The short answer: ask alfred_, by text or in the app, “Reply to Mark’s email with two times I’m free next week for an hour, mornings preferred.” It checks your calendar, picks two open times, writes the reply in Mark’s thread, and shows it to you. Text “send” and it goes from your address. When Mark picks one, ask alfred_ to book it, and the invite waits for your OK.
“Can we meet next week?”
You’re a financial advisor with 120 client households. It’s review season. Mark Brennan emails: “Can we meet next week to talk about Kate’s 401(k) rollover?”
To answer, you open the calendar, look at next week, find two mornings that aren’t taken by other reviews, a team meeting or the dentist, and write: “How about Tuesday at 10 or Thursday at 9:30?” Two minutes, between meetings, eight times a day. The one you put off until evening is the one where Mark’s wife emails the next morning asking if anyone saw his message.
The native ways, and where they stop
Scheduling links. They let the client pick a time. Many long-time clients would rather you suggest two, and a link can feel like a form.
Checking the calendar by hand. Reliable, and two minutes each time, with the calendar open on a phone.
Ask once
- Connect your email and calendars to alfred_. Sign in with Google or Microsoft; iCloud Calendar connects separately.
- Ask by text or in the app: “Reply to Mark’s email with two times I’m free next week for an hour, mornings preferred, at the office.”
- Check the reply and say send.
You: reply to mark brennan with two times i’m free next week for an hour, mornings, at the office
alfred_: Here’s the reply to Mark: “Hi Mark, happy to. Would Tuesday the 28th at 10 AM or Thursday the 30th at 9:30 AM work? We’ll meet at the office. Best,” Send it?
You: send
(Wednesday)
You: mark picked tuesday at 10. book it and invite him and kate
alfred_: I’ll add “Review: Mark and Kate Brennan” on Tuesday, Oct 28, 10:00 to 11:00 AM at the office and invite them both. Send the invite?
You: yes
Illustrative exchange. The clients are invented.
Where each step happens
- Phone, between meetings: the request, the check, and “send”.
- Desktop: ask in the app; the reply opens for you to edit.
- When it moves: “move the Brennan review to Thursday at 9:30” works the same way, and the update to them waits for your OK.
The honest caveat
alfred_ checks only the calendars connected to it, so an appointment that lives somewhere else won’t count as busy. It looks for time with nothing booked, so long holds you don’t mind breaking will block those times unless you say otherwise. Nothing goes to the client until you approve it. alfred_ is a paid product; plans are on the pricing page.
