Do you spend time checking more than one email account?
Did you know that the typical real estate agent usually has more than one email address? When I got into real estate, I was given one by our MLS board and one by my company. I already had my private one and I also had one through my website. That's four email addresses!
Many of us also have a database program. That means we end up with our contacts stored in the database as well as in our Outlook program or in some other email contact program such as GMail. You might even find that you are storing email addresses in several areas. How do you keep all that information organized and in one place?
Why not use Outlook as your centralized gathering point?!
Did you know that you can forward all of your email accounts to your Outlook program? What this means is that ALL of your emails will come to one place. I have all four of my emails forwarded so that I don't have to go check each one of them. As I'm working throughout the day, I keep my Outlook program open and just watch the emails pop in. That way, I'm always in the know about my business! And I can respond immediately, if need be.
But wait, there's more!
If you use YouMail with your phone (a very cool program! www.youmail.com), you can have your alerts set to pop up in your Outlook messages too. That way you'll have a record of who called and when. Youmail also allows you to transcribe your voicemails if you upgrade to the paid version. That way, your voice mail becomes a transcribed email right in your inbox.
And there's one more goody too. If you use a Smartphone like Blackberry or an Iphone, you can have your emails sent there from Outlook. That way you're never away from important information you need to know.
And there's more beyond that too!
You can set up Active Rain to notify you when someone comments on your blog. You don't have to do this and you might not want to do this because you could end up with several hundred comments in your email box when you write a featured blog, but if you're like me, I love knowing when people comment and I'm willing to delete emails and notifications as needed, so I love this feature! I just had a comment pop in my Outlook email inbox while I was typing this blog. Someone made a comment on a previous blog I posted. How cool is that!
You can also set up Facebook in the same way. Want to keep up with what is going on in your Facebook community? Just set it up to send you notifications.
And how about those Google alerts you've got set up now? You need to know whenever someone searches for you or for something you've written on the internet, right? Those Google alerts will come right into your Outlook and pop up as they happen. Want to know if anyone is reading about that new listing? Set up a Google alert for the name of the blog or the address and anytime someone searches for it on Google, you'll know it!
And finally, there are tools to help stay organized and connected!
You can see that I am using three programs in connection with my Outlook program. One is called Evernote, which I'll write more about later. The others are Plaxo and Xobni. Plaxo and Xobni are must have tools if you really want to be able to stay connected with people and find someone quickly and easily within your email program.
There's one other program that I'm just beginning to use called Eurekaware. This program is a database that integrates right in with your Outlook contacts. That way, you don't have two places to have to store client, friend and family contact information.
In conclusion...
If you have Microsoft Outlook and you're not using it, you're really missing a great program that can keep your emails and notifications centralized and organized. If you don't know how to set up an email to be forwarded, just ask your local MLS board internet person or your company web or IT person. They are great at walking you through the steps.
Once you get everything set up, you'll be on the way to living the good life (as Mr. Buffini likes to say)...especially once you get a good junk email filter! LOL
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Information and content in this blog is original to Bob Haywood.
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Contact:
Bob Haywood
Owasso, Oklahoma Realtor
Tulsa, OK Realtor®/ McGraw Realtors
Bob@BobHaywood.com
(918) 272-7272
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You are right! I have always avoided using outlook, just because I am not familiar with the program. I have several e mail accounts. It would be nice to view them all with one click. It would save me alot of time.
Thanks for the post!