Anti-GTD advice: Managing your email and good customer service
You may be productive but your customer service blows
I don’t check my email every hour or four as GTD specialists seem to recommend.
I never check it at all because my email is always up and it checks itself every minute. I use the Gmail/Google Notifier combo and when someone writes, a little window pops up and tells me who’s writing and shows the first couple lines of their email. I hear a beep, glance up from my work for approximately .00003 billiseconds, see who wrote, decide if it’s important and respond or not. If it’s a client or potential one, I usually respond immediately.
“But Charlie,” you’re surely saying right now, “it takes time to glance up from your work. And I’ll bet by the end of the day, you’ve wasted 5 or 6 minutes doing so.”
Well, guess what. I’ve got 5 or 6 minutes. I don’t run my life or my business where I’ll implode if I check one more email. When I was in the corporate world that’s how things were. And that’s why I got out.
One of the things that bugs me about the GTD system, or rather one version of it I guess, is that email accountability goes out the window. Productivity specialists often recommend very intermittent email checking. They say check it only in the morning, or only in the evening, or every four hours.
Well, to state the completely obvious, if you’re only checking your email every four hours, that means your customer service has huge gaping four-hour holes in it.
Now, I can understand the point of checking your email every few hours. I get it. It lets you be more productive. Maybe. But it also means you kinda suck at writing people back. And that’s not a maybe.
I think perhaps the emphasis should be less on squeezing every last second of workable time from your day, and more on the reason you’re working in the first place: your customer.
Here’s a better way to go
Leave your email open and just be disciplined about it. If someone writes and you don’t want to write back, don’t. If you feel the need to organize your cluttered inbox right in the middle of a great work period, don’t.
Maybe this would work for you and maybe it wouldn’t. If email isn’t part of your business, I suppose it doesn’t even matter. But if you have customers or clients or orders that come in via email, I can certainly offer this real-world advice from real-world results:
I’ve gotten many many commissions from people who said, “Wow! That was a fast response!” Or, “Gee, I didn’t expect anyone to be over there”
On the other hand, I’ve never gotten an email that said, “Wow! It took you like….eight days to respond. Here, let me give you my money. And my children.”
People who rock at writing me back and/or mediating comments on their sites:
James Chartrand
David Airey
Skellie
Naomi
Christine
Leo
Stephen
The thing I love about that list is that none of them really know me at all. I mean, if they had to pick me out of a criminal line-up for burning down their house, they’d never find me. Yet they write back or respond to comments. And that makes me want to communicate with them. It makes me want to do business with them. It makes me want to refer people to them, because I know they’re good for it and will treat my referrals well.
Tell me that’s bad for business and I’ll say, “No it’s not, and I mean it.”
Everyone on that list is successful as a freelancer or businessperson. And they communicate well. You might think there’s a connection.
Did you like this post? I did. That’s why I’m going to subscribe right now, even though this is my own blog. You should do the same.
Comments
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17 comments
Thanks for the linkage and commending my excellent customer service skills (if I do say so myself!). I’m always surprised when clients say, “Wow, I didn’t expect you to answer right away!”
Um, why ever not? I’m in business. Clients are my business. My job is to reassure them, communicate with them and provide service. How can I do that if I don’t interact?
Commenting on the blog is much the same thing - if someone has taken the time to come visit me in my home and speak to me, it would be rude to walk away to go off and have coffee in the next room. That’s like saying, “Here’s the remote; have a blast. I’ll be back when I feel like it.”
No. I earn readers because they feel comfortable and at home. They feel liked for who they are and heard. And I like having them.
I earn clients because they feel reassured I’m taking care of them and their project. It’s too easy for people to walk off into the sunset and leave clients hanging. My job is to undo the damage that countless other people have created and form a bond of trust with my client. Trust I’m on the ball, trust that I’m taking care of the job, and trust that yes, James is still alive and well.
By the way, Charlie, your subscription line was incredibly funny. It’s not so funny to spurt coffee out my nose. But still, I commend you - you have the potential power to become an honorary Canadian slipping in things like that. Not to mention the power to teach me that snorting caffeine doesn’t give double the buzz…
James -
That is such an excellent point, about ignoring someone who comes to your home. The web is different, sure, but it’s also…ummm…not different. In a way. You know what I mean.
It’s reminiscent of what happened at Deborah’s Freelance Writing Jobs site, and the comment strings that resulted on her site and yours. It’s reminiscent because people think just because we’re on the “anonymous” web, we can treat others like shit.
I don’t go around the city slapping people I don’t know just because they may disagree with me. Yet I often have to delete emails and comments of people who are insanely rude. Not rude with a point, which I might allow. Just rude. And this site is my house, so you gotta wipe your feet when you come in.
And unfortunately for those not so nice people, I’ve got a memory like…like…like something super sticky. They’re not as anonymous as they’d hope, and there’ll be no joy for them in the future. Not from me at least.
Now for something completely different: if you’re going to make me an honorary Canadian, I’m gonna need a big certificate. With a maple leaf on it.
Thanks for the comment, James! You made my day!
Oh…and you’re welcome for the linkage. It’s very well deserved. Guys like you stick out like a sore thumb and make my work much more enjoyable.
I think you’re forgetting something: it’s not the 2-3 seconds you use to check who it’s from. It’s the that you are “out of your flow”.
It usually takes time to “get” there so you are wasting much more time than just a few seconds.
