After a recent mass at our church, our pastor made this announcement: “If anyone’s trying to communicate with the church by going to the church’s website, the link to email the church is not working.” The pastor gave us his email address and suggested that if any of us need to get in touch with the church, we should email him directly. The church website email hasn’t been working for months, he added. When people try to get in touch that way, their messages, unfortunately, go into a “black hole.”
That information was helpful for those of us in attendance, but what about those who didn’t make it to services that day? Even more disturbing: What about those people who might be looking for a place to worship and posted a question on the church’s website email link only to never hear anything back? According to Vimeo Livestream, 33% of parishioners discovered their church online. It stands to reason that these days, with everyone used to looking up and shopping for anything and everything online, people would check out a church’s website and perhaps ask a question or two before ever stepping foot inside. And for one-third of those surveyed, a positive website experience was enough to get them there.
That was still on my mind, when, the next day at work, my thoughts turned to business, and I started wondering about how well any of us are communicating with clients and potential clients.
How easy is it for people to get in touch with you and your business?
Try it yourself. Most company websites have an online form for someone to complete if they want more information. Have someone fill out that form and then see how long it takes for someone at your company to follow up. Remember: Speed is the name of the game in business. Of course, it’s quite another problem if there is no follow-up at all.
Consider going old-school. Call your company and ask to speak to someone in sales. For most companies, this call will let you see how your automatic attendant works. Is it easy to use? Did the message sound professional and positive? Were you able to leave a message? Did someone get back to you? If any answer is no, then you know what you need to work on—as soon as possible.
In a recent Vistage meeting, the speaker asked the members to go online and see what was posted about their company on Indeed and Glassdoor. One member was shocked and surprised to find some negative comments. (After doing some research, a few of these negative posts turned out to be from people who said they had worked at the company when, in reality, they had never worked there at all. It took some doing, but the executive was able to remove the “fake” posts.)
You might even take the time to look at your competitors’ websites to see how easy or hard it is to navigate those. Notice, too, how quickly and effectively they answer online queries.
Searching for anything online—be it a church or a product or service—should not be that hard these days. We’ve all had lots of practice (on both sides). Make sure you are doing everything possible to be accessible to those who are looking to get in touch with you and spend their time or money with what you have to offer. Consider the number of steps it takes to get an answer from your company. Consider how long it takes.
Remember, if someone’s reaching out to you for information, I’ll bet they’re reaching out to your competitors, too. Make doing business with you as quick and easy as possible! Do that, and you’ll do what you do better.