Email. It’s hard to believe that at one point it was considered a real breakthrough in human productivity – a real advancement. Sure, it makes so much possible for so many people. But the reality is that it has become a major time suck for many of us. Ever let your inbox go for three days? It’s almost impossible to catch back up.
With all its utility, email can come back to bite you. Getting buried often means forgetting to follow up. Reading emails on your mobile while waiting in line for your morning latte often means reading and forgetting to reply when you have time later.
Don’t let this happen to you. Bring back the magic of email and check out a new app called Contactually.
Contactually is like a personal assistant who handles your email follow ups. It automatically prompts you to take action with the people in your network according to groups and time schedules that it and you set up. It even syncs with all the contact info in your CRM.
The service connects directly with your email program, and sends you daily messages saying that you need to follow up with these specific people today. When you first set up the service, it notes who you contact, how frequently you email them and how quickly you respond to people. Then Contactually puts them into buckets based on commonalities. (You can also organize the buckets yourself.)
Basically, you get a reminder email when Contactually sees that you haven’t reached out to an important contact in awhile. This can be tremendously useful in your prospecting efforts. Most people only buy and/or sell a house once every seven or so years, and regular check-ins can be easy to let slip. Contactually does the thinking for you and gives a nudge when the right amount of time has passed.
Contactually works with Gmail, Yahoo, AOL and Google Apps right now. The company expects to support POP3 and Microsoft Exchange in the future. You can get a free trial at https://www.contactually.com/.

