I hope that this post finds everyone doing well, being happy, and making money! Great way to start, right? While it would be great if just wishing for things could make them happen, it would be quite unrealistic to expect that mere wishes were truths. We are all imperfect creatures, living in an imperfect world; nothing will ever be perfect. We will certainly achieve some level of success and happiness, but having unrealistic expectations regarding that success and happiness simply sets the stage for disappointment. Lionel Shriver, American journalist and author, said it best: “Expectations are dangerous when they are both too high and uninformed.”
The reality of running a business it that our client’s expectations are often not based in that same reality. Many clients come to the inspection with limited knowledge of what is actually about to happen. The majority of them have never had an inspection before and come into the transaction relatively clueless. They may have received some guidance from friends, relatives, their agent, or the internet, but it’s often quite far from the truth.
Many of our clients walk into the inspection with all sorts of incorrect assumptions. They might think that we’re going to move furniture around during the inspection, or that we provide an endless home warranty, fixing anything that ever breaks in their new home. While these assumptions are far from the reality of a limited, visual inspection, they are pretty close to what an uninformed client is thinking when they meet us.
Unrealistic expectations affect us all. We always assume that something is going to be better than it is, or that we’re going to get more than we’ve paid for in a transaction. Humans seem to be programmed to always want more, and we’re disappointed when our expectations are not met.
When that human happens to be our client, and those unrealistic expectations happen to be regarding our inspection services, we’re probably not going like where things end up.
Looking at this from a different perspective (which, incidentally, is a practice we should embrace early and often), the real problem may not lie with our client. The problem likely lies with us, their home inspector, as we are the ones who didn’t take the time to adjust their expectations and set up proper guardrails regarding the inspection.
We know that we should be taking care of this ahead of time, properly aligning our clients’ expectations with reality, but we often don’t. Being clear and concise in defining exactly what’s going to happen requires thought and foresight. It takes time and energy. It depends on effectively communicating these ideas to our clients. Many inspectors find this part of business to be stressful and intimidating. It’s much easier to simply allow our clients their unrealistic expectations and hope that, in the future, nothing bad happens.
Ironically, this happens to be an unrealistic expectation on our part. Problems will happen, things will break, and people will be disappointed. By addressing the elephant in the room ahead of time and aligning our client’s expectations with reality, we can often lessen (or completely