A short transcript excerpt of a conversation (YouTube podcast) where Jim Johnson discusses setting clear expectations with clients — especially around timelines — emphasizing honesty to secure referrals and revealing clients' core values through such questions. The exchange contrasts precise vs. broad timeline estimates and the ethical stance of truthful communication.
What do you do?
Sorry, boss. I'm going to set the right expectations with my client because I would actually like to get a referral at some point. It's not how long is it? It's what can I expect?
But you wouldn't lie, right? If you say it's two weeks, you're play out one, right?
Oh, yeah. I could never do that.
If you're saying two to four weeks, you sort of COVID your butt. And if you say four weeks, you're telling the truth. So it's those kind of questions when you ask people you can get to their core values.
Like that part, I was kind of like, yeah, I kind of got that figured out. What I am. I wonder if this thing's accurate. It was dead on. I cannot wait to take this other assessment, this one that's like, okay, what would you do in this situation? I'm interested to find out what my values are.
