Direct is Key

We've all had someone try and tell us something funny they saw on the Office or 30 Rock. Its almost never that funny in the retelling. Somethings you just have to hear and see yourself.

Business communication is not too dissimilar. Just like in-person communication is preferred to phone, and phone communication is preferred to email, communicating directly with a client is to be preferred over communicating via a third party.

It doesn't matter how good of notes someone takes, hearing it directly from the speaker can never be replaced by someone trying to re-communicate the facts. Nuance, tone, style, relationship - there is depth to communication that is only understood by hearing it directly from the source. Good listeners ask questions, and good questions can elicit right responses that provide the right solutions. If someone is merely acting as a 3rd party and just an intermediary of information, they are less likely to even ask questions, let alone get the right info.

People hate this mentality. The Business model of the 20th century said, "Be big, be an expert at a lot of things, and tell everyone you can do it all. Then, at the end of the day, the client will say - look who did it ALL!". Problem is, no one believes this anymore.

Be real, be honest, and if someone else is doing the work as a sub, let that fact be known. Even better, let the sub be a part of communication with the end-client so that they can get the real nitty-gritty details - the kind of details that take a project from acceptable to unbelievably good.

And while you're at it, enforce this with the 3rd parties that may be acting as your own intermediaries.