Communication in Business

[SwaggyD]

Finally had a chance to talk to my wife. She’s an escrow manager and has closed multiple deals if this size. Lawyers definitely make it more difficult. She never would have ordered the survey without something in writing from someone saying the buyers are paying for it because they’re on the hook for it. You never should have started without that contract (which is exactly what you did). You did everything right.

 

[Carnage2011]

I’d make sure and establish a clear point of contact immediately upon the first communication. From there I’d confirm that you’ll be sending an email within the next 24hours. If they don’t have an email in that amount of time then they should check their junk folder and reach out to you. If you don’t have a contract within 72 hours then reach out again via email WITH A DIFFERENT TITLE. After that the ball is in their court.

 

[Slam]

I would ask the parties where you experienced a failure to execute on their part what happened? Perhaps, assuming honesty on their part, you may pick up a pearl.

However, it sounds like you are using a SOP for most business engagements.

 

[tillicant]

Maybe the Atty dropped the ball, you did everything possible on your end.

 

[noharleyyet]

Entities, in this case an impersonal term for people with money and lawyers, don’t have to be right to get their way.

 

[MNElkNut]

You may want to explore a continuing services agreement. Makes the contracting much easier as they can quickly and easily invoke the CSA with an activating letter. That assumes you want to keep working with them which seems like it may be a huge assumption!

 

[Addicting]

Or there was buyer’s remorse and they knew that if they buggered it up they would get out of the deal. You just happened to be the key to that clause.

 

[hank4elk]

Lawyers, realtors and big deals. They all tend to forget the little details that make them possible...

 

[MTGomer]

You may want to explore a continuing services agreement. Makes the contracting much easier as they can quickly and easily invoke the CSA with an activating letter. That assumes you want to keep working with them which seems like it may be a huge assumption!

That is a good idea for my repeat clients. This would have been more of a one-off type of thing, I think.

Like @Bambistew it isn’t uncommon for me to send out a contract and not have it returned.
If price is a person’s primary concern for a survey and they shop around, they’ll often find that they can save a couple dollars from someone else.

There’s some good advice in this thread though, including yours. I’m going to find some time to set up a MSA with the developers that I do everything for, on project after project.

 

[tillicant]

That is a good idea for my repeat clients. This would have been more of a one-off type of thing, I think.

Like @Bambistew it isn’t uncommon for me to send out a contract and not have it returned.
If price is a person’s primary concern for a survey and they shop around, they’ll often find that they can save a couple dollars from someone else.

There’s some good advice in this thread though, including yours. I’m going to find some time to set up a MSA with the developers that I do everything for, on project after project.

My wife works for an engineering firm, I work with various engineers on different projects. Learned alot, from both.
I send proposals for all our projects, most don't get signed but I get contracts from the General Contractor and have them list my proposal #/date.
Also, all project related questions or issues are addressed through email.
I save all emails related to the project. Don't know if it would hold up in court.
Only had a couple jobs go to collections, 42 years.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Interesting thread. I work in government. I’ve learned over the years to have clear documentation for every project I do, as well as decline. Many times I’ve had to answer to the top brass, the attorney general’s office, the state ombudsman, even private attorneys to explain why I did or didn’t do something. I produce clear documentation and that’s the end of it. Someone else loses out. I’ve also learned that verbal conversations without a witness are not admissible evidence - they’re pretty worthless. I’ve got in the habit of shooting an email to the person I just talked with summarizing our discussion, on agreements of magnitude. This tends to reduce miscommunication upfront, and also works to CYA later if things go sour.

Ex, “As we discussed today, I’ll plan to draft a project proposal for X and email it to you by the end of the week so you can review it and respond.”

 

[Carrion Carrier]

IDK if this is feasible for most clients but maybe CC the attorney when sending the contract?

