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If you missed my step-by-step guide to email management, jump back now and check it out!

In my experience, busy professionals tend to need help with inbox management because of the sheer volume of emails that come in and because they simply have too much on their plates to keep things down to a manageable size (one page or less is my suggestion).

You may be ready to acknowledge that your email is a bit out of hand, but what would it look like to have assistance in that area?

There is a broad spectrum when it comes to how involved your VA can be, which means that virtual assistant inbox management may look different for each client/virtual assistant partnership.

Low Involvement – VA assists with set-up and daily clean-up

On the one side of the spectrum, you have a client who mainly wants to handle email himself. He doesn’t need help replying to or sorting emails past the initial set-up.

For this client, I would do the bulk of the work at the beginning by helping him organize his inbox, setting up some great labels and filters, and cleaning it out for a fresh start. At that point, the client would handle his emails as he normally would, and I would step in a few times a week just to archive or file away emails that no longer need his attention.

High Involvement – VA handles set-up, replies, and maintenance

On the opposite side of the spectrum, you have a client who wants to be very hands-off when it comes to email. Email is just not her thing.

For this client, I would handle the same initial set-up, and then the client and I would put together a list of appropriate responses for common inquiries. I would take care of scheduling and most simple inquiries on behalf of the client without needing much input at all. I would then mark for the client any messages that require her direct response or attention. I may also go in periodically and make a list of emails still needing action and go over that list with the client on one of our check-in calls or in a single email.

Everything In Between

Of course, since it’s a spectrum, there are many levels of involvement in between these two extremes. Perhaps the client wants me to automatically handle scheduling requests and nothing else, or perhaps the client wants to personally read each message, deciding for each one whether to leave it for me to handle.

I can help you manage your inbox–in fact, it’s something I really enjoy doing since it involves organization! If you’re interested to talk more about this or get a quote, please be sure to contact me.

 

Have you ever had an assistant step in to help with your inbox? Did it work for you? Was your assistant on the high or low end of the involvement spectrum?

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