I haven’t heard from you in a whileI’m working on a project right now. It’s a big project. I’m excited about it. And I think it has great potential.
But you wouldn’t know about it. I haven’t mentioned it. That’s the lesson of this post: if I don’t tell you I’m working on something, you have no idea what I’m doing.
If you don’t communicate with a customer or prospect, how are they to know the reason you haven’t gotten back to them lately is anything other than you being a flake? Once you’ve gone dark, the assumption is you’ve lost interest and I no longer matter.
I assume the worse when I don’t hear from you.
This is important to be mindful of when working with customers. If it takes you longer than thought to submit the proposal, provide feedback, or update on a issue, you need to communicate that fact to the person who’s waiting for your response.
If you owe me something by Monday and I still haven’t received it or heard from you by Thursday, my assumption is you aren’t trustworthy. On the other hand, if you contact me on Monday and say it’s taking longer than expected to respond and reset my expectation, I may not be happy, but I know you’re working on it.
When we don’t know what’s going on, we assume the worse. And the worse is something we’ll likely to share with others.
Thanks to Kevin Stirtz for his post prompting mine.
What say you?
Other articles you might like:
- How to have a fantastic Monday
- What Can You Do While Waiting on Hold for Customer Service?
- Don’t Interrupt Your Customer
- Misunderstanding is the natural state of our communication
- Do it because you care
Great advice here Jim. We (ABIS Consulting Group) believe in this concept whole-heartedly.
Keeping our customers in the loop (and giving them multiple ways to do so) has always improved customer satisfaction for us.
I’d love to hear some advice on systems you use to enforce and automate this concept.
Hi Tim! Thanks for the comment and kind words. I’m afraid I may disappoint you with my answer to your question about systems and automated responses — the tools I use to keep in touch with clients and prospects are simple
For ongoing projects I merely track my deliverable and remain mindful of expectations I’ve set for status reports and updates. I’ve built routine communication as a discipline in my work habits. Mostly, I track deliverables and routinely communicate on their status.
For customers, I email and call them on a schedule of sort.
The best advice I can give is create habits and routines of communicating periodically with your customer-base — newsletters and email are easiest. For prospects and customers whose work is underway, remind yourself of work and dates you’ve committed to and notify people immediately when you discover a date promised is too aggressive.
Let me know if I “missed the mark” in my answer.
Thanks for replying back Jim.
Nope, you didn’t miss the mark with your answer. I think my question may have been poorly stated though. I wasn’t referring to an automated system that notifies/communicates with your customers, although I think that can be part of a great system in high volume situations.
Just wondering what type of system you’re using to track all those deliverables…sticky notes, spreadsheets, some web app? A newsletter and/or email is part of that system too.
Maybe you can expand on actionable ways to routinely communicate with your customers in a future blog post?
@Eric…Got it
Google Apps. For each client, I create a Google Site to track all notes, documents, links, and calendar events related to the client project. Events have prompts that alert me to deadlines. All calendar items are color coded by client and displayed on my “master” calendar. Clients have access to the site during and after engagement.
Most clients leave comments and interact with me there too. Subscription to the site alerts all who subscribe when an update is made.
I customize the site with the client’s logo…simple, easy to use, and personalized. And it’s free
@Tim…Got it
Google Apps. For each client, I create a Google Site to track all notes, documents, links, and calendar events related to the client project. Events have prompts that alert me to deadlines. All calendar items are color coded by client and displayed on my “master” calendar. Clients have access to the site during and after engagement.
Most clients leave comments and interact with me there too. Subscription to the site alerts all who subscribe when an update is made.
I customize the site with the client’s logo…simple, easy to use, and personalized. And it’s free