 

[davinski]

You did everything correctly. Consulting engineer here but I adjunct teach our local engineering students about communication. A couple things you probably already know and do:
An email to a new recipient doesn't always make it, especially with an attachment. I usually send two, one intro without the document and then one immediately after with the document. Then also a followup call if I don't hear anything back. Sounds like you did that.
Also, in a team environment, I try to always pin down the exact person who will give the NTP. Often, on the other end, they have multiple cooks in the kitchen and it's easy for one to think another did it.
I am constantly amazed at the sad state of communication skills among otherwise supposed professionals. And, in my experience, certain professions (that rhyme with "sawyer") are consistently very quick to blame anyone but themselves. We STEM types do a lot of naval-gazing and are generally quick to fess up if we made a mistake...other professions, not so much.
As always, he with the most paperwork wins. Sounds like you have your paper trail in order, but it still sucks.

 

[TheJason]

Interesting thread. I work in government. I’ve learned over the years to have clear documentation for every project I do, as well as decline. Many times I’ve had to answer to the top brass, the attorney general’s office, the state ombudsman, even private attorneys to explain why I did or didn’t do something. I produce clear documentation and that’s the end of it. Someone else loses out. I’ve also learned that verbal conversations without a witness are not admissible evidence - they’re pretty worthless. I’ve got in the habit of shooting an email to the person I just talked with summarizing our discussion, on agreements of magnitude. This tends to reduce miscommunication upfront, and also works to CYA later if things go sour.

Ex, “As we discussed today, I’ll plan to draft a project proposal for X and email it to you by the end of the week so you can review it and respond.”

This

 

[millerkiller77]

I'm in the construction industry and this is a not a common occurrence in my field. If the contract isn't signed and dated with no omissions, then no work will be started and that's standard procedure for all the trades involved. I can't think of anything else you could have done differently and @Addicting 's theory makes a lot of sense to me.

Kind of related, in addition to the signed contract I require a staking exhibit that is less than 30 days old

 

[Boarmaster]

You did everything you should have. You provided a proposal, timeline and a contract well in advance and in a timely manner. I’m not sure why you think your responsible to be the buyers and the attorneys babysitter. As far as Im concerned you went the extra mile and communicated 110% in letting them know you hadnt received the contract and that time was of the essence. If the Attorney was in charge of the closing then they should have seen that whoever needed to sign that contract for your work did so. I‘m in the commercial real estate business and there are good and sorry attorneys. I don't take any crap from the sorry ones. They get pizzed off because I stay on top of them. I got deals to close and I don't need them screwing me up. I have worked with many great ones that did an excellent job.

 

[MLC]

You cannot , “over communicate”!

 

[TheTone]

Lawyers, realtors and big deals. They all tend to forget the little details that make them possible...

Add insurance and I can think of three professions that we could get rid of an make the world a better place

 

[more_cowbell]

Add insurance and I can think of three professions that we could get rid of an make the world a better place

That might work if we all acted the way we should. But there are a lot of people out there who wouldn't be able to agree on how much money they should pay to someone who they rearended and totaled their car and gave them back and neck pain for the rest of their life. A lot of other people don't want to take accountability for their actions. Or they intentionally overreach to see how much they can get away with without getting called out for it.

Recalling a quote from a movie that: there are a lot of good people out there, but not many.

But definitely, lawyers can slow things down, put up goofy roadblocks, or many times procrastinate and wait until the last possible second to do something. Which may have been the issue with the situation involving the OP, who did everything right it sounds like.

 

[Steiny77]

You're basically doing thigs right. Probably just need to do a little better job closing on the verbal communication when you wrap up these discussions.

"I will have a written proposal in your hands via email by XX time/date. You will need to get that signed and returned to me by XX time/date if you want to keep the work on schedule. Do you understand this? Can I expect to receive the signed copy back by then?"

Force a little urgency on them, then follow up right away if they don't deliver by said time/date.
Emails and texts tend to not get read or shoved to the side for later. Phone calls or face to face are much better for closing deals.