Set expectations during sales, not after the client signs. Being honest upfront about what you can deliver prevents misalignment later and builds trust from the first conversation.
How do you actually communicate these expectations in a way that is understood, doesn't create a negative mood in the cooperation? This all starts in the sales process. What someone experiences from you in the sales process is a sample of what they're going to expect to feel from you down the road. If you are unresponsive in the sales process, that's the anticipation for what the level of service is going to look like later on. Conversely, if you call them two minutes after every email they send in the sales process and you don't do that in delivery, and then there's misalignment of expectations, the first thing from the sales side and all the way through from your marketing all the way through till a client's done and moved on. There should be consistency in those expectations that get set. So you can't set the expectation that we're going to do something totally unrealistic in marketing and sales and then get in. And super hard to reset expectations now. And the wrong expectations have a set. And when that does happen, and the truth is, for almost every business, there's times where that happens, you need to be as open and honest as early as possible. Own whatever your fault in that process has been. Lay out what the options are moving forward from there.
