“ I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” – Alan Greenspan

I was talking with a client when he said:

"If I give in, we’ll work the rest of our lives for free."

“I hate this. My customers and I start out liking each other. We do a great job, but they don’t appreciate it. Three months after their last payment, we’re still doing so-called punch list items that weren’t really in the original scope of work. We’re working for free and they’re unhappy.

“Customers always want things beyond the original scope. If I keep on giving in, we’ll work the rest of our lives for free. If I refuse, they’ll trash our reputation, which they’ll probably do anyway. This is no way to live.

“What do these people expect from us?”

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What Did They Expect?

This client does complex design projects (custom design is always tough because there is so much personal preference involved). But it could just as easily have been with a home builder, remodeler, architect, pool builder, electrician, irrigation contractor, a business coach or any of us who sell complex services or projects that involve a lot of steps and client input.

“How many of these projects have you done?” I asked my client.

“Over a hundred.”

“How many has your typical client done?”

“None.”

“So, it’s fair to say that you have a good idea of what to expect, and your clients don’t have a clue?”

“Right.”

A Sin Of Omission

We all know that the way to delight clients is to under-promise and overdeliver. But we also want the sale and are susceptible to overpromising in order to get it. Overpromising doesn’t mean promising something we don’t intend to do - that’s lying. More often than not, overpromising is a sin of omission. We just don’t mention the bad stuff that often pops up, and we let stand the expectations they have conjured up in their imaginations. That’s true even when we don’t know exactly what those expectations are.

If we are to avoid hard feelings, bad reviews and the cost of a project gone wrong, we have to manage their expectations up front. Merely mentioning what could go wrong isn’t sufficient because, like Greenspan said, what we say, what they hear, and what we all remember are likely to be different. We have to do it in writing.

Documenting Expectations

Professionals manage expectations without blowing the sale with an “expectations document.” The document, ideally, is one page on which we lay out key subjects that we know from experience are likely to cause problems. The document is a list of what clients can expect from us and what we will expect from them.

"What we say, what they hear, and what we all remember are likely to be different. We have to do it in writing."

You already have a contract? The expectations document is in addition to the contract. Contracts are complex. The expectations document should be simple. It is a type of checklist to be sure you covered the topics that are likely to come up. It should not conflict with your contract, it should be written in short sentences with clear language.

What to include in the document is a matter of experience. What has given you the most trouble? Unless you are brand new to your business, you should be able to come up with a list of items pretty quickly. Is it weather delays for construction? Is it clients’ failure to make timely decisions? Is it the completion date? Is it the domino effect of a prior client’s schedule affecting the new client? Is it unforeseen costs or change orders? We have to include the tough subjects because they’re the ones that matter most.

A well-done expectations agreement is not a list of everything that could possibly go wrong, it is a list of things that often don’t go as planned. Nor should it be a list of excuses that involve our safety and the client’s risk. For that reason, it begins with a list of what the client can expect from us:

Clarified Expectations

You Can Expect Us To:

Deliver to you a detailed scope of work within one week of down payment
Begin permitting within three working days of receipt of your approval
To tell you within one business day if we cannot meet the planned schedule
To return your phone calls within one business day
To answer your emails the day we receive them
Etc.

We Expect You To:

Make all payments to us by the scheduled due date
Direct your calls and questions to your primary contact at …
Provide us with your material design selections on time
Understand that work will stop and the schedule will change if we do not receive your content/selections on time
Understand that weather delays are common
Understand that one day of bad weather may result in longer delays due to scheduling “domino effect”
Etc.

Whatever your business, the document should address communications. Ninety percent of the problems with customer relationships are due to poor communication, and the other 10% include communication as a factor.

Of course, we have to live up to our promises, which is the second advantage of an expectations document. It sets out clearly for us and our teams the promises we have made.

Learn From The Past

To create a document for your business, think through past projects. What do clients or customers do, or not do, that has most annoyed you or created the most havoc with your projects? List those things. What misunderstandings have created the greatest delays or conflicts? Create your first expectations document using the topics you can think of now, and add topics to the list as they arise in the future.

Implementing Expectations

Review the topics with customers at the point of sale, and ask them to initial each line acknowledging that you have discussed it. Encourage questions. Be clear. Don’t overstate the possible problems, but don’t sugarcoat them either. Give them a copy.

Make a video and send it to them. They may not remember all the specifics you talked about, but they will remember the discussion you’ve anchored in their minds - and - they will see you as an experienced professional.

"We win either way with a good expectations document."

We win either way with a good expectations document. We either make a sale and work with an informed customer who pays and makes decisions on time, or we lose a sale and let our competitors suffer the hard feelings, bad reviews and high cost of working with uninformed, unreasonable clients.

Get Started

The secret to getting ahead is getting started, so get started. Write down ten things your customers can reasonably expect you should do and ten things that often cause problems during and after the project. There is likely overlap in both lists, so try to reduce the lists to five each for you and your customer. At your next sales call, go through the list and answer questions. Keep working at it. Accept the responsibility. Accept that the quality of your communications is the result you get. You will look like the seasoned professional that you are.

How to Manage Client Expectations