Martijn -
True, that is a problem for some. Luckily, I’m one of those guys who can work through a hurricane and find his way back into the “zone” quickly. The “system” I propose probably isn’t the best for anyone who’s a little more easily distracted.
But still…even if I were easily distracted, I’d want my emphasis to be on the customer service aspect, and not necessarily cold hard production.
Thanks for the comment, Martijn!
@ Martijn - I think Charlie wasn’t discussing efficiency or getting more done with less. What he seemed to be saying was that it’s important not to neglect fast customer service because of trying to be more efficient.
People shoot themselves in the foot. They want to be more productive, so they cut out many vital parts of doing business - going from five email checks a day to 1, for instance. The result is a loss in customer service satisfaction and the end result of that is less customers.
I do hear your point that glancing up, going to answer an email may not be the best for maintaining focus - but if someone is focusing so long that they’re neglecting their core business, they’re in serious trouble.
Personally, anyone who doesn’t answer my email within a few hours (say 8 at the most) goes down a couple of notches in my books - especially when I know the person isn’t busy. I’d prefer a fast “I’ll get back to you” than nothing.
@Charlie -
“I mean, if they had to pick me out of a criminal line-up for burning down their house, they’d never find me. Yet they write back or respond to comments”
Maybe it’s just because I’m from Brooklyn, New York, but why does that sound suspiciously like a mob protection racket? “It would be unfortunate, however, if they was not to write back or respond to comments … because perhaps their house *might8 burn down, an they would be unable to pick me out from a lineup …” (LOL)
Good points all around, though. I like slices of GTD but wouldn’t want to implement the full version. It just doesn’t fit with a web worker lifestyle.
In general, though, I wouldn’t use Gmail notifier (and that’s just me) because I’m one of those people who doesn’t like multitasking when I’ve got to do something brain-intensive. But I work around that by setting short deadlines (20/30/40 minute varieties) and checking email when I’m done.
However, if I’m in the middle of an ongoing email conversation I’ll check back more frequently if I want to keep the momentum going. Ditto for when I’m working on things that don’t need a hard-core ‘flow’ state.
There’s a balance - you have to find that sweet spot where the customer / commenter is happy with your response time and focusing on doing the stuff that’s billable. Some customers can be a high-maintenance communication drain if you don’t manage it (though if you’re trying to build a commenting community, you definitely want fast response times).
PS - I’m pretty good with comments. Just drop by and leave ‘em!
Dave -
“…why does that sound suspiciously like a mob protection racket?”
I can’t comment on that at this time. In fact, I don’t even remember where I was that day. (sniff)
There is a sweet spot, for sure, and I love your idea of short stints of work. I do that too, but when I take breaks it’s my guitar that gets all the attention.
As to stopping by and leaving comments, I’m on it. I found about you via MenWithPens.ca a while ago and forgot. Then I found you through MenWithPens site again this morning. I RSS’d you this time ’cause I dig what’s happening there.
Thanks for stopping by. See you around!
Oh, Dave, you’re missing something. Gmail Notifyer is small, discreet, slips up and down, and at a glance without even skipping a beat, you can see whether you should take a break or just keep going.
Not only that, you have the added advantage of thinking on the reply that you know you’ll have to make before you’ve even read the email that came in. Or, you’ve been reassured that yes, all is good, and you can relax and continue working. Or, it’s your mother. Drop everything, dude.
Specifically taking time out to check email when you don’t even know if you have email is counterproductive to being efficient. Gmail Notifier greases the wheels.
@ Charlie - HA! But did you RSS us?? Hm? Maybe I should go burn your house down or something!
As for guitars… if I touch mine, I’m lost. Gone. Finito. Never to return, because the barre chords call me…
James & Dave & James again -
The Google Notifier is indeed slicker than rhino snot on a door knob. It is such a fast check when the notifier pops up that it almost can’t be a distraction. It’s a flick of the eye and you’re back at it. And as I said in the post it gives you the info of who wrote plus some intro text to their message. I don’t actually have to do anything. There’s no window switching, minimizing/maximizing, opening a new app, hitting “send/receive” or anything. It’s automatic and a real time saver.
And yes James, I RSS’d you as well. In fact, I believe I still have JCME RSS’d. How you like me now?
Did you say barre chords? Oh shit…fingers…itching…
I bought a bunch of new picks early yesterday morning, but didn’t get home ’til 10pm to use them. I literally had butterflies in my stomach all day in my excitement to try them out. Ridiculous.
I just discovered Gmail bliss. Skellie over at Anywired pointed me to the Signature plugin for Firefox in her post today.
I’m in heaven.
Pick: One Fender pick, pearl white, medium bend. I’m happy. I want to win a guitar from Just Creative Design.
Bitchin’ plugin! I just installed it! Thanks for the tip.
Pick: Dunlop Jazz II. Tiny little buggers.
Maybe we should start a new site called MenWithPicks. Because I know you have nothing else to do.
You may be onto something there… Don’t tell Harry. He’ll kill me. Then you.
@James-
“Specifically taking time out to check email when you don’t even know if you have email is counterproductive to being efficient.”
But I *always* have email. ALWAYS.
I actually tried Gmail notifier, but I just couldn’t click with it. I guess we all have different attention / focus styles - and mine works best when I “close the door” to my office.
I heard a pstor years ago tell me “wherever you are, be all there,” and it resonated with me.
I find I’m more productive-per-minute when I can attack tasks in a commando-raid type fashion. Quick in, firefirefire, quick out.
Now onto the next firefight
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