Now there’s a concept. What an elusive practice that is hard succeed at. I believe good management is an acquired skill that usually comes with age and wisdom. Learning from experiences, both successful ones and those riddled with failure. But experience alone isn’t enough. Good management skills can be learned and when combined with experience you can become a great manager.

A long time ago I heard a saying that true wisdom is learning from others mistakes and not just your own. If you spend time observing others and studying management literature you will increase your knowledge. Later and you can use this knowledge combined with experience and turn it into wisdom. The trick is to learn from others mistakes so you don’t have to make all the mistakes yourself.

No matter what services you are providing, client expectations must be managed. If you fail, you risk lost revenue and more importantly you can create a bad reputation and even lose the client.

I started providing technical computer support and sales in the late 1980s when most people didn’t even own a computer. Explaining technology was difficult at best. My clients, who were primarily educated business owners, had a hard time understanding what I was doing. They also didn’t understand why computer installation and repair took so long. Nothing went quick back then, there wasn’t instant access to information over the internet nor did clients have access to their son or nephew who was the High School network administrator. So, you depended on a computer tech, me. I had to learn the hard way, through books, colleagues and experience.

When I first started my computer business I simply wanted to travel from client to client fixing computers and get paid to do it. That dream didn’t last long, when I quickly found out that clients didn’t want to pay their bills due to my lack of managing client expectations. Some problem right? Lots of work and no money! I realized very quickly that you can’t work for free, so I got up the nerve and made myself face these professionals one on one. Basically I learned how to manage their expectations through experience and utilizing all the resources I could find. My efforts paid off creating a successful computer business and building relationships that would last decades. Yes, I lost some clients too, but I figured out how to turn myself into a better manager.

So here are some tips on how to improve the way we manage client expectations. The great thing is that I learned all of these the hard way.

1. Begin by having something in writing, like an engagement letter to avoid any misunderstandings.
2. Make sure you outline what you are going to do and what they are supposed to do.
3. Verbally reinforce what’s in writing.
4. Periodically review what has been written and spoken during the process.
5. If there are changes to the project rewrite and meet about the changes.
6. Make good eye contact to assure the client and confirm their understanding during conversations.
7. Don’t be afraid of confrontations.
8. Make frequent client contact; too much contact is not possible.
9. Don’t delay or procrastinate client interactions.
10. Choose your firm liaison well. Be sure they have the skill set needed to effectively manage the interactions in person.

To help manage clients expectation of your staff check out our parent company Office Tools Professional‘s Practice Management Software which helps with; client management and scheduling, project management, document imaging, conflict checking and time and billing in one easy-to-use package.