Managing Expectations

This is a two parter.

1. One is the expectations your customers/clients have. Customers want what they want, when they want it and mostly they want it now. They are often unaware of the hurdles you have to jump to meet their request. Since naturally most of us are people pleasers and we want to make our customer happy, this may put pressure on us to “deliver”, even if in our heart of hearts we know can’t live up to the promises we may have made. Too many variables stand in our way. The best way to overcome this practice is to under promise and over deliver. This results in a happy customer and allows you to do your business well without guilt or complicated excuses that may never be understood.

2.The other is the expectations you have for yourself, your product, or service. I have written about the flea market where my daughter and I took her furniture to sell. We didn’t do very well, but rather than beat ourselves up about the dismal sales, we needed to look at the situation in a more practical manner about why the sales didn’t happen, which had nothing to do with the quality of furniture. Thursday evening I had a similar situation in that I had an art show during Art Walk. I didn’t necessarily have any expectations. As a spectator in past Art Walks, I observed mostly a party atmosphere and large ticket items didn’t seem to be part of the purchased items; wine, beer and cocktails on the other hand definitely seemed in high demand. Secondly, the location of the store I showed in was not directly in the path of the crowd, so it had to be more of a conscious choice to come in to see the show. Not having any expectations for this show was good because it helped me to look at the positives. I got to fully take in the experience and appreciate my body of work in an outside arena, I got to know the co-owner of the store better, and I had a good time. If I had an outcome attached to the art show, I would have never been able to appreciate the other aspects of this experience.

Managing your expectations will help in all aspects of your work.

xo, jan