First in a series of thoughts on a topic that can make or break service and technology providers- scope change.
As the former "change order guy" at multiple companies, I know more than most what a brutal- but necessary- business it is. Here are tactics I learned the hard way to make it a little less brutal:
briefly describe the reason for every single line item change (not only helps the client understand, but forces you to sanity check what you're actually pushing through)
minimize how many line items actually change by eliminating things like $5 changes from "inflation" that don't matter
spend as little time as possible pricing out scope change on hypothetical scenarios, so that you can ->
price and deliver change orders in 5-7 business days or less, and
follow up every 3-4 business days, without fail, until it's signed.
There is a role for "change notification forms" which I'll cover later on...but those who know, know that change orders are where the rubber meets the road.
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