How to Ask a Busy Client for the Evidence You Actually Need

At 4:40 p.m., an account manager sends a client, “Can you share backup for the market-leading claim?” The client replies the next morning with a slide deck, two screenshots and “our sales team has this somewhere.” The release is no closer to approval because the request gave the client no clear route to resolve the question. A request a busy client can answer names the exact claim, asks for the smallest source that settles it, says what the draft can say with and without it, and gives a deadline and fallback wording.

Busy people can act on a request that has a clear destination. They struggle with one that asks them to reconstruct the writer’s review process. Before you send the note, isolate the exact assertion, identify the smallest useful evidence, name the decision owner, and prepare safe fallback copy. That preparation changes a chase into a manageable choice.

The exact claim, the specific source that would settle it, what the draft can say with and without it, and a named owner and deadline.

QuoteIt makes the first step quick. Each claim in a draft is checked against the uploaded sources, and a claim no source supports is flagged beside the sentence that carries it, so the request can quote that sentence. When the client sends the report, it is uploaded like any other source and the claim is checked against it.

Short: the sentence, the specific details needed, what happens if they arrive, the fallback wording if they do not and a deadline with a time zone.

Imagine a draft says, “The service has reduced call waiting times by 30%.” (This is an invented example.) The client has approved a launch date but has not supplied the measurement source. The account lead should not ask for “data on the benefit.” They need the comparison period, affected queue, measurement method and approval to use the result publicly, which are the same details needed for checking a percentage before it goes out.

A concise note could read: “For the sentence below, please send the report or owner who can confirm the 30% figure, the before-and-after periods, which calls are included, and whether this result is cleared for public use. With that information, we can retain the result with the right scope. If it remains unavailable, we propose: ‘[confirmed description of how calls are routed].’ Please reply by 11:00 IST Tuesday, or tell us who should own the decision.” The structure is reusable.

A defined measure, such as market share or unit sales, with its territory and period, from a source the client can identify and permit you to rely on. US rules point the same way: the FTC's advertising substantiation policy↗ says advertisers need a reasonable basis for advertising claims before they are disseminated¹.

For a claim like “market-leading,” say which measure would settle it, as you would when you review a claim like “leading” or “only”. Where the claim will also appear in UK advertising, CAP’s advice↗ says “leading” is generally treated as an objective best-selling claim, likely to require evidence about market share, unit sales or both². Rule 3.7 of the CAP Code↗ requires marketers to hold that kind of documentary evidence before the ad is distributed, for any claim consumers are likely to regard as objective that can be objectively substantiated³. Naming that evidence gives the client something specific to look for. This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the rules that apply to your organization with counsel.

Ask for a reviewed excerpt, a written confirmation of narrowly defined facts or different public wording, and record reliability and permission as separate decisions.

Sometimes the right person cannot share the source broadly. Ask whether they can provide a reviewed excerpt, a written confirmation of narrowly defined facts, or a different public formulation. Record source reliability and permission separately. A confidential operations report may support an internal decision while still being unsuitable for attachment to a media pack.

Avoid turning urgency into pressure to make up certainty. If the release date is fixed, say so plainly and offer the options: retain the claim with evidence, use the fallback wording, remove the paragraph, or ask the release owner whether the date should move. The client may choose a tradeoff, but they should see it before the copy is sent.

The passage reviewed, its date, any limitation and who approved public use, after checking that it supports the actual wording and not just the topic.

When evidence arrives, check that it supports the actual wording rather than just the topic. Note the passage reviewed, the date, any limitation and who approved public use, so the fact can join the team’s dated record of approved facts. When the claim changes, preserve the prior request and why the alternative was selected. A simple record prevents the next reviewer from asking the same question or assuming that a silence was approval. If the same claim comes up in release after release, add its agreed wording and source to a glossary of the claims the client repeats.

A prepared fallback reveals whether the missing evidence is central to the story and gives a busy client one less piece of editorial work. The request closes only when the selected wording and the reason for that choice are recorded beside the draft.