Step 1: Answer email at set times
Pick two or three times a day to work through email, such as mid-morning, after lunch, and before you finish, and close the inbox in between. The exceptions are the emails that can't wait: a new lead, and a deal with a deadline today. Set alerts for those senders only, so the rest can wait for the next block without you wondering what you're missing.
You do
- Choosing your email times and your exceptions
Hand off
- Flagging new leads and deadline emails as they arrive
Step 2: Give every email one of four outcomes
In each block, every email gets one of four outcomes. Answer it now if the answer takes two minutes. Draft a reply if it takes thought. Pass it on if someone else owns it, such as a lender question your transaction coordinator handles. File it if it needs nothing. An email that sits unread isn't waiting, it's undecided, and undecided email is what fills an inbox.
You do
- The two-minute answers
- Deciding which emails need you
Hand off
- Reply drafts for the emails that take thought
- Passing emails to whoever owns them
Step 3: Keep a template for every email you send each week
Much of what you send says one of a few things. Write a template once for each, and fill in the details each time. Three to start with. A new lead: "Hi [name], thanks for reaching out about [address]. I can show it [day] at [time] or [time]. Which works better?" A document request: "Hi [name], to keep us on schedule, I need [document] by [date]. You can reply to this email with it attached." A status update: "Hi [name], an update on [address]: [what happened]. Next is [next step] by [date]. Nothing is needed from you right now." Add a template for each email you catch yourself writing twice.
You do
- Writing each template once, in your own words
Hand off
- Filling in the details for each email
Step 4: Hand off the drafting, keep the sending
The slow part of email is the writing, not the reading. Hand off the first draft of each reply, built from the email, your template, and what you know about the deal, and keep the send button. Read each draft before it goes, and write anything about price, terms, or advice yourself. Once the drafts sound like you, your part is the read and the send.
You do
- Reading each draft and sending it
- Anything about price, terms, or advice
Hand off
- The first draft of each reply
Step 5: End the day with nothing undecided
In the last block of the day, go through what's left. Every email ends the day with a reply, a draft, a reminder for when you'll answer it, or a place in a folder. Anything you promised today, like a document or a call back, goes on tomorrow's list. This last pass is what keeps tomorrow's inbox from starting behind.
You do
- The last look before you finish
Hand off
- A reminder for each email you'll answer tomorrow
- Tomorrow's list of what you promised today
Where Reddy fits
Reddy writes your replies as drafts in your own mailbox, to the people you name, and doesn't send them: you review each draft and send it from your own email. Tell it how you answer an email you get every week, and it follows that the next time the work comes up.
Price, terms, and advice stay with you.