Tell me it’s happened to you, too: A client asks you a question about something you’ve talked about and you have to dig through 28+ emails to find the answer.
Or what about this: You’re finishing up a client project and you want to double-check some facts that she sent you. So, again, you have to dig through 28+ emails to find what you’re looking for.
I’m not shy about sharing how many emails I have in my inbox at any given time. (5,755 at the time of this writing; 2,003 of them are unread.)
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not sitting on email requests from clients and ignoring them. Nope, I’m simply ignoring that email from Capital One that says my credit card statement is ready and the one from Acuity letting me know that someone scheduled a call with me or even the one from OfficeDepot letting me know my order is ready for pick-up.
I tend to ignore the emails that aren’t urgent, and then forget to even open them. (That’s normal, right?) And of course, I can’t bring myself to delete them because one day I might need a reminder from Dubsado that someone paid their invoice. Okay, not really. But honestly, my time is better spent NOT digging through my inbox.
And that’s why I use Slack for client communication.
Slack is an instant messaging system for businesses, designed for collaboration and communication outside the dreaded inbox. It allows me to hold information, ideas, questions and answers in a dedicated, private account where you and I can communicate.
We can also set up multiple channels, organizing our conversations in themes like “blog posts” and “September strategy” and “workflows.” Whatever we need to make sure our communication is streamlined and organized.
Using Slack saves us both time, prevents me from having to ask the same question more than once (most of the time!) and keeps a written trail of questions, challenges, ideas and more.
Slack is totally free for you (and me!). I’ll set up an account and send you the log-in information. Access it on your computer, tablet or phone via browser or (even better) app. Tag me (using @ and typing my name) when you have a question so I’ll get a notification and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. I’ll do the same!
If you’re not logged into Slack, you’ll receive an email notification that a message is waiting for you.
A few notes:
- Because I try to respect my work and personal time as much as possible, I rarely check Slack when I’m away from my computer and I do not receive Slack notifications on my phone. If it’s after-hours, please know that I’ll be in touch during regular work hours.
- Please check Slack every work day to ensure you don’t miss a message from me. Failure to answer questions in a timely manner could result in a delay of your project.
- If you add the Slack app to more than one computer or device, you do still have to log into your account in both places. But you should only have to do that once.
- If you’re already using Slack with your team, great! Add me to your account so there’s no confusion!
If you have any questions about Slack at all, check out this website or give me a holler. Otherwise, be on the lookout for an invitation to join me on Slack!
