A lot of people lower their expectations due to fear of disappointment, yes? After all, if you don’t expect much, the worst that can happen is you won’t be too disillusioned when things don’t turn out the way you expect them to. Conversely, the best that can happen is you’ll be pleasantly surprised. However, lowered expectations can backfire both in personal and business relationships.
How Lowered Expectations Means Lower-Quality Business
What if we were to apply the logic of lowered expectations to business? There’s this so-called conventional wisdom: Under-promise and over-deliver. If your customer or client doesn’t expect much because you weren’t trying to sell them the moon, then they can only be satisfied with whatever you deliver that was expected. Sometimes, they may even be pleasantly surprised that you gave them more. That seems reasonable, right?
Wrong! When it comes to marketing your product or service, if you under-promise, there won’t be anybody to deliver to! Who’d be interested? No one wants to hear, “What I have to offer is okay.” Instead, they want to hear, “This’ll knock your socks off!”
Don’t Be Afraid of a Big Promise
I’ve heard the typical response more times than I can count. ‘Well I don’t want to promise something I can’t deliver.’ Who said anything about over-promising? We’re talking about making a big promise. And when you do it, then yeah, it’d be a great idea to keep it, so make sure it’s something you can indeed deliver.
However, people understate themselves because they don’t want to appear cocky, or conceded, or because they want to be “realistic.” A lot of the time, it’s just the usual suspect at play—fear. When you make a big promise, the pressure is on to come up with the goods at the highest level.
If you put a big promise out there, it’s going to put the pressure on you in a positive way to be your best.
Keep Their Attention with High Expectations
Today’s reality is that consumers and the marketplace are changing at lightning speed. It doesn’t take much for a prospect’s attention to go elsewhere. If you don’t tell customers why they should buy from you, but your competitors do…then guess who gets the customers?
Start by examining why you’re starting your business to begin with. What was missing in that market that you promised to fix? What’s your product or service’s single most important attribute? What makes it unique? What emotions do you want your customers to feel when they use your product?
Lastly, we have to start with expecting more from ourselves. We can do more, be more, achieve more, even if we haven’t got all the answers now. Even if we may have let someone or ourselves down at some point before, it’s okay. We know better now, yes?
For Your Freedom,
If you liked this lesson, then you’ll love my free web class, The 500 Million Dollar Secret, where I’ll teach you more of these strategies and principles that will show you exactly how to write your ticket to success. It’s completely free to attend.
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