Read your client's news before your client does

A workflow for people who advise: what a story means for the client, whether it is a problem, and whether it is a reason to call.

The problem

Advisers are judged on noticing first. But a story about a client is only worth a phone call some of the time, and the ones that are worth it do not announce themselves in the headline.

The workflow

  1. 1

    Handle the PR Crisis

    First the downside: is this something the client is about to be asked about, and by whom.

  2. 2

    Find the Sales Lead

    Then the other reading — a change in their situation is frequently a reason to talk, not only a risk.

  3. 3

    What Should I Do Next?

    And what you would actually do about it today, which is what decides whether you pick up the phone.

What you put in

News about a client, their sector, their regulator or their largest customer.

What you get back

The last step answers under these headings. They are read from What Should I Do Next? itself, so this list changes when the template does — it is not a transcript of a run.

Setting it up

  1. Open the workflow builder and start a new workflow.
  2. Add the three templates above as steps, in that order.
  3. Keep a separate profile per client if you advise more than one — the profile switcher on the account page exists for exactly this, and the library remembers which profile produced which result.
  4. Save it, and run it from the Chrome extension as you read.
Build this workflow Or start from one that exists

If it does not work

Every story reads as urgent.

The first step is looking for downside, which is its job. The third step is the one that decides whether it is worth acting on — read that one first, and the first step as its evidence.

It mixes up my clients.

One profile is one context. Running everything under a single profile blends them; a profile per client keeps each reading inside its own situation.

Other recipes

News triage workflow A three-step workflow that tells you what a story actually is, whether it touches you, and what to do about it — so a long article becomes a yes or a no. Competitive intelligence workflow A workflow that turns a competitor's news into the effect on your position, the opening it leaves, and the briefing you would give a leadership team. Regulation monitoring workflow A workflow that reads policy and legal news for what it obliges you to do, by when, and who inside the organisation owns it. Multi-model analysis workflow A workflow that runs the same question through more than one provider and then has a third step look at where the two disagree. Cheap model first workflow A workflow that screens with a small fast model and only sends what survives to a large one, so most articles never reach the expensive step. Executive briefing workflow A workflow that reads a story from three seats at once — chief executive, finance, and the board — so the briefing already answers the questions each of them will ask. Document review workflow A workflow for contracts, proposals and reports: the obligations it creates, and then an adversarial pass over what it is quietly not saying.