Always Prefer Written Communications

When conducting business deals there’s always the possibility to grab the phone and call the other entity directly. It doesn’t involve the trouble of composing an email or a letter, and it will give you the answer or information you are looking for immediately.

So is communicating over the phone a good think? In my opinion, rarely.

Sure, the phone is useful when you just need to discuss details or get a quick piece of information. But when you are dealing with central aspects of the deal (i.e., specifications of the project, discussion about prices and costs, deadlines and so on), it is always a good idea to use written communications, be it email, fax or letters.

Why?

Because the exchanged messages will be permanently stored, and this might be your salvation if down the road there is some disagreement regarding any aspect of the deal.

I forgot this basic rule twice over the past couple of years. Basically I discussed some important project aspects over the phone, and months later when we disagreed I didn’t have anything to prove that conversation had taken place.

This Latin proverb sums it up: Verba volant, scripta manent (Spoken words fly, written words remain).

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