The CEO Files: Aligning Expectations

I never would have thought that Isaac Newton’s 3^rd law of motion: “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” would have parallel relevance in the business world.

I suppose that everyone has a different approach to how they sell their services, but, I’m most subscribed to the idea that the more transparent you are with your client, the more aligned you will become. This also means less problems down the road.

Try Before You Buy

Would you shop at a store whose products were brown boxes labeled as simply having "stuff" inside?

Obviously not. The rate of disappointment within that store's clientele base would be through the roof… and the drop-off of return customers? I don't even want to go there.

But, this process is actually pretty similar to online shopping, believe it or not.

10 years ago, it was really difficult to shop online. You never knew if what you were getting was actually worth your money, let alone whether your identity/credit card information was being uploaded onto a secure purchasing platform.

Though times have made online shopping more trustworthy than ever, I still know a lot of people who would prefer going to a mall or a brick-and-mortar store to physically see something before they purchase it.

But perhaps the most solid example of the “try before you buy” mentality comes from the car sales industry. How many people do you know who will buy a car without test-driving it?

Exactly my point.

[inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="@bizonmarketst" suffix=""]Consumers expect their expectations met before shelling out any money.[/inlinetweet]

Aligning Expectations for B2B

Asa small business owner, you may find that aligning expectations for b2b is just as challenging. This is especially true when a business is hiring another business to perform a service to build something custom for the purchaser.

Often times b2b transactions are high dollar deals that revolve around specific time frames. If the provider of this deal does not deliver (or over deliver) to the customer, reputation, repeat business, word of mouth referrals and money can get damaged or depleted. Therefore aligning expectations during the sale process is the single most important step when establishing a new relationship, or continuing an existing one.

Our Tips for Aligning Expectations

1. Take the time to understand your client’s needs. It’s ok to ask questions and do research in order to become fully acclimated with the customers desires.
2. Outline all the steps required to fulfill the obligation that you’re about to load onto you and your team. This will help all parties involved see how much work is included in the process.
3. Clearly outline the milestones that you want to adhere to. Often times we will calendar meetings with our client for the 2-3 months prior to beginning the project. These meetings are typically dates where we will review specific milestone completions, obtain approval or edits, and then move forward accordingly.
4. If there are every any additions to the project or scope of work that was initially agreed upon, it is vitally important to explain to the client how that additional work either impacts budget or timing. Often times, when a client is determined to add to the scope, we resubmit a new timeline that incorporates the changes to re-align the expectations of the completion date.
5. Communication is the single most important way to align company and client expectations. Answer every question that a client has, and when a client appears to be content, send them a summary of the work that had been completed for that week.

Aligning expectations might sound like an easy task, however, when you start adding multiple projects and clients to your work load, it can become a tricky balancing act.

Stay tuned for my next post on Aligning Expectations, where I will go into detail of how to deal with runaway expectation scenarios.