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Following up on email responses?

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by aantix, Oct 5, 2014.

  1. #1
    1) What are some of the common issues that you run into with managing
    your email?
    2) How do you typically remember to follow up with people? Do you have a system?

    Would love to hear thoughts.
     
    aantix, Oct 5, 2014 IP
  2. manishak2001

    manishak2001 Active Member

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    #2
    The most issue that I've experienced is reading the email during my non-working hours and leave that without replying. So I don't touch important emails unless I am in front of my laptop.
     
    manishak2001, Oct 6, 2014 IP
  3. aantix

    aantix Member

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    #3
    What did you end up doing that helps you to remember to follow up?
     
    aantix, Oct 6, 2014 IP
  4. jrbiz

    jrbiz Acclaimed Member

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    #4
    I file away an email out of my inbox once I am finished dealing with it. I try to keep my inbox down to less than 20 emails at the beginning of the following week. A few emails may stay for months, but most leave the inbox within a few days. By doing this, I can quickly check my inbox to see what emails are outstanding whenever I have a few minutes. I have gotten in the habit of doing just that when time allows. This process ensures that I deal with all emails eventually.

    However, once you are beyond the point of dealing with the email/issue at hand, you need a CRM system of some sort to track your prospects, clients, etc. You can't do it based on emails alone, because you may have phone or in-person contact that you need to track, as well. Modern CRM systems have tickler or calendar functions that will remind you of the contacts that you need to make today. My sales team uses that religiously.
     
    jrbiz, Oct 6, 2014 IP
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  5. Rado_ch

    Rado_ch Well-Known Member

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    #5
    Well, as a hosting company we always follow up our leads. Now, as each operator is following up their own leads, naturally each of them employs a different method that is easier for them. But generally its easy doing it even with a simple spreadsheet. We do follow a strict scheme for followup, so when you have the day of contact you can just send a followup X days after initial contact, then again X days after and so on, depending on your own desired frequency. Of course, you can always do it even more automatic with a CRM like Sugar or Zurmo...;)
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2014
    Rado_ch, Oct 6, 2014 IP
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  6. jrbiz

    jrbiz Acclaimed Member

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    #6
    I have used (and had my sales teams use) salesforce.com (high cost per month), highrise.com (not sure if free or low cost), sugarcrm (not sure if low cost or free.) I don't really like any of them for running a B2B sales/marketing organization, but they would work okay for an individual or small team. I prefer the client/server-based systems (that now offer Cloud options, too) like Goldmine or ACT! They have the practical functionality that is needed by the boots on the ground.

    However, if your sales process is either big ticket or formulaic, then you probably won't even need a CRM system and a spreadsheet will do just fine. If you are in the "whale-hunting business" in which you hope to land a handful of new clients each year, you can track the related activities on a spreadsheet. Or, if it is very formulaic sell in that much of the process can be automated because there are few choices of product/service, involve known products/services, etc., you can manage the process by spreadsheet or small database.

    Let me now really show my age and say that many moons ago, I had a team of 30 inside salespeople that I grew over 3 years from 1 sales rep. There were no computers then. For every two new sales reps I would hire, I would purchase four filing cabinets (two each) and hire one new secretary to do the word processing of sales communications. Our CRM was paper-based and stored in the filing cabinets as each rep typically had 500 - 600 active accounts. So, it can be done on paper if need be, but computer-based systems generally make more sense.

    By the way, FYI, I like salesforce.com the least of all of the systems that I mentioned above, including spreadsheet or paper-based. ;)
     
    jrbiz, Oct 6, 2014 IP
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  7. sarahk

    sarahk iTamer Staff

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    #7
    I use Streak which is a Chrome/Gmail extension for any issues that can't be resolved with a couple of emails - especially if it is likely to morph into several email threads and I need to pull them all together.
     
    sarahk, Oct 6, 2014 IP
  8. aantix

    aantix Member

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    #8
    @jrbiz I admire the zero inbox approach, but it takes a certain amount of discipline that's for sure. How do you avoid the email limbo problem; where an email seems pretty important so you keep it around in the inbox but then it just keeps hanging out there? Or what if there's a stubborn client that doesn't reply very often, don't you end up keeping their emails around a long time cluttering up the inbox?

    @sarahk I've tried streak as well, but that felt heavy handed to me. What did you like about it? What felt awkward about it?
     
    aantix, Oct 6, 2014 IP
  9. eric_wahlberg

    eric_wahlberg Well-Known Member

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    #9
    I just delete unwanted mails as they arrive. I always try to keep my mail box free of spams.
     
    eric_wahlberg, Oct 7, 2014 IP
  10. sarahk

    sarahk iTamer Staff

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    #10
    I don't use it for everything and my inbox is so congested but when someone calls and wants to follow up on something it makes it super easy to find all the emails and put a timeline together.

    Case Example: Non Profit client has a national body who employ me and I provide web services for their sub groups. One sub group wanted a complicated mix of email addresses and the hosting we're using is excellent but I don't have a control panel (only webhost in the world like that I suspect) so there's lots of double handling. I have a task specifically for them and their email issues, another for their web issues. So, I get a frantic email saying one of their emails aren't working and they don't think it's been working for months but they hadn't realised because the others were. If I just search on the email address I get all the other issues so I go to streak, pull up the group and can see my notes, documents, the lot all there. And what do I find - 2 weeks earlier the local President had emailed me with email changes, cc'd in the woman complaining, and buggered it all up. I was then able to identify which were wrong, the timeline and put things right.

    Now, I could use labels and sub labels but I wouldn't get the contact management side of it, or the status attached. I work alone so I don't mess with the collaboration side of things.
     
    sarahk, Oct 7, 2014 IP
  11. jrbiz

    jrbiz Acclaimed Member

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    #11
    Well, as I said, I review my inbox emails quite regularly throughout the work week. This tends to cause me to follow up with these email stragglers a bit more frequently to get a resolution. But, yes, there are always a small amount of emails that remain for months. I just checked my work inbox and I have 14 emails. The oldest is from June 6th (and it likely will be cleared up this week, I am happy to report.) The next oldest is July 31 and it will be going away soon. The third oldest is September 3rd and that does not concern me at all due to the nature of the email.

    These emails do not "clutter" my inbox, they remind me of important things that I need to get around to. And, by the way, it feels really good on Friday afternoon (or Monday morning) to clean it out and get it down to less than 20 emails in the inbox. It does provide a small sense of accomplishment, in fact.
     
    jrbiz, Oct 7, 2014 IP
  12. abajan

    abajan Active Member

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    #12
    Learnt about Streak just today and I must say it's a bit creepy. Although, I can see it's usefulness in marketing campaigns.
     
    abajan, Jun 25, 2015 IP