On June 8, 2017, the former FBI director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee about his memos on his meetings with President Donald Trump. “I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, so I thought it really important to document.”
He said that the first meeting “led me to believe I’ve got to write it down in a very detailed way.” He added that he had never felt the need to document his conversations with Presidents Obama or Bush.
The U.S. Army has a standard document for putting a conversation in writing: the memorandum for record. Army Regulation 25-50 says: “Use the MFR to show the authority or basis for an action taken.”
It continues: “Also, use the MFR to document informal meetings or telephone conversations when official business was conducted.”
In The Verdict (1982), directed by Sidney Lumet, Paul Newman plays Frank Galvin, a lawyer suing a hospital for malpractice. Late in the trial, an admitting nurse testifies that her superiors forced her to change a number on the admitting form from “1” to “9.”
She had kept a photocopy of the original form because she “thought I might need it.” The judge excludes the copy: “We cannot accept a copy in preference to the original.” The jury finds for the plaintiffs anyway.
Nursing guidelines state a rule. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services begins it with a capitalized word in its documentation guidelines: “REMEMBER, if you didn’t document it, it didn’t occur.”
A nursing textbook explains why. “Legally only actions or care documented are seen as being completed.” It adds a reminder that the note may go to court and must be readable by a jury.
The Federal Trade Commission’s guide for homeowners hiring a contractor gives plain advice: “Even if your state doesn’t require a written agreement, ask for one.” The contract “should be clear and concise and include the who, what, where, when, and cost of your project.”
Changes go on paper too. “A change order is a written authorization to the contractor to make a change or addition to the work.”
The American answer to scope creep is a document. Either party proposes a change in writing, the supplier delivers an impact assessment naming the effect on fees, timeline and acceptance criteria, both sides approve, and only then does the work proceed.
The standard clause is blunt: work performed without an approved change order is performed at the consultant’s risk and may not be billable.
The American supplier is not defending the boundary of the work. He is building the machinery to price its expansion.
In May 2014 John Barrows – a sales trainer for companies like Salesforce, Box, LinkedIn, Marketo, Zendesk – posted the following advice on follow-up in SalesHacker:
Question: How do you follow up effectively with a potential client without being annoying?
1. Ask for guidance on the best way to follow up with them while adding value and not being annoying. You know who does know how to effectively follow up with the client The client. Ask them.
2. Ask what their preferred form of communication is and if they will respond. This is different than asking them about the best way to follow up. This is about their preferred form of communication and getting them to commit to a level of responsiveness. I literally ask people – “what is your preferred form of communication moving forward here? Is it cell, e-mail, text?”
3. Make sure you always end each conversation with a clearly defined next step. It kills me how often I see sales reps get off the phone after a good conversation with a prospect without a clearly defined next step scheduled on the calendar. The easiest time to get a commitment on a next meeting is at the end of the meeting you just had.
4. Summarize your conversations and get written confirmation. At the end of every decent conversation, I always send an e-mail that summarizes what we talked about and asks for their confirmation.
5. Always have a reason to reach out and never just call to ‘touch base’ or ‘check in’. I am on a personal crusade to get ‘touching base’ and ‘checking in’ out of the vocabulary of sales professionals.
Add value. Don’t annoy.