How can you manage client expectations when working on a long-term project?

Expectations are resentments waiting to happen. Maturity is not when we start speaking big things, it is when we start understanding small things. By learning to read and influence your client’s emotions and reactions, emotional intelligence can provide a big payoff in your business. When we have high expectations about a situation or person, and we begin to notice that they don’t match reality, we begin to get upset. In these cases, we need to begin to accept that there’ll always be situations that are beyond our control and that reality will never be as we want it to be. There are two ways to be happy: improve your reality or lower your expectations. Get this fed in your client's thought process.

All of this is on point, but unfortunately many consultants and salespeople will avoid contentious or questionable areas which results in misaligned expectations (since they were never really addressed). The other main problem is that consultants and clients don’t always speak the same language. They may even use the same words, but meaning/understanding behind those words aren’t aligned. This happens all the time. An experienced and truly caring consultant will watch for both of these situations and act on misalignment before it affects the outcome.

The first step on this process is one that is very often missed… First, it is imperative that you agree on the format, frequency, and audience of your regular communications. You can also agree in advance on the type of things that require an off-cycle communication.

This section talks about being flexible and adapting to the client’s needs and preferences… while I agree with this, there are times that consultants need to do a better job explaining and selling the client on their own needs and preferences. Often times, clients want their preferences to always come first, but the reality is that there times when the customer will be better served if they understand and buy into the standards of the consultant. Asking a consultant, or a team of consultants, to disrupt the process they have built and perfected over year of experience, may result in mistakes.

Yes, do what you said you would (or more)… Tell the truth and tell them what they need to hear, even when it’s not what they want to hear… That’s how you build trust and relationships, but most importantly that’s how you do the right thing. Our job as consultants is to consult, not tell them what they want to hear.

Problems are the problem. Challenges are the challenge. Issues are the issue. None of those things are your client. You and/or your client might have problems, experience challenges, or find issues…. Partner with your clients to focus on problems, issues, and challenges. In other words, don’t attack your client and don’t let them attack you, put your focus where it belongs (on the problem, challenge, or issue).