A meeting in person with potential clients can make a big difference when it comes time to close a sale. This personal interaction allows parties to read each other better, bond closer, and think more strategically. These elements can give salespeople greater persuasion skills. A face-to-face request for a meeting is 30 times more likely than an email request. In-person meetings are 40% more likely to close, making them a critical step in your sales process. It is not easy to convince someone to attend a traditional meeting, as we all know. You need to not only get the lead's attention but also convince them to make time for you. This may seem like you are trying to squeeze water out of a rock, but calendar scheduling in email is a more effective way.
Why should you use email to set up meetings?
Email is the easiest and most organized form of correspondence. It is much more convenient than texting, calling or instant messaging via social media. It makes easy for you to keep track of your messages. There are many benefits to setting up an appointment via email.
* Allows for easy back and forth to discuss time and place without worrying about interruptions.
* You and the contact both can search for old messages that contain details about the meeting.
* Meeting request emails can include calendar invites, RSVP links, directions, participant lists, and any other pertinent information.
* You can easily transfer meeting details from the email to notify meeting schedule to calendar applications.
* The margin of error is smaller; there's less chance of mishearing or bad note-taking.
* Copies can be made of assistants and other team members, which increases accountability and improves the response rate.
* You can include an email and calendar integration tool like Revenue Grid in correspondence to increase the effectiveness of your sales process.
Why Email And Calendar Management Are Important?
Email and your calendar can be a great place to start if you're looking to make more time at work and free up time. Here's why.
- Email accounts account for half of the time that an average worker spends on their job. Add that to the total for the year and you could have climbed Mount Everest two times. You could also have read the entire Harry Potter series 18 times if you weren't an ice-trekker.
- Calendar management is a bit more complicated. You can manage your calendar to get more done, feel less overwhelmed and stay on top of meetings.
- You can make your email and calendar work for you with a few simple changes. You can group meetings to help you feel more in control. Email can also be automatically sorted once it arrives in your inbox.
How to Use Calendar Scheduling In Emails
Meetings over email can be complicated. It takes a lot of emails back and forth to find the right time. Front Calendar allows you to insert your availability right from the composer, and the recipient can book a meeting with the recipient with just a tap.
Step 1
Click the Scheduling icon in the email editor and then insert meeting times.
Step 2
Simply click and drag the areas of the calendar you wish to share as meeting times from the calendar popup. The front will automatically divide availability into time slots so that your recipient can choose. Front will create time slots between 12pm-12:30pm, 12:30pm-1pm, and 30 minutes if you select 12pm-1pm.
Step 3
1-You can customize the details of your meeting by using the Meeting settings section.
2-To include a colleague in the meeting, you can use the Add additional guest setting.
3-You can also customize the formatting settings to change the time zone or 24hr formatting for the time slots that are included in the email.
Step 4
To insert the meeting times directly in your email, click the blue Add options button. Once the recipient has received your email, they will be able to instantly book a meeting by tapping one of the available slots. Once they have done this, an email invitation and calendar will be sent out to all participants.
Insert from an existing scheduling link
Step 1
Without leaving the composer, you can insert any scheduling links that have been set up directly into your email. Click on Scheduling in the composer bar.
Step 2
This menu will display a list of all your scheduling links. You can either insert or create new ones. To edit an existing link, click on the three dots at the top of the link. More information about Scheduling Link Settings can be found here.
Step 3
There are two ways to insert meeting information in your email:
* Insert link:
This inserts a link into your email. Your recipient can then click the link to go to a webpage to see your availability or book a time.
* Insert meeting slots:
This inserts individual timeslots of the scheduling link directly to the email. Your recipient can then click on one of these to book without opening a new page. You can also delete individual slots from an email by hand before sending it.
5 Ways You Can Organize And Manage Your Emails And Calendar
Before we get into organizing your email and calendar, it is important to use the right tools. Most people will use one of three major email senders: Gmail, Office 365, or our personal favorite, Front. These platforms are the best for most tools that allow you to link different parts of your workday, such as calendars, appointments, meetings, and calendars. If you want to integrate all of your apps under one roof, apps such as Front Calendar, Microsoft Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar, Bookngly calendars and Microsoft Outlook Calendar are great choices.
1. Your email and calendar should reflect your desire to be available.
- What is your average working day? Is your work schedule set up for flexibility or 9-5? Your availability should be reflected in your calendar.
- Block the time that you know is being used -- the time for meetings and scheduling you have each week -- and then consider the desired time. Block it so that no one else can schedule your random Friday 4 pm meeting. Block it off if you plan to run Wednesday mornings at 7 am. If you have the time, it's more likely that you will follow through.
- You can easily change your calendar. First block off your set working hours. Let's look at the process for G Suite accounts on Google Calendar. To access "Settings", click on the gear icon on your calendar, then click on "Working hours".
- Change the settings to make your calendar more accurate. You might tell someone who tries to schedule a meeting with you when you aren’t working or to block off time for a large project that they won’t be able to accommodate you.
- Here's how to duplicate this trick if you are using Microsoft Outlook.
- Front allows you to schedule your working hours. Front Calendar syncs with Outlook's or Bookngly calendars, so you can simply follow the steps above to access the calendar section.
