Over at Seth Godin’s blog post Benefit of the doubt, Seth offers five brainstorming ideas for dealing with clients who are just waiting for you to fail.
One of these, underpromise, is solid advice that is often expressed as underpromise and overdeliver. I especially like the one about building up expectations of difficulty.
One phrase you need to quit saying is, “Oh, that’s easy.” If you tell a client that it’s easy to accomplish something, they immediately begin to wonder why they’re paying you so much, or anything at all. If it was easy, they’d be doing it themselves. I know that saying a task or even an entire project is easy or “not a problem” or “a quick fix” is your way of trying to establish a friendly and accommodating relationship with your client.
It rarely works. Just remember, clients aren’t looking to be your friend, and you shouldn’t try to be theirs. They want your professional assistance and they’re usually willing to pay for it. Start being their friend and they’ll start treating you like one: asking for favors instead of paid service.
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