Funny Thing
Creating the correct expectations saves a lot of grief farther down the road. Sometimes people approach me for coaching telling me they want to make a million dollars their first year in business, or they want to close a deal in very client meeting, or they want to major publisher to pick up their first book in the next 90 days.
I’m all for aggressive initiatives, but also for pragmatism. I don’t take a coaching client on until and unless they acknowledge that, while I’ll help them with every talent I have, “actual results may vary,” as the auto people say about mileage.
The same applies to corporate clients. They’re probably not going to double their revenues in a year or reduce attrition to zero (neither condition, by the way, would necessarily be salutary), but we can make significant progress.
I demand of everyone who introduces me for a speech to read the intro I give them verbatim. I warn them not to improvise and think the speech is about them and the introduction. And I tell them that if I hear them deviate, I’ll simply walk on stage immediately.
Why? Because once a guy introducing me, taking five minutes to do so, finally said, “Alan Weiss is the funniest guy you’ll ever hear on stage.” That was it, he might as well have shot me. There was no way to meet that expectation (though I did begin by saying, “I was wondering if I would ever get on”).
Setting the right expectation is as important as achieving your results because they establish what the buyer/audience/reader prepares for. I am damn funny, but I’d prefer that people are surprised by that, not waiting to hear it.
