(^_^)

The deal is nearly done.

This sale is the biggest sale of your product yet. A significant milestone by any measuring stick. The buy decision hinges on one critical feature which you happily agree to build as it strategically aligns with your product roadmap. It’s not every day the stars align!

You must act fast and execute well. A minor slipup will not jeopardize the deal, but as a relatively new entrant in the market a failure to execute could scare the customer away and into a competitors arms. Furthermore, this is a major chance to prove the part of the product vision and to score a major motivational win. You really want to get this one right.

First things first. You’ve worked with sales and the customer to figure out exactly what needs to be built, and why (i.e. what problems it will solve for them). You nail down minimum scope needed to solve the problem and clinch the sale. You also add a pinch of dazzle for good measure and buzz power.

Play it cool. “Sure we’ll build this for you, as a special favor because we truly value your business!” It not false, but behind the scenes you’ve been planning something like this already and you’re glad for an excuse to give the priority a major bump. It will take time to complete the picture, but this feature is a key to open open doors in the future. Your enthusiasm cannot be contained.

Next things next. Time to communicate it to the team. You have two options, and these two options are the point of this little story.

Option A: You fire up your email client, write a quick 2 paragraph summary about what is happening, why it’s great, and what you need. “I would like to have a quick chat about next steps, so please come by when you have a minute!” you say as in your email to the key players. You await their response. It comes in the form of a meeting request for later that day for you and each of the key players which will hear your feature request and see what can be done.

Option B: You walk over to one of the key players desks and tell them, face-to-face, that you have some very exciting news and need their help. Do they have a minute? You briefly overview the situation and a high level picture of the feature, emphasizing the opportunity that is presenting itself and how much it will mean to absolutely crush it. That key player starts mulling over the possibilities and (as a developer) immediately starts telling you about this fantastic solution they will be crafting.

Which option do you think will lead to lead to a better outcome? In my experience, Option B is the way to go in nearly every possible case. Why? Roughly the same information is being communicated in both options, right? Wrong!

Option A and B may both communicate the same tactical information, but Option A has blunted a very import tool in your inspirational tool chest: your emotion. It’s very difficult to communicate enthusiasm in an email. Even if you go to pains to do so, it’s still going to be less effective in 99%+ of cases, especially when the same care is given to a face-to-face delivery.

Another advantage that option B has is that it allows you to start building excitement incrementally. The dynamic of dealing with a single individual in face-to-face communication is completely different than the dynamic of a group email or even a group meeting. Starting with a single individual makes the interaction an individual one. The chance of a “me vs. them” attitude infecting the conversation is much less than might be the case when presenting to a group of people. Get one or a small number of people behind you and allow them to be the torch bearer. They are closer to the action, the trust is there, your methods will be appreciated.

I’m not arguing that choosing Option A will completely sabotage the chance of success. However, my experience has led me to realize that Option A will lead to more uphill battles, misunderstandings, and loss of motivational opportunity. If you’re into statistics, think of Option B as increasing your chance of success in a probabilistic system. Even the best idea can flounder with poor execution. So too can the best course of action be derailed with poor communication.

Despite having seen this borne out time and time again, it’s still tempting to write out an email for many situations in which face-to-face communications would lead to better outcomes. Now that I’ve written about it, maybe I’ll remember the lesson a little more frequently!

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