How many times have you had a conversation with a customer thinking one thing was going to happen only to find your expectations were misread?
Establish a strong up-front contract with the other person on what is to happen next. Do not hear only the things you want to hear; and, make sure the other person understands what he or she is agreeing to.
One way to ensure this is to “sum up” what you believe the next steps are, so both of you are on the same page. “No mutual mystification” will save you countless hours in follow-up, and managing other people’s expectations.
The problem with most people is they hear exactly what they want to hear. We call it ‘happy ears’. We tell them: “We can’t promise, but we’ll try to deliver on Thursday.” What do they hear? They drop words they don’t want and hear “We promise we’ll deliver it on Thursday.”
We can’t control what the customer does. We can only control the language we use, the expectations that we manage, and the concise communication and agreements we get with customers. Be careful what you say, and set clear expectations for all involved.
