Disclaimer: Please note that none of the information contained in these files is meant to be professional information. Consult your vet, attorney or other professional for their advice. Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 12:50:15 -0700 (MST) To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: Pat Calloway Subject: EQ-ResQ: Communicating Clearly Had a few thoughts based on the recent discussions about rescues/adoption agencies and thought I'd try to write it down since it appears that miscommunication really can cause some major problems & misunderstandings. This doesn't apply just to the one most recently discussed but covers situations I've seen over the years & are just my thoughts/ideas on the subject. First thought - if you are going to utilize the 'net to spread the word about your organization, then you should making a commitment to respond to emails as quickly as possible. Yes, most rescue folks are VERY busy, but a rescue can get a bad reputation if emails and questions go unanswered. If you are too busy to do it, find a volunteer *whom you trust* (note the emphasis on trust) to do the email communications for you. It's pretty easy to set up a freebie web email account that both you and the volunteer can access. If you don't know how to use email, etc, then ASK a volunteer to help tutor you! I'm sure a lot of folks who can't do the hands on or live far away would be happy to assist. Follow proper netiquette. This includes NOT signing people up for mailing lists without their consent, etc. Phone calls. Have voice mail or an answering machine. The Dog folks were discussing some sort of option that had different mailboxes so that calls were routed appropriately and people were given information when they punched "1" or "2" or whatever. Tell people that return calls will be made collect if that's the case (and imo, it should be on their dime). Some rescues will route calls to different numbers depending on who is covering the phone that day/week/hour/whatever. If you are running both a commercial equine operation and a rescue, there's nothing wrong with that, BUT keep them as separate as possible. I would really think that SEPARATE websites would be best. Too often it's hard to tell where the rescue leaves off and the commercial side begins. As I understand it, this can be a problem for rescues legally & taxwise too. Separate as much as possible and make it clear that there is a rescue operation and a commercial operation. Unfortunately for some folks, perception IS reality and if they think that you are doing something wrong, that's what they'll tell others regardless if it's true or not. Websites - should be as clear as possible and make it EASY to find the information. I often have to comb all over a rescue site to figure out where they are located - while you don't have to give an address at least state that you do rescue in San Diego County or Washington state or whatever & state it clearly on the first page of your site. Have multiple people read and critique your site. You'll still have some clueless folks who can't find the information or who don't want to take the time to look, but then when you get an email, you can send a short note pointing out the url with the information or have form letters where you just cut and paste the info in. And as far as form letters - be sure that they are appropriate to the letter to which you are responding. I get quite a few (not rescue!) that don't have a thing to to with what I have written! Autoresponders? Maybe. Or someone responding who just doesn't care. Photos - saw a big misunderstanding on another list regarding rescue horses. Seems the photos were taken at the (not very nice) place where the horses were being rescued FROM and people were ass*u*ming that the photos were taken at the place where the rescue facility was located. WHOOPS. Label stuff clearly or wait until you have a decent area in which to take your photographs and if you've just gotten the horses and they are in terrible shape or have a particular medical condition, for heaven's sake label the photos and MAKE IT CLEAR that's the situation. Anyway - just a few thoughts - nothing is going to ever make communicating perfect, but we can all try a little harder! Any other thoughts/ideas on the subject? Pat Calloway, Equine Rescue Listowner epona@concentric.net (AZ) http://www.crt-stable.com/equinerescue ========== Pat Calloway ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: dlinkous@radix.net Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: Communicating Clearly Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 15:16:39 -0500 >Anyway - just a few thoughts - nothing is going to ever make communicating >perfect, but we can all try a little harder! Any other thoughts/ideas on >the subject? Yes... If you do use a web site, be *sure* you have it updated frequently, or you will just irritate people who otherwise might have been supportive. By frequently, I mean if possible, all changes should be made within 2 days or less... a horse gets adopted, you either remove it from the pages or label it adopted as soon as the deal is done. New horses in get posted as soon as they are available. (Some you may keep off the pages until they have been rehabbed, or you may have a section for horses just in and not yet available.) And don't bother having a website at all if you do not have an email address for people to use. Why be on the net if all you have is a phone number or snail mail address? Some may disagree with me here, but it doesn't make sense to me not to use the net fully. ReRun has found that a whole section devoted to