I thought internal memos were a waste of time until our plant in Toledo almost lost a $2M contract

Piper Thompson · 2026-09-25T12:20:03.897156+00:00

For most of my career I rolled my eyes at corporate comms people. I worked in ops for 12 years and I always figured a memo was just paper that got in the way of real work. Then about four years ago our plant in Toledo was bidding on a big contract, and the client sent a list of 30 questions about how we handle safety. Our site lead wrote up a two page memo laying out exactly what we do and why, and he sent it to every shift supervisor before anyone responded. I thought it was overkill. Two weeks later the client told us we won, and their buyer said the memo was the only reason they picked us over a cheaper bid from a shop in Indiana. Turns out the other guys sent a spreadsheet. I still think most internal updates are noise, but I have seen a plain, clear memo close a deal, and I have seen a vague one kill a relationship. How do you all handle the balance between too much and too little when you write for people outside your own team?

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I thought internal memos were a waste of time until our plant in Toledo almost lost a $2M contract | Corporate Comms - Rigidtalk