Managing Client Expectations

One of the biggest reasons deals stall isn’t that buyers doubt your solution—it’s that they doubt their ability to make the right choice. Matt Dixon's research for The JOLT Effect found that 40% of lost deals are driven by customer indecision, not preference for a competitor. And Brent Adamson's new book The Framemaking Sale highlights that customers with high decision confidence are TEN TIMES more likely to make a purchase. Here are a few ways you can help buyers build confidence in themselves: 1. Reduce Decision Complexity According to Gartner, 77% of B2B buyers report their last purchase was “very complex or difficult." Streamlining options, providing decision guides, or recommending a clear best-fit reduces “analysis paralysis” and gives buyers confidence they aren’t missing something. 2. Reframe Risk in Personal Terms Buyers often fear personal blame more than organizational failure. Use case studies and peer validation to show how people in their role succeeded—helping them feel safe and supported in their choice. 3. Provide Buyer Enablement Tools Tools like ROI calculators, pre-built board decks, or checklists reduce the burden on them and demonstrate that they have what they need to decide. 4. Normalize Their Concerns The JOLT Effect also emphasizes “normalizing indecision” as a critical skill—buyers need to know hesitation is common and that you can guide them through it. Framing uncertainty as a normal step in the process reduces the shame that often delays action. 5. Signal Post-Decision Support Harvard Business Review highlights that buyers who see strong post-sale support are more confident in making initial commitments. Show them the path forward—onboarding, customer success, peer communities—so they know they won’t be left alone after purchase. Helping buyers feel personally confident and protected is as important as proving your product’s value. The most successful marketers and sellers don’t just build confidence in the solution—they build confidence in the decision-maker.

A multinational customer once emailed me directly ,bypassing four layers of our escalation hierarchy. That’s when I knew something needed immediate attention. As Managing Director, I do not involve myself in daily operations. We have a capable team and a clear structure for a reason. But when a customer moves past every level and lands in my inbox, I pause and assess. This was not just any customer. This was a relationship built over 20 years with that customer. Two decades of trust. Shared growth. Consistent business. The plant had shut down. A critical component was missing. In that moment, the customer felt unheard. I did not debate. I did not analyse first. I simply told my team, “Arrange the component. Immediately.” From the time I received that email until the material reached the actual site, I personally tracked the movement. Not only to our customer, but to their end user. Because leadership is situational. And in certain moments, speed matters more than process. Later, I reviewed the complete communication trail. My team had responded to every email. Every query was addressed. Every clarification was documented. The issue was not absence of response. It was escalation driven by urgency and frustration. Then came a difficult moment. The customer requested supply without a Purchase Order, expecting immediate dispatch due to the emergency. In business, crises test not only systems, but relationships. We supplied the material. We ensured the plant resumed operations. We protected the long standing relationship. But I also had a candid conversation afterward. Because while customers deserve commitment, responsiveness, and accountability, suppliers deserve professional respect. A strong business relationship is not built on dominance. It is built on mutual dignity. Somewhere along the way, many of us were taught “Customer is God.” I believe something slightly different. The customer is a partner. At Filter Concept , we will always step up in genuine need. But we also stand firmly for our team’s integrity and professional value. To every supplier reading this: Protect your team’s dignity. It is not a negotiable clause. To every buyer reading this: Your vendor is part of your success ecosystem. Treat them like one. Have you faced a similar situation in your leadership journey? #Leadership #BusinessEthics #Manufacturing #MutualRespect #FilterConcept #IndianBusiness

