If you’re like me, you are working at a high rate of speed. You make quick decisions and move from one project to another. Changes are made on the fly and communication methods vary between email and phone and text. The overwhelming majority of the time, there is a consensus on what will get done and everything goes off without a hitch. You didn’t need to confirm. So, you didn’t. Everyone was on the same page. Sure, you made an assumption, but it turned out to be the right one.
Until, one day…
You can’t be in the graphic arts and not come across a situation where you thought one thing and the other party (be it an outside vendor or customer) had something else in mind.
“That window cling was supposed to be on the outside, not the inside”
“Why is this job three-hole-punched?”
“Didn’t I say shrink-wrapped? I could’ve sworn we talked about this”
You can’t cover every conversation or decision, and you really don’t need to. As I said, the overwhelming majority of the time it doesn’t matter. But whenever possible, make certain you take the extra step of confirming the conversation, decision, or change back to a customer. It might seem awkward and unnecessary but, every once in a while, you’ll hear someone say, “I’m really glad you asked. Actually, that’s not right…”
That makes all that awkwardness worth it!
Put in writing. Send an email. Leave a voicemail. Leave some kind of trail of confirmation. The bigger the order, the more important this tiny step becomes.
