Setting Client Expectations

Well, here we are. You’ve completed your initial course of voice-over training (for now), you’ve done your demos, and have been reaching out to potential direct clients consistently to market your services.

All your hard work is starting to pay off in the form of potential projects! Congratulations! 

In this post, we’re going to talk about how to engage prospects who have potential projects (hot leads), and how to properly set and manage expectations so that we can provide a quality experience for that client so that they will be more inclined to work with us again.

Managing Expectations

How we engage with hot leads is important for setting expectations early in the relationship. Often, we are walking a narrow path between…

• Being responsive vs. killing ourselves responding quickly
• Being highly communicative vs. being high maintenance
• Our promises vs. our results

It’s not enough that we simply provide a professional audio product. Voice-over is a service business! In order to provide a superior customer experience, it’s crucial that we properly manage client expectations from the jump.

Under Promise, Over Deliver

Consider two scenarios:

1. You go to visit the doctor’s office.

After signing in, the receptionist tells you, “Have a seat and the doctor will see you shortly.”

“Shortly” is vague and leaves the expectation open ended. You don’t know if this means in 20 minutes or in 40 minutes. When 60 minutes has gone by, you may likely be fuming. Already, your experience is negative.

2. You’re at the amusement park with your family.

Everyone wants to ride the new hot roller coaster. You get in line and find yourselves near a sign that says, “About a 90-minute wait from this point. Thank you for your patience.”
The sign sets a clear expectation. But the park has gone one step further: they’ve done the math and they know with high confidence that it will only be about a 60-minute wait from this point. When you get on the coaster in 60 minutes, you’re pleasantly surprised.

Same 60 minutes. One experience is highly negative, the other positive. The park has not only set a clear expectation, but they’ve under-promised and over-delivered, producing a positive impression. The doctor’s office, meanwhile, has left you with a sour taste in your mouth.

Under-promising has two chief benefits:

1. You set the stage to over-deliver. Over-delivering is Plan A. 
2. You have some flexibility in your schedule to handle occasional emergencies and still be able to keep your promises to your clients.
   

Life happens. Days blow up. Plan for it. Delivering on time is Plan B.

When the stuff really hits the fan and you must adjust expectations with your client, do so as early as possible, and again under-promise. Adjusting expectations is Plan C.

If you’re constantly reverting to Plans B and C, you’re not under-promising enough.

A Clear Pickups Policy

One of the best ways to set and manage expectations with your prospects and clients is with a clear, concise pickups policy. This document will lay out what happens when, not if, the project doesn’t go perfectly and there are revisions, errors, re-writes, etc.

I recommend you post your pickups policy clearly on its own page on your website. When you quote a client or get a rate inquiry, you can include a link to your pickups policy in your response. I also include it on every invoice in the Terms and Conditions section as well.

Having a clear pickups policy does not mean you need to enforce it to the letter of the law. In fact, you can often use it as another opportunity to over-deliver for your client. Say they’re a new client and have a 3-sentence revision after you’ve already recorded. You may choose to waive the revision fee this time in order to build the relationship, while still letting them know that, moving forward, this type of change is billable.

If you don’t know what a pickups policy looks like, feel free to go to my site, PaulSchmidtVoice.com and click on “Pickups” in the navigation. Feel free to copy my policy, tailor it to suit you and your business, and use it.

It was freely gifted to me and I pass it on whenever I can because the better we can manage expectations as an industry, the better relationships we will all have with our clients and the more pro clients will want to work with professional, well-prepared voice actors.

I wish you all the best.