Declining, waitlisting and archiving

Saying no properly

Turning work down is part of the job, and doing it badly costs you more than doing it at all. Maelo's decline flow exists so that saying no takes ten seconds and still reads like a human wrote it.

Open the request and press Decline. You pick why you are declining, choose whether to email the client, and can preview the exact email they will receive. Nothing sends until you press Decline request.

You do not need to write the greeting. Maelo adds it for you, so start your message with the substance.

Decline reasons and your own templates

Under Why are you declining? are your decline templates. Out of the box you get Not my style, Fully booked, Budget mismatch and Other, each with a written message ready to go. Tap one and its message drops into the note box, where you can edit it before sending. The reason itself is only for your records.

Those messages are yours to rewrite, right there in the decline window. Tap Edit beside the heading to change the wording, add your own reasons and delete the ones you never use. Tweaked a note you would send again? Save as new reason under the note keeps it for next time. There is nothing to set up before your first decline: shape them as you go, and every future decline sounds like you. More on decline reasons.

Insert field drops in details like the client's name or the piece they asked about, so a template can still read as personal. Preview email shows you the real thing, with your branding, before it goes.

What happens after you decline

The request's status becomes Declined and it moves out of your Inbox into the Archive tab. Nothing is deleted. If the client comes back in six months, the whole conversation is still there.

On the client's side it does not say declined. Their hub shows Not Available, with a note that you are unable to take the request at this time. Whatever message you wrote sits alongside it.

The Waitlist tab

There is a Waitlist tab on the right of your tab bar, and it is marked Soon. It is a placeholder for work in progress, and nothing lands in it yet.

Archiving

Archiving is how you tidy your inbox without losing anything. Right click a request on desktop, or press and hold it on your phone, and choose Archive request. It leaves every working tab and appears in Archive. The same menu offers Unarchive request to bring it back.

Archiving does not change what a request actually was. A completed job you archive is still completed, and still counts towards your revenue figures. That split is deliberate: archive is about your attention, not your books.

Archiving a request you have quoted closes that quote: your client can no longer book from it until you unarchive. Maelo asks before it does this. Tick Don't remind me again if you would rather it did not ask.

You can leave yourself a note on an archived request, such as "no response" or "changed their mind". Only you see it. Add it in the archive warning, from Add archive note in the card menu, or from the bar at the bottom of the open request, where you can also unarchive. It shows under the request in the Archived tab of the client's history.

For a clear out, use Select request to tick several at once and archive the lot together.

Deleting for good

Delete request only appears on requests you have already archived. That is on purpose. Deleting takes two decisions, so you cannot wipe a live enquiry with one mis-click.

• Archive the request first.
• Open its menu again and choose Delete request.
• Confirm, and it is gone.