As summer winds down many of us shift gears. Vacations are ending, offices are getting busier and clients are re-focusing on the rest of the year. This makes late August and September an ideal time to take a fresh look at your business development efforts. The lawyers who are most successful in BD know that it isn’t about one big pitch or one conference. It comes from consistent, thoughtful actions that strengthen relationships and create trust over time. Here are some practical ways to use this transition period: ✔️ Reconnect with your clients. Check in before fall gets hectic. Ask how their business is going, what challenges they see ahead and where you might help beyond the matter you’re handling. A short call or note can make a lasting impression. ✔️ Review your active matters. Where can you anticipate an issue before it surfaces? Can you save your client time or money with a different approach? Proactivity is often remembered more than the actual legal work. ✔️ Follow up with people you met earlier this year. Those spring conferences and summer events were only the first step. A quick email to share an article, congratulate them on news or simply continue the conversation shows that you were paying attention. ✔️ Focus on your team. Associates and junior lawyers often have more client contact than you realize. Training them to listen well, communicate clearly and show genuine interest in clients builds loyalty and strengthens your practice from the inside. ✔️ Map out your fall. Identify the events you’ll attend, the articles you’ll publish or the webinars you’ll host. Without a plan the season slips away quickly and opportunities get lost. Business development is not just about chasing new clients. Some of the biggest growth comes from nurturing the relationships you already have and making sure your team is prepared to do the same. Use this end-of-summer reset to be intentional about how you’re showing up for clients and colleagues. Those small, steady steps now will set you up for stronger relationships and more opportunities as the year closes. Which of these tips resonate with you? #legalmarketing #lawfirmmarketing #businessdevelopment

Five years ago, Warburg Pincus LLC invested in BetterCloud and urged us to work on a project to narrow our ideal customer profile (ICP). It's the most impactful thing I've ever done to improve conversion rates, shorten sales cycles, increase deal size and ultimately transform the company. A big mistake many CEOs make is believing their product is for everyone. It’s tempting. More potential customers should mean more sales, right? But in reality, chasing too broad a market drains resources, distracts your team, muddles messaging, confuses your product roadmap, and kills go-to-market efficiency. Being laser-focused on your ICP drives alignment across product, messaging, and the go-to-market motion. When the right prospect engages, they’ll feel like you built it just for them. Anyone who has built a product or service knows that the things a small business needs are very different than what a huge enterprise needs. A company is different from a school. An IT buyer is different from a security buyer, a sales buyer is different from a marketing buyer, a director level decision maker is different than a C level decision maker… but we still believe we can sell to different segments and personas as the same time. The process to define and use your ICP is relatively straightforward but does take time. The larger your business, the more data you have, the more resources you have to crunch that data the more time you should spend to do it as scientifically as possible. The high level steps are: 1. Build a Customer Dataset: Gather all your customer data. Current and churned customers, won and lost opportunities. Enrich it with firmographic, business-specific, and buyer demographic data. 2. Engage Your Team: Your best sales and customer success people hold invaluable insights about your most successful (and worst) customers. 3. Analyze & Identify Pockets of Gold: Identify common attributes of high-performing accounts and avoid the traps of poor-fit customers. 4. Communicate the ICP to the entire company with the “why” behind the attributes that make up an ideal customer.  5. Rework your messaging to appeal to your newly defined ICP and narrow your growth initiatives to be focused only on the accounts that matter.  6. Assign the right ICP accounts to your reps and ensure they’re focused on the right buyer personas. 7. Product Development: Reassess your roadmap to align with the needs of your ICP. You should see impact fast. GTM funnel metrics will improve. Conversion rates should rise, with better leads turning into stronger opportunities. You may not get more leads, but their quality will increase. I’ve been discussing this with many Not Another CEO Podcast guests, so don’t just take my word for it. I wrote a deep dive on how to “Narrow Your ICP and Transform your Company”, with real examples from other companies. You can read the full article here https://lnkd.in/e5EN3XSR

