Sheila Greco Shares - The Importance Of Confirming Information 3/25

In our business accuracy is expected.

Therefore confirming information is a must!

 

Confirming information for us is embedded in our company's DNA. Right from Day 1 information gathered (research) each day was required to be confirmed and reconfirmed at the end of the day prior to sending it to a client. Not to give away a secret, but our confirmation process requires our team to share amongst each other their research completed that day to be confirmed. Why because it needs to be.

As dependent as we are on a variety of sources and people to do our job, any and all information gathered whether it is discovered on the internet, found on social media and/or  information gathered over the telephone, it needs to be confirmed for accuracy. I am a firm believer of this so again confirm any and all information for accuracy.

Theme of Day 3; The importance of Confirming Information.

I believe any and all information gathered, discovered and recorded needs to be confirmed. End of story. The following in an experience that we had early on with information we had gathered over the telephone when researching into a Big 6 Firm. What we were given was wrong! We were actually given the names of people at the competitors office not the one in which we were researching. Obviously looking back it was funny, but at the time we were furious. We were hoodwinked to say the least!

Story Please.....

A request was given to us to identify Partners down to associates at 3 tax & audit companies in Detroit, Michigan. As with all projects we had a team working the project to ensure completeness, accuracy and getting the job done on time.

As the team started the project one of our research analysts began jumping up and down since he obtained what he believed was the entire request in one phone call. He was so excited, happy, thrilled and feeling like "the man". But before long, this high came crashing down when his fellow team player discovered his information was all wrong.

The confirmation call went something like this;

SGA researcher: John Smith please.

Receptionist: He does not work here but I know him. He used to work here but now is employed by our competitor.

SGA researcher: Okay how about Mary Donahue?

Receptionist: No she does not work here either, she works with John.

SGA Researcher: Hmmm how about Tony Marcus?

Receptionist: Not here either, (laugh, laugh, laugh), he works with John too.I think you might be calling the wrong company. Try this number and I am sure you will reach these people......good bye."

Laughter came from the researcher confirming the information and "the man" felt awful. Moral of the story, confirm information prior to sending it to the client. It is better if we catch an error then our client. And.....don't feel like "the man" until you know the information that you received is confirmed and correct.

More of these stories to follow. Enjoy your day.

If you wish to share a story or two with us, I would welcome that.

Happy Hunting!

Sheila Greco