A daily reminder of expectation setting
“I’ll be home at 6 pm”
I arrived home at 6.20 pm and my partner was extremely unhappy
“I’ll be home at 8 pm”
I arrived home at 6.20 pm and my partner was hugely delighted.
This simple example sums up the importance of expectation management. Whilst being late home can often cause temporary personal problems, not meeting a customer or prospects expectations can be disastrous when you are trying to win new business against a competitor, or converting a prospect with no experience of your product to become a customer.
Recognising where expectations need to be managed, and at what level, can only be done effectively with high quality qualification. It is not good enough simply to understand what is and is not important, you have to know how important, and what are the consequences of not meeting an expectation. This is the job of qualification. These two vital aspects of selling are often ignored, however, serious and costly issues in many areas of business can often be traced back to a lack of qualification of needs, and failing to manage peoples expectations.