standard excuse. \u201cOh, sorry! I missed that somehow!\u201d but I know precisely how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s because their inbox is a Giant Black Abyss \u26ab. Emails go in and get devoured, never to be seen again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a Giant Black Abyss \u26ab, I guarantee <\/em>you\u2019re losing business from potential clients, and <\/em>you\u2019re completely unaware of it. So here\u2019s an idea: How about taking a break from chasing \u201ccrappy leads\u201d and repairing this very real problem first? Like, right now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within this RAM, I\u2019ll explain how to eliminate your Giant Black Abyss, but first, you need to learn the Five D\u2019s:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. DO<\/strong> – Respond immediately (whenever you are working in your inbox). If it takes less than two minutes, just DO it! If you respond but still require a follow-up, make a notation in your tasks list, calendar it, or simply leave the email in your inbox as a reminder to yourself. Otherwise, DELETE or DESIGNATE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. DELETE<\/strong> – If you\u2019re done with an email and know you will never need the information again, DELETE it. You should also ruthlessly unsubscribe to useless emails you never read. If it\u2019s information you might need in the future, DESIGNATE it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. DESIGNATE<\/strong> – File emails containing important information in different folders and sub-folders so you can locate them more easily in the future. For example, I have two big folders – Active Clients and Inactive Clients (completed deals) – and a sub-folder under each of those Master Folders for every client. This is where I keep ALL the emails I get pertaining to any one of my clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. DELEGATE<\/strong> – Forward the email to someone else; your assistant, your bookkeeper, another agent, or whoever is going to take care of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. DEFER<\/strong> – If you\u2019re working in your inbox and you\u2019re short on time, simply start a reply and then leave it. Purposely use your Drafts Folder for each email that requires a response but is not urgent. Now, the next time you come back to work in your inbox, your Drafts Folder acts as a sort-of \u201cTo-Do\u201d list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you see how these rules will help you regain control over your inbox, Jim-Bobby?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, what about the Giant Black Abyss \u26ab\u2014the backlog of 29,500 emails you\u2019ll probably <\/em>never look at again for the rest of your life? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simple: Make an archive file and move over ALL of your old emails; at least everything up to the end of 2022. Do you really need emails from last year<\/em> in your inbox? No, you do not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: I said archive<\/em>, not delete<\/em>. You might <\/em>need to access one of those ancient emails in the future, so don\u2019t worry; you\u2019re not throwing them away!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After you\u2019ve completed archiving, set aside an hour or two to power through the remaining emails in your inbox using the Five D\u2019s. You can DELETE a lot of them! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DESIGNATE most of the remaining to various Folders and Sub-Folders that you can set up as part of the clean-up process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, simply remember to use the Five D\u2019s from now on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bonus: Here\u2019s a sixth D, and possibly the most important one for many of you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. DON\u2019T be a slave to your inbox!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turn off notifications, and learn to work on emails frequently in short bursts. You\u2019ll be surprised how many emails you can burn through in 15 minutes when your inbox isn\u2019t a Giant Black Abyss \u26ab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the Five D\u2019s, you can easily manage the 10-50 emails in your inbox. Yes, that\u2019s all I typically have in mine, and there\u2019s no reason you can\u2019t too. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last RAM, I talked about The Basic Foundational Skill of Responding to Messages.  We agents get messages from multiple sources, of course, but it’s email where most of us have a colossal organizational problem. Do you know how often I email another agent whom I know and respect, yet I never get a response? Way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7-communication-styles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}