Relationship activities

Relationship work sits on the opportunity. An activity can be a call, meeting, email or task. Its due date records planned work; its completed date and outcome show what happened. The line number keeps entries in a usable order under a pursuit, while the revision distinguishes the current activity record from an earlier state. A practice principal can read the sequence of relationship work without searching across separate calendars and notes.

The activity record is useful for both planning and accountability. A due task shows what must happen next. A completed meeting with an outcome tells the next team member why the proposal changed. The parent opportunity makes it possible to review activity in the context of fee value, owner and pipeline status. It also means the team should be precise about which pursuit an activity concerns when the same client has more than one potential commission.

• Type of contact. Mark a call, meeting, email or task according to the work actually planned or completed.
• Due and completed dates. Keep both dates when work is finished, so the team can distinguish planned action from actual contact.
• Outcome on the pursuit. Write a short result that the owner can use for the next step.

Agree when staff create an activity: before a planned call, after contact or both. Decide what a useful outcome looks like for a client meeting and how sensitive notes are handled. Agree which due tasks are reviewed by the principal at the weekly pipeline meeting. Use the opportunity subject and client counterparty to help staff choose the right parent record. Prepare a realistic example where a call is postponed and another where the team completes a meeting before its due date.

A business development lead schedules a meeting with the museum client while the design proposal is in preparation. The activity is a meeting with a due date under the museum opportunity. After the meeting, the lead records the completed date and an outcome: the client asked for a smaller first phase. The proposal coordinator can see that context when reviewing the budget on the design RFP. A second task records the date for the revised package follow-up.

At the next pipeline review, the principal opens the due list. The task remains visible until the lead records its completion. The completed meeting stays in the activity history, linked to the same pursuit. This gives the team a short operational account of why its proposal and expected value changed.

• Due relationship activities — Calls, meetings and tasks with due dates that need attention.
• Activity history — The contact sequence and recorded outcomes for each pursuit.
• Open pursuit pipeline — Opportunities whose owners are responsible for the next relationship step.

Account to qualified pursuit includes the first relationship steps. Pursuit to customer outcome keeps the contact history beside the decision.