For a number of years, I have been giving seminars on the importance of maintaining a good, accurate and workable set of document/records for each client. It may well be that the “good” part of the prior sentence is redundant since if records are accurate and workable, good would follow suit — well not exactly, but I’ll let you be the judge.

Before you finish that yawn, let me tell you why I think this is worth talking about. First, I openly admit that when it comes to paperwork, I am lazy; I hate it; I don’t like it; I have to make myself do it — there, now we are both on the same page. The other part of paperwork which I choose to call my PaperTrail, has enabled my company to operate with more than average efficiency and with a minimum (but enough) detail for both needed use and contingency. Over the balance of this year, I plan to offer up some of the methods my company has developed for data gathering and storage; data that is central to operations, decisions and safety (mostly company or corporate rather than personal).

Please take caution with any interest in using these methods to make sure they are appropriate in your area and that means having your attorney review for adequacy. These methods and procedures make the professional assumption that you are schooling your company on the best way to use good judgment not look for the rule(s).

Act One, Scene One: The phone rings — Hallelujah. We answer it, with hopefully a short exhortation as to why we are the best remodeling company on the planet and the caller says, “I’m interested in some remodeling.” Sirens and alarms go off, lights flash and everyone snaps to attention — as they should.

Enter Stage Left: The computer form known as “The Client Data Master.” At this point we have begun construction of the client data master file; the first impression we make on the client prospect is about to be formed, ready for pouring (placing if you’re a purist) and just as in concrete, it’s easier to get it right the first time than to do it over if you even get the chance. So what do you do next after thanking the voice for calling? You begin gathering data, some of the most important data about the client that exists.

Just a short departure here for those of you who may follow this series, I mentioned that I am lazy. I always have been “make lots of pages” lazy, so you will see that many of the forms we developed for running our operation are on one (not two or more unless absolutely necessary) page. I really believe over the years being this kind of lazy has saved me at least $449.87 or the cost of 10, four-drawer file cabinets for the extra pages in a file.