Find the follow-ups hiding in your inbox.
One useful first job for an AI agent: look through business email, show you who may need attention, and let you correct the list before doing anything else.
Use an AI tool you’ve already given access to your business email, and review what it finds.
A back and forth you can borrow.
Read how the owner narrows the agent’s work and adds what they know to get a useful reply.
Fictional example. Thread links are placeholders.
- Owner
Look through my business email from the last three months. Find customers or open estimates that might need a follow-up. For each one, show me the email thread, the last message date, and why you flagged it. Don't send anything or change any records. If you can't see phone calls or job records, say so.
- Agent
I found eight possible follow-ups. Here are three to look at first:
- Patio estimate [thread link] — Customer asked about paver colors 18 days ago. I can’t see an email reply.
- Deck repair [thread link] — Estimate sent 15 days ago. I can’t see a response.
- Fence job [thread link] — Customer asked about timing 9 days ago. I can’t see an answer.
- Owner
We already spoke to the deck customer by phone. Remove that one. Focus on open estimates and customer questions we haven’t answered.
- Agent
Deck repair is off the list. The patio color question and fence timing question still need your review. I can see email, not your calls or job records, so check those before following up.
- Owner
I have both paver samples in the truck. Draft a reply asking if Tuesday afternoon works for me to bring them by.
- Agent
“Hi Maya—I’ve got both paver samples available. Would Tuesday afternoon work for me to bring them by so you can see the colors in person?”
Draft only. Review it before sending.
Try it with your own inbox. Copy the owner’s first message into your AI tool.
Keep talking to it.
If the list includes people you already called, tell the agent. If it misses unanswered customer questions, point that out. Ask it to revise the list with links to the original emails so you can check its reasoning.
When one follow-up is worth writing, ask for a draft. Check the email thread and your job records yourself before you approve or send anything. Email alone may miss a phone call, a text, or a change to the job.
The same back and forth works beyond email: ask an agent to find schedule conflicts, missing job documents, or customers waiting on a decision—then correct what it misunderstood.