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Following up on emailIn a recent column, I told how I NEVER forget an email I send and that, if you don't respond, I certainly WILL follow up. Today, I'll fill you in on my method, so that you can become a more diligent email correspondent too. One caveat - I use the email client within Netscape's Communicator. So my method will have to be adapted to your own system. I'll try to keep it as generic as possible. 1. Create a folder called "waiting for responses" or just "waiting". This is where you'll store all of your email messages that are awaiting the favor of a reply. 2. Configure your email client to copy you automatically on any messages that you send. With Netscape, I can not only do this, I can also make them blind copies so that my correspondents don't ask me why I'm copying myself. Most email clients will save copies of sent messages, but they get filed in the "sent" folder. It's going to be hard for you to remember to pull out selected messages, and file them in your newly created "waiting" folder. With this method, the copies will appear as new messages in your in-box, and you can easily file them in your "waiting" folder. 3. You could even set up a rule to file these messages automatically in your "waiting" folder. I don't do this because the drop and drag feature is easy with Netscape, and I occasionally copy myself on a message that I didn't want to follow up on. I can then just delete it immediately, as opposed to cluttering up my "waiting" folder, which would be counter-productive. 4. Obviously, when you're sending email, you won't need to follow up on every message you send. On these, I simply delete myself from the addressee list as I'm creating the message. I'd say that only about a quarter of the messages I send are keepers, so that's a lot of deleting. But I'd rather do that than miss a message that I really do want to track. 5. If you don't want the system to copy you automatically, or if your mailer simply doesn't have that capability, then set yourself up in your address book with a nickname or alias of "me". Then, it's an easy two-keystroke addition to your addressee list when you're creating any important messages that require follow up. 6. Once a day, I simply check the "waiting for responses" folder. If I see something that needs attention, I use Netscape's "edit message as new" feature and re-send it to the addressee, with an additional gentle or stern note, as the situation requires. This procedure may sound complicated, but it's really simple once you've got it set up. And it is a very effective way of following up on your messages. As I mentioned in a recent column, you must have a system for making sure your emails don't get lost in the shuffle. This is a quick and excellent way of cutting through the chatter, and getting the response you need.
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