Expectation Set, Expectation Met: The Fine Art Of Expectation Setting

A missed deadline. A miscommunication. An unreplied email or call. A product or service delivery mix up.

All of these follow the same pattern: an expectation set – and missed.

I’ve been reading through online reviews for small businesses for a very long time – since the very beginning of my career – and sources of customer/client friction (and resulting poor review) are more often than not aligned with some missed expectation.

Of course there are cases when the poor review reflects some off-topic or unrelated measure of the business (which are mostly dealt with and can be removed), but for the ones that have some validity, there was some expectation missed – or not clearly communicated – that often leads to the less-than-favorable review.

Clear & Reasonable Expectations

From the first interaction a customer/client has with your business, an expectation is some shared idea or goal of something that needs to occur in the future – whether that’s a project start time, an estimate request or proposal, a service deliverable or a even just a returned phone call.

Setting up that future event doesn’t typically mean promising the world – doing so can often lead you into many missed expectation situations, so creating reasonable expectations around that event becomes important for being able meet (or exceed) that expectation.

Creating expectations can often turn into an art form, over time, as you update your marketing, sales, operational and even administrative activities and communications.

As many expectations involve some element of timing ( specific dates, times, etc. ) being especially diligent with your calendar and scheduling can help offer a basis to making those reasonable (for both you and your customer).

Communicate Changes In Expectations

We live and work in the real world, which means things can happen that can delay or affect some expectations set by any small business – quite frankly this even happens often in the digital world.

Internet going down, cell networks interrupted, a late vendor or supplier, a last-minute cancellation — all examples of things that can lead up to an expectation being missed.

While many of those items are sometimes outside of our control, it’s important that if an expectation is going to be missed that it’s properly communicated to your customers/clients.

More often than not, a simple update on a situation can alleviate any tension created by a potential missed deadline or other service/product delivery expectation.

The worst thing you can do is not communicate with your customer (especially on timed expectations) – that tension can overload if the expectation is missed with no input from your side, to the point you’ll start to see those poor reviews or other less-than-favorable feedback start to manifest online.

Follow Through & Follow Up

Once expectations are set – and any surrounding circumstances that can cause an issue with fulfilling that expectation – making every effort possible to meet and exceed those expectations is an important part of maintaining a positive sentiment with your customers or clients.

This is the goal for any sized business, in reality, but for small businesses that may have fewer or more limited opportunities (due to geographic or other market conditions), it’s especially important. A few missed opportunities due to poor sentiment can make or break a week, month or quarter so making sure those expectations are properly set – and met – becomes vital to long-term growth.

Expectation set. Expectation met.

When you boil down many things in business, this simple saying can go a long way toward building something truly great in the small business world.

The next time you review your systems and processes, put yourself in the mind of your customer or client and ask: what was the expectation I communicated and how often was it met (or not met)?