Do you prepare, then confirm conversations/decisions?

Ideally, every phone call and meeting should be followed up with a written confirmation, creating a clear record of the decisions made and action items agreed upon.

Just as importantly, get your ducks in a row before you hit the ☎️ button. Preparing for a call or meeting helps keep the conversation focused, efficient, and productive. As the saying goes, fail to plan, plan to fail.

In reality, though, we often finish one meeting or call and immediately move on to the next task, leaving the follow-up until later or forgetting it altogether.

To make preparation and follow-up part of the process, use the following workflow:

1. Prior to speaking to a client, speak to relevant people to help you formulate your recommendations e.g. speak to a developer about the proposal
2. Draft an email with bullet points for each issue (don't send)
3. Call up the client to get a checked-by
4. Send the email to the client (Cc relevant people e.g. the developer) saying "As per our conversation..."

Figure: Get your ducks in a row before every call or meeting

"No plan survives first contact with the enemy" is a popular saying for a reason. Your draft email should moslty just be bullet points to make sure you don't forget to mention anything you had planned to.

You'll refine and beautify it after the conversation.