We’ve been spoiled. Culture, technology, television, social media…whatever you want to blame…has conditioned us to expect instant gratification. We tweet about a service (good or bad) and expect an instantaneous response. We send an email, we expect to hear right away. We text and if someone does not get back to us the minute our fingers leave the screen we feel jilted.
Responding with super hero quickness to every question is a herculean task for many associations. The key to handling more questions than you have time in the day is by managing expectations. If you have a Twitter account that is not monitored outside of business hours, say so in your bio. If you can’t possibly answer every call by the third ring (and who can do that all the time?), set call back expectations and communicate them in an outgoing message.
In today’s fast-paced environments, where we’re all super-connected, we’ve become accustomed to quick responses. A couple of hours of not hearing back seems like a short period of time to staff but can seem like an eternity for someone thinking about joining or renewing their membership. Don’t lose an opportunity due to the perception of being “unresponsive.”  Respond in as timely a manner as possible and always exceed the expectations you have established and communicated. Basic advice for this Friday’s Fix.
