Today I am high up on my soapbox.  I want to rave and rant about about a pet peeve that I have and it’s one that you may have as well.

You may have guessed from the title that I am talking about email.  Specifically, I am talking about how email gets handled and why some people never seem to be able to respond to their email in a timely fashion!

You may know that I work with a lot of real estate agents in a one on one, person to person basis.  I set appointments using an online appointment system that sends out invitations to sign up for appointments.  The system works fine for many folks, but there are always those who don’t get to their invitations in time to actually get an appointment. 

So, of course I get complaints.  When I quiz them about this, they say that they either saw it too late, or they didn’t see it at all because their inbox was so full that the invitation got lost.

Baloney!  If you don’t see something in time it’s because you don’t check your inbox frequently enough.  And if it gets lost in your inbox, maybe it’s time to learn how to manage that inbox.  It’s one thing to miss emails from me…the world won’t come to an end because of that, BUT, miss an important client email and you may feel like your world will come to an end.

So, to help you with your email email inbox blues, I have compiled three great articles that will help you IF you follow their advice.

First up is an article by the CEO of LinkedIn.  Do you think he has a full inbox?  You bet he does and he has some great info for you on what he has done: 7 Ways to Manage Email So It Doesn’t Manage You

Next up is an article from PC Magazine.  While it’s obviously Windows centric in it’s approach, the ideas will work for Mac users too: Get Organized: 11 Tips for Managing Email

The third article is from a company that provides email service.  My including this article here is NOT an endorsement of their service as I have never heard of them before.  It is included here because it has some great advice: How to manage your Inbox — and more

Now, having said all of this, part of the problem is that you don’t check your email frequently enough.  As a minimum, clear your inbox first thing in the morning, at lunch, at dinner and just before you go to bed. And if you really want to be an email warrior, try checking it once every hour or so.

And maybe then you won’t be one of the people whining that they can never get an appointment, or that they missed a client email…