Let me tell you a true story that happened to me last week. I went into the hospital to have a surgical procedure done. While I was waiting to be wheeled into the operating room (and before the good drugs were administered) I was talking with my surgeon about a few last minute questions I had. Here is a summary of our conversation.

Me: Dr. T, I was looking online at some blogs and websites about what to expect after this surgery and was wondering if you could explain a couple things to me.

Dr. T: (in a frustrated voice) I really hate when my patients go online and get all kinds of misinformation about procedures. Those people writing those posts aren’t doctors. I’m the doctor and my patients can always call me to ask any questions they have. I really wish my patients wouldn’t go online for information.

Me: (nervous because I had just ticked off my surgeon minutes before he was going to be slicing and dicing on me) Oh, I know you’re right. I was just looking at a couple of things. Sorry. So sorry. I won’t do it again.

Dr. T: Well ok. I’m gonna go sharpen my scalpels now.

OK, I kid about the last line, and Dr. T did a wonderful job, but his comments have stuck with me as I lay in bed recuperating. Now, sitting here in bed with my laptop, I wanted to jot down a thought that has been nagging me ever since surgery day.

My Thought – Your customers/clients/patients/whatever want information and they want it now. If you aren’t able to give it to them in the format they prefer, they will find it elsewhere.

Let’s look at the first part of this thought. It relates to so many situations. Here’s an example. If a story leaks about your company, most likely people will check out your company website first to find out if you have reported on it yet. They are looking for the correct information. Unfortunately, If you haven’t posted anything, they will go looking elsewhere for some kind of information…right or wrong.

Let’s take the example of my surgeon. I did go to his website first for information about my procedure. While he did have a few paragraphs about it, there really wasn’t much there for me to learn from. I wanted to hear from other women who had had this procedure done and find out what their experiences had been. I had lots of questions that could have been answered on his website. I wanted to see pictures of the procedure and to see what I could expect after it was over. Unfortunately, none of this was available on his website, so I went looking elsewhere. As a result, I read lots of information that wasn’t quite accurate and subsequently, mentally prepared for a recovery that is quite different from the one I am experiencing. Now I know that if I had called Dr. T and asked him all these questions beforehand, I wouldn’t have been in this predicament. That, however, brings up the second part of my original thought:

If you don’t give people the information they want in the format they prefer, they will find it elsewhere.

I remember very clearly Dr. T telling me that he wished his patients would just call him when they had questions instead of going online and “self-diagnosing.” FYI, I have also learned that doctors HATE when patients go online and self-diagnose. Don’t even get them started.

Anyway, like I was saying, Dr. T told me I should have just called him when I had a question. Here’s the thing. I didn’t want to call him every time I had a question. Frankly, I had a lot of questions, and many of them came to me at very strange hours of the night. I wanted to find out the answer right then and there, and a call to him was not convenient. Hence, the beauty of the Internet. You can find out information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which is why so many people prefer the Internet as their main source of information. It’s also why as a company, an organization, or even a doctor, you need to make sure that this very important source of information (particularly your website) is up-to-date, accurate and chock full of information. The more the merrier.

So, I challenge you all to look at your website and ask the question, “What information could potential customers be looking for on this website?” If it isn’t there, add it! And keep adding it, because as we all know, a plethora of new, unique content is not only good for making customers happy, but also Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

I follow-up with Dr. T tomorrow and I am going to make sure he reads this post. I really think he needs to rethink how he communicates with his patients and potential patients. I also think his website needs A LOT more information on it. And if he doesn’t agree, what can he do now? Hmmm…maybe I’ll wait until after he removes the stitches to tell him. Ouch!