When somebody comes to you with a request, it is an opportunity for you to make yourself valuable and build up your influence. Even if you can’t do it, are not allowed to do it, or shouldn’t do it, tuning in to the person and their need is always step one.
Turn every ask into a brief proposal by getting in the habit of doing intake memos. Ask good questions and build a proposal from the inside out. Lawyers do intake memos. So do accountants and doctors.
The intake memo is a document professionals create for their own reference to capture and memorialize the particulars of a need a potential client or customer presents to them. Imagine the confidence askers will gain in your judgment and your promises, your yesses and nos, if you are creating an intake memo—a mutually approved record—for every ask.
All asks great and small deserve an intake memo. Sometimes you’ll do it on the back of an envelope or on the back of your hand or maybe in a notebook you carry everywhere. Or maybe you’ll start carrying a handheld super-computer on which you can make a note any time anyone makes an ask. Oh. You already do that. Use it.
In an intake memo, you slow down, take the ask seriously, and start to gather the information you need to make a good decision.
The bigger or more complicated the ask, the more information you need to gather. But often, what seem like small asks end up ballooning into big asks once you start to delve into the details. That’s one of the best reasons to get in the habit of doing an intake memo for every ask, big or small. Finally, share the intake memo with the asker to ensure you’re on the same page.