Ten Steps to Saving Your Butt

Some of you may be in the service business. Some of you may be clients of a service business. We have the following hanging over every desk -- and it has saved more than one person's, ummm, career:

1. When it doubt, don't try to fake it. Tell the client you'll check on it and call back. "Better to keep the mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt".

2. Make a copy of everything and then file it. That way, you can always prove what you were doing, when you did it and why you were doing it.

3. Tag everything with a job number. Suppliers need to tag their jobs with a number, too. The more you tag, the fewer headaches we have when clients or suppliers call us about particular costs.

4. Send clients back-ups. Whenever we bill a client, send a copy of the estimate showing that he approved the job he's being billed for.

5. Don't send it out until the Big Guy sees it. Until we can read each other's minds, let Rob review what's going out to clients. This can save you untold embarrbuttment and many, many beatings.

6. It can never be too inexpensive. While we pride ourselves on quality work, remember that clients are entitled to value and that your bonuses are a direct function of profitability. The more we make, the more we...make.

7. Write it down. Please. Please. Please.

8. Never incur any expense without written authorization. If a client didn't approve it, he won't pay for it. And every court in this wonderful country of ours will back him up on it.

9. Back it up on another disk before sending it out. Archiving takes very little time and saves a tremendous amount of it.

10. Play good back-up. The best way to save your butt is by covering everyone else's. We're all in this together, you know.

Rob Frankel