A lesson I learned the hard way: Don't make the mistake of defining your ideal customer persona yourself. Let the market decide that for you. In startups, defining your ICP (ideal customer profile) will help you build repeatable processes and find the customers who truly benefit from your product. For our first two years building Chezie, we chased the “cool” customers—the hype tech companies with noticeable logos. But here’s where we went wrong: We focused on selling to the companies we *wanted* to work with, not the ones best suited to what we offered. It took us three years to realize our real ideal customer looked different. While there were definitely exceptions (and many of those exceptions have become our customers), the problem is that the cool tech companies don’t prioritize DEI funding. We had brand-name tech companies budgeting $50K across all of DEI, while established (and admittedly less “cool”) companies were spending $50K per ERG. Over time, we realized that some of the less sexy businesses—banks, manufacturers, larger institutions—had the potential to be some of our best customers. My point? Let your sales convos tell you who your ideal customer is—not who you wish it were. After enough reps and conversations, the market will show you where the traction is. Don’t spend years trying to sell to those you think need your product; listen to the ones who are ready and able to invest. It took us three years to learn this lesson—do yourself a favor and heed it now. You'll realize that the cool companies are the ones who genuinely want what you're selling! --- What’s been your experience finding your ICP? Share in the comments!

If you don’t know your customers’ goals by the end of January, that’s a you problem. When I was a CSM, January was my golden ticket for getting aligned with my customers. Everyone’s in “fresh start” mode, and there’s no better time to talk priorities, goals, and how to crush them together. But let me ask you something: If I opened your customer notes right now, would I see documented goals for every single customer? Would I see exactly how they define value? If not, don’t panic—yet. But it’s time to step up. For those of you managing a massive book of business (aka “How am I supposed to talk to everyone?!”), here’s your cheat code. This strategy is easy, scalable, and effective: 1️⃣ Record a video (Yes, even if you hate being on camera). Grab Loom (or your phone—no fancy tools required). Wish your customers a Happy New Year and let them know you’re here to help them with their business goals in 2025. No meeting request needed (because nobody wants another meeting). Instead, end with a CTA: “Take 2 minutes to share your 2025 goals using this quick form!” 2️⃣ Create a form (keep it simple). Build a survey with dropdowns, picklists, or examples relevant to your product's value. Help your customers think, “Oh yeah, THAT’S what we need to focus on.” 3️⃣ Distribute in bulk. Send the video + form link to your key contacts. Use your CSP, CRM, or even old-school email—it doesn’t matter how you send it, just send it. 4️⃣ Track it. Follow up. Repeat. Spreadsheet? CRM? Sticky notes on your desk? Whatever works for you, track responses and follow up with the stragglers. 5️⃣ Turn insights into action. Take those submitted goals and bake them into your next call. Ask deeper questions. Validate their objectives. Show them how your product becomes their superpower. If your book is smaller: Just make goal alignment a top agenda item for your next call. No excuses. Here’s the deal: January is prime time to do this. If you don’t have your customers’ goals locked in by February, that’s a you problem. Don’t leave this opportunity on the table. Lean in. Get it done. Your customers (and your metrics) will thank you.

B2B companies struggle to identify their ideal clients before it's too late - leading to project delays, scope creep, and damaged relationships. After working with 200+ tech companies, I've discovered something crucial: You can't truly know if a client will be profitable or problematic without a robust sales process. Here's why this matters: • wrong clients drain resources • team morale suffers • delivery quality drops • growth stagnates The real problem isn't client selection - it's your qualification process. What I've learned working closely with Mahesh Iyer: High-value clients consistently show these patterns: • they understand their own problems clearly • they have realistic expectations • they value expertise over price • they're ready to implement Low-value clients typically: • rush the sales process • focus solely on cost • have unclear objectives • resist strategic guidance The solution? Build a sales process that naturally filters for the right fit: • detailed discovery sessions • clear success metrics • value-based discussions • mutual commitment checks We've refined this approach over 5 years, helping tech founders build their authority, audience, and sales pipeline. The key is creating a revenue engine that: • attracts the right prospects • educates before selling • qualifies systematically • sets clear expectations This isn't about being exclusive. It's about ensuring every client relationship starts with the right foundation. When you nail this, something magical happens: • delivery becomes smoother • results improve dramatically • referrals increase naturally • team satisfaction soars Want to learn how we build these revenue engines at Roarr Consulting Group (RCG), for B2B Tech Founders aiming to add another $1M, systematically? Because life's too short for bad-fit clients. #SalesStrategy #RevenueEngine #AuthorityBuilding #ThoughtLeadership