horses that have been adopted through their program is a real benefit. It lets people know these horses really do go to homes, not to auction or some other shady deal. It gives the adopters a sense of pride in their horses, and they send in updates and pictures of their adoptted horses in their new homes. ReRun even set up a private bulletin board for adopters only, so they can exchange news of their horses, horse cookie recipes , and tips and advice. It is monitored by Paul Linn, the ReRun Virginia director, and is a popular feature. Doesn't cost anything at all. Diana ========== dlinkous@radix.net ====== ============================================================ Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 13:41:26 -0700 (MST) To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: Pat Calloway Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: Communicating Clearly At 03:16 PM 2/16/00 -0500, dlinkous@radix.net wrote: >By frequently, I mean if possible, all changes should be made within 2 days >or less... a horse gets adopted, you either remove it from the pages or >label it adopted as soon as the deal is done And if you have some horses that have been on there long term & they're listings from someone else, check on them regularly to be sure that they still are available and NOTE that on the site. I try to check on the horses that I have listed on ROAN about every 4-6 weeks to be sure that nothing has changed since the last time. Sometimes people have horses listed on several sites and they forget where, so it's good for the webperson to keep in touch. ========== Pat Calloway ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: "Mike & Chris Smith" Subject: RE: EQ-ResQ: Communicating Clearly Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 16:34:36 -0500 >First thought - if you are going to utilize the 'net to spread the word >about your organization, then you should making a commitment to respond to >emails as quickly as possible. One thought from the other side of emailing... I know there are people out there who must think ERL hasn't responded to them. I can't tell you how many email questions I get that, when answered, bounce back with "User Unknown," or "User not accepting mail from this address" or something similar. (Seems to mostly apply to aol addresses) So, a suggestion...if you do email questions to a rescue (or anyone else) and don't hear from them, try again and make sure we're able to get an answer back to you. And let's face it, every now and then, things go off into a cyber vacuum, never to be seen again. So, again, if you don't hear from us fairly quickly, try again before assuming we don't care or don't want to help if we can. Chris Smith Equine Rescue League Leesburg, VA http://www.equinerescueleague.org ========== "Mike & Chris Smith" ====== ============================================================ To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: "slyshot" Subject: Re: EQ-ResQ: Communicating Clearly Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 22:09:10 -0500 One more thought from the other side: If you have a webtv account or other account with limited mailbox capacity, check it often. I can't tell you how many times I've had mail bounce back with a message that the mailbox is full and not accepting more messages. Klondike (Cris May) Days End Farm Horse Rescue (MD) http://www.defhr.org ========== "slyshot" ====== ============================================================ Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 20:25:00 -0700 (MST) To: equinerescue@imagicomm.com From: Pat Calloway Subject: RE: EQ-ResQ: Communicating Clearly Another thought or two .... If you're writing to a rescue or individual about a horse, be CLEAR what horse you are referring to. I recently got this note sent to the ROAN listowner address: >Whome ever it may concern, > > I would like to buy one of youre horses. The one that is sound and for >500 dollars. > > If you still have this horse please notify me. > > or call me at cell phone XXX-XXXX > home phone XXX-XXXX > >Thankyou, > >XXX XXXXX Okay, which horse? The vast majority of horses I post to the ROAN list have another contact than myself and it's pretty clearly spelled out to contact Sally Jo at her email address and/or phone number as I have no further address. And if I were going to call XXX, what's her area code? There's more than one even in my area as we just added two more to metropolitan Phoenix and the surrounding cities! So, read notes *carefully* and be sure to respond to the right person and give specific information so that they can help. This is where quoting is a Good Thing 'cause sometimes I have NO clue what they're talking about, although I'm sure it's quite clear in the sender's mind. As others have pointed out, it's also annoying to respond and have the email bounce right back to you as blocked (AOL users have this ability and while I can understand it to a degree - I hate spam too! - if you're writing notes to others, you need to use an unblocked address), full mailbox, etc. Then there are the folks who write from one address, but want you to email it to another only that's not mentioned until the end of the note and sometimes ya hit send before you notice it. That's just a PITA anyway. So, yeppers, it goes both ways as far as communicating clearly and answering/sending email. ========== Pat Calloway ====== ============================================================ Disclaimer: Please note that none of the information contained in these files is meant to be professional information. Consult your vet, attorney or other professional for their advice.