Make It Easy For People To Contact You

I'm often surprised at how many businesses appear not to want to give out their contact information.

Just the other day I needed to get hold of someone quickly, who I've connected with online but not yet in the 'real world'. They'd contacted me via email and needed some urgent info but hadn't left their contact details, perhaps assuming that I had them.

However ...

• They didn't have their contact details in their email - a simple email signature is a great way to provide these.
  
• Their online profiles have no contact information - if you don't want them in every profile, at least have them on your website.
  
• Their website is 'under construction' so no contact details there either.

While we all want to protect our information from spammers and the less scrupulous - if you run a business you need to make it easy for people to contact you.

• Include a phone number - not just a mobile.
• Provide an email address or a contact form.

Yes, it does mean you get the occasional unwanted sales call and spam emails but from a business perspective, it's more important to be contactable and approachable - don't hide behind a wall of anonymity.

Pick up the phone

A few times recently I've been contacted by email to cancel a meeting at short notice or request an urgent piece of information needed within the next couple of hours.

Now, if I'm following my own suggestions, I won't be checking my email every few minutes and I may even be out of the office and not get to it until later. It may even be switched off for a few hours if I'm with clients or working on something.

What is it about email that it makes people forget there are other ways to communicate and use it either as the easy option or as a means of 'instant communication'? It's not! Email is far from reliable and you can't and shouldn't assume that just because you've hit send, it's immediately appeared in their inbox and they'll be reading it and responding in the next few minutes.

If it's urgent, important or time critical - pick up the phone and remember that they're timeframe and level of urgency may not be the same as yours.

Increasing Your Team's Productivity

Good feedback from today's time management workshop that I've been running at a local business.

One of the benefits of having in-house sessions, tailored to their business is that, not only do they get to discuss specific issues but they can learn from their colleagues and understand more about the impact their behaviour has on the way they all use their time.

If each of your team is wasting an hour or two a day being distracted and interrupted, think of the impact that has on their productivity ... and your bottom line.