Do you TRULY care what your guests think? All the best hotels have a solid guest feedback acquisition process and they usually count with a system that aggregates the information and provides synthethized feedback for the leaders to review. Whether it’s Medallia, Customer Alliance, Revinate, or others, guest feedback tools are incredibly important to drive excellence in a hotel operation. In my experience across different brands, many times the focus is on the score rather than the actual feedback. “Ouch, we received a 75.” “That guest gave us a 3 out of 5.” “We’re at an 83 for the month”. Although the scores are a reflection of the performance of the team, they don’t always tell the whole story. Rather, it’s important to read the actual comments that the guests provide, for they leave you with important clues of where your team needs to focus their attention. “The lighting in the room was too dark, not allowing us to properly put make up on before our dinner.” “Every time we went to the restaurant, it took a long time for the waiter to approach our table.” “There was always a loud noise near the Spa, not ideal for a calming massage.” As a Hotel General Manager, you should make sure that your team focuses on the actual guest feedback, and that they take the comments and action on them, when relevant. If you’re seeing trends come up with the comments your guests give you, it’s a clear indication that the experience is negatively affected. The best hotels aren’t the ones chasing the score. The score will come. Rather, chase the information garnered and create a process of diligent follow up to ensure the experience is polished on a daily basis. We are, after all, in this business for our guests, aren’t we? #hospitality #conscioushospitality #thinktolearntolead #hotels #generalmanager #leadwithintention #leadership #feedback #guests

Here’s an easy way to keep your team honest about delivery: Release notes Hear me out… It’s incredible how many teams are “cranking out tickets” and “hitting sprint objectives,” yet when you turn around after a week or two and ask, “OK, what did we actually deliver that touched a single customer?” the list is uncomfortably small. But when you force yourself to actually communicate this to customers, you’re forced to face that reality firsthand. 1. What is possible now that was not possible before? -Start with a concrete change in capability. -Describe the new behavior, outcome, or option available to the customer. -Avoid vague phrasing like “improvements” or “enhancements.” 2. What’s better about it? What is the benefit? -Explain why this matters in practice. -Focus on customer impact: time saved, clarity gained, risk reduced, flexibility increased. -One or two benefits is enough. Don’t list everything. 3. What are the limitations or known issues? -Be explicit and transparent. -Call out constraints, edge cases, or things that are intentionally not supported yet. 4. How do customers try it? Answer all applicable questions clearly: -Where in the product do they go? -Is it on by default or opt-in? -Do they need specific permissions, roles, or plans? -Is any setup, configuration, or migration required? -If it’s not immediately discoverable, say so. 5. What feedback are we looking for? Be specific about what we want to learn. Examples: -“Does this cover your main use case?” -“Where does this break down?” -“What workflows does this not yet support?” If no feedback is needed, say that explicitly. 6. What state is it in? Clearly label the maturity of the feature, using consistent language. Pick your poison. This sets expectations about stability, support, and future change. 7. Where can they find help? Include links or references to: -Documentation -Help center articles -Support channels -Onboarding guides

Stop calling your hotel experience "a home away from home." A hotel is not a home. And it shouldn't try to be. Home is routine. Predictable. Personal. A hotel, on the other hand, is a carefully designed escape — a curated experience meant to inspire, delight, or even surprise. When guests check into a hotel, they’re not looking for the same four walls they see every day. They want comfort, yes — but also wonder, service, design, ambiance, and a temporary life that feels more elevated or more focused than their daily one. Calling your hotel “a home” might sound warm, but it risks lowering the expectations. It can signal “basic,” “familiar,” or worse — “ordinary.” Hospitality is not about making people feel at home. It’s about making them feel seen, special, and transformed, even for just one night. Let’s stop offering homes. Let’s offer genius, magic, and memory.