- You can view your calendar in Front Calendar when you import Outlook or Gmail into Front.
- You can then set your availability for email -- you can either do a one-off Do Not Disturb or create a Do Not Disturb Schedule that runs all day. You won't receive email notifications after 10 pm and before 6 am, as shown in the image below.
2. To sort your emails automatically, use color tabs
- Do you ever wish someone would just jump in and sort your inbox? Tabs can be used to create an automated filtering system that will automatically pick the most important emails and then file the rest for you when you have time. This way you can have the best of both worlds: answer the most important questions first and still have your favorite newsletter to read during lunch breaks.
- This strategy is used by David Gewirtz, a columnist at CNET, to organize his inbox. Gerwitz used color labels when he was organizing new columns. They helped him distinguish between two topics -- hosting and VPN.
- This can be done in your Gmail inbox. To do this, go to your left side and click "More", then click "Create a new label". Once you have created a label, it will appear in the folders at the left of your screen. If you attach an email to a label, it will be highlighted whenever a new message is sent to that thread. Labels allow me to view different emails from clients, and even my accountant in my inbox.
- Emails with labels allow you to quickly spot messages from clients.
- Labels will not only save you time when looking through emails but also keep everything tidy.
- The front uses tags instead of labels. These tags allow you to organize your email however you like. These can be pinned to your inbox as a folder or used for searching and making sure certain emails stand out. By using triggers such as keywords, sender, subject, and others, you can create rules that automatically apply tags to messages.
Emails with tags on Front
- This is perhaps the best part of this, compared to Outlook labels or Gmail. You can access analytics on your tags. What number of emails include the word "noodles?" How many times did Brad email you last year, your teammate? These are important questions that tag analytics can help you answer.
3. Plan your day and block of time for the next day
- We make shopping lists. We plan our holidays. Catch-ups with friends on weekends are a good idea. This organization can be applied to our work day. Pre-planning your schedule is key. This will allow you to know what's in store for the next day, or even the week ahead. Cal Newport, the author of Deep Work, said that he spends between 10 and 20 minutes each night building his schedule for tomorrow.
- He says, "During the planning process, I consult both my task lists, calendars, and my weekly and quarterly planning notes." "My goal is for progress to be made on the right items at the right pace and within the appropriate deadlines.
- This can be furthered by "time-blocking" your schedule and mimicking the work of some of the most successful people in the world. This technique is used by entrepreneurs like Gary Vaynerchuk and Elon Musk to plan their day using blocks of time that allow them to focus on one task.
Perfect Ideas for time-blocking
* Use time batching to schedule similar tasks.
This allows your brain to focus on tasks that are related. Instead of switching between a client call and undisturbed working to email, you could batch your emails and meetings so that you can concentrate on undisturbed work at the end.
* Allow yourself to take a break:
No one should work at 100%. You should schedule time blocks that aren't occupied so that you can eat lunch, call a friend, or simply clear your head. This will help you focus better when you are needed.
* Book your meetings back to back:
This is similar to batching. By booking your meetings in blocks, you can stay in meeting mode and continue with your tasks afterward. You can also limit the time you book meetings, such as before lunch.
Clockwise is a great calendar app that helps you batch tasks. It allows you to choose meeting times that are flexible throughout the day. You can set a weekly goal for "focus time", and the app will automatically block that time. It integrates with Slack, so it can update your Slack status whenever you're in meetings, focusing, or whatever, so people don't leave you behind. Clockwise Focus Time is shown in the Front Calendar panel.
4. Stick to a method that you like
There are many ways to take control of your inbox. They're all hotly debated. One option is to try to get inbox zero each day. Another option is to use the 4D's method of email management or the OHIO method. JR Raphael, a Fast Company tech writer, says that instead of responding to every email immediately we should respond in some way. He suggests using "fast-triage” options.
* Archive: An email that doesn't need to be acted upon should be archived. Immediately.
* Reply: Respond as quickly as possible to an email. Then, archive it.
* Snooze: If you are in the middle or need to think about a message, you can snooze it until a later time. This is just like the time you have set aside for email management in your calendar.
If the person you sent the email to has not responded, you can snooze in front. Or, you can hit "Send and Stump" to choose a time to receive the email. This will ensure that you never forget to follow up!
5. Inbox rules will do the hard work for you
- You can automate your inbox using Gmail, Outlook, or Front. These are all covered in our guide.
- You can create a rule in Gmail by going to the Search bar. Select the criteria you are interested in, such as from, to, and Size. Next, choose Create Filter. You'll then be able to select the result for messages that match the criteria. This could be Archive, Forward To, Mark as Important, or something else.
- Outlook allows you to right-click on a message and select Create Rule. Next, choose a Condition and specify the outcome you want to see with this type of message. Next, click Run to apply your rule to the current message.
- You can use Bookngly to set rules that automatically reply to the email, as well as assign emails to colleagues, set alerts, and tag messages based upon triggers.
- Let's suppose an invoice arrives in your inbox. Front allows you to have conversations marked "Finance", automatically moved to a Billing Inbox. This can be set up on your calendar so you can deal with them once per week.
Conclusion
It takes little to make a difference when it comes to email and calendar management. Although these guidelines might seem small, they can help you regain the most important asset in your work day: your time. Try bookngly for better assistance.
