Mind Your Clarifications
A Top Tip - Mind Your Clarifications
Clarifications are where we ask questions of the client or clarify things we don’t understand in their documents. They’re also a chance to highlight missing information, points that need to be considered, and areas where the client might want to make changes.
However, there’s been a worrying trend in the last couple of years of people being quite aggressive in clarifications to clients. They might say things like, “Your documents don’t make any sense,” or “This is missing.” But it’s important to be careful how you ask clarifications.
Procurement people often tell us that they’re robots - that everything’s black and white, and that if you write the perfect bid you’ll win the deal. But that’s just not true. Humans make emotional decisions, and then crowdsource data to back up those decisions. So, if you attack them in clarifications and make them look silly - when they come to read your bid and score it, they’re going to start with a low score in mind.
Instead, try to take them on the journey. Perhaps they’re heavily under-resourced and have to run your clarification up the flagpole to someone senior. They might also have to have a conversation with a lawyer to check that they’re not opening the door to challenge in their response.
Ask them closed questions. For example, you could say, “We’ve read your specifications, items nine to eleven. We believe you mean this by that. Please confirm.” Then, they can say yes or no.
Don’t make them feel stupid. Instead, try to be pleasant and steer them towards the outcome you’re looking for. Take them on the journey and help them make life as easy as possible for them.
Also bear in mind that clarifications can have an interrelationship with your contract later in delivery. If something goes wrong, clients may come back to you and say, “You said this in clarifications”, but you don’t have a log of it. If your ISO 9001 quality management accreditation is in place, your auditor could also request to see your clarifications as part of your wider filing structure during business audits. It would be embarrassing to not get your accreditation or receive a black mark because you haven’t filed your clarifications.
So, take care of yourself with clarifications and approach the questions positively. Lead the witness to the outcome you’re looking for and keep a log.
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