Setting Customer Expectations

When I talk with managers and their teams about enhancing customer relationships, we`ll occasionally discover problems caused by the absence of a single communication piece. Employees may meet with the customer several times to propose a potential project. Once the customer agrees to go-ahead though, those same employees don’t spend enough time clarifying expectations. For example, during a project if you need customers to put any change-orders to the contract in writing (rather than verbally), then it should be agreed-upon in advance. I`m not talking about the main legal contract that only lawyers can understand. I mean before the work begins, walking a customer through a separate one-page plain-English document that spells out service expectations; complete with spaces for both parties to initial. Better to manage expectations up-front than be forced to do damage-control later on.