How to use SOWs and task orders

Statements of work and task orders are amendments to a master services agreement. They specify the work to be done, project pricing, scope changes, project schedule, responsibilities of the parties, and acceptance criteria. For simplicity, I’ll refer to these as SOWs for the rest of this movie. Every project you conduct under an MSA should have a separate SOW. A major thoughtLEADERS’ client of mine has an MSA with us. That MSA governs the entire relationship. Every time that client wants to do another training course with us, they send us an email that says, “We need another SOW.” I then pull out the SOW that I used last time. I change the date, I change the location, and I send it back to the client. That SOW gets approved very quickly, and we can get focused on doing the work. When you enter into an MSA, those usually have a format for an SOW. Use that format because it helps you get your SOW approved more quickly. Many times you’ll consult for multiple groups or functions at the same client. Those groups love when you have an MSA in place because you can then simply provide that group an SOW, which helps them get it approved through corporate purchasing more quickly. You’ll find many groups you serve find the contract approval process just as time-consuming and challenging as you do. The easier you make it for them to get your project approved, by using the right forms, the more work you’ll end up doing for them. Make it easy for the client to spend more money with you.