Building good relationships with your audience is key in any industry. Being responsive is an important characteristic that makes relationship building easy. But with our hectic schedules and multiple clients it sometimes it takes a backseat. We can’t after all give our attention everywhere at once. How then can we bridge the communication gap and become sufficiently responsive?

In order to be effective be responsive, in order to be responsive, listen. – Sharon Weil.

 

ALWAYS RESPOND TO MAILS, COMMENTS AND MESSAGES

When people reach out to you on your blog, email or messages, they do so hoping to get a quick response. Many times we tend to ignore them, not realizing how a simple and quick reply can add so much value. Responses within a few hours or on the same day at the most gives you a huge plus point because they know that you are there and listening. It shows that you are present and take what you do seriously. Often we do get calls or messages from clients at an inconvenient time. It’s always a good idea to still respond and schedule to connect at a better time.

BE PROFESSIONAL WITH YOUR LANGUAGE

We don’t mean that you should use a lot of technical jargon that would confuse your client, but you can still respond it layman’s language and be professional. Make sure there’s clarity woven seamlessly into what you write or speak to them. As long as there’s genuinity with the right amount of professionalism, you’re good to go. Keep it short and to the point!

PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

Well, we’re a fan of these. Excel sheets and apps that help you organize your to-do lists are a blessing that help us never forget an assignment or meeting. Work that is time sensitive can really benefit through productivity tools. Too many projects, scheduled meetings and unread emails can make your life cluttered if you don’t dive in at the right moment and organize everything. When everything is noted we are less likely to delay and we’ll get into the habit of being more responsive.

DO YOU FOLLOW UP?

Communication cannot be one way now, can it? Have you asked your readers whether they liked the new newsletter you sent them recently or about the new kind of content that you just added to your blog? Your audience needs to feel heard just as much as you want your content to be read. A simple poll on social media, a question on your stories or an interactive post of sorts really helps and is fun too!

BE KIND

We know, the internet can be a rough place at times with angry comments or feedback. Remember that you are in control of how you respond. Whatever you put out there stays there! The way you respond says a lot about you. Choose to respond in a mature way to unsatisfactory comments and mails, all the time standing by what you believe in.

Connecting better with yourself and your audience helps you create better content and earn yourself loyalty and credibility. How you respond is an indicator of you are building your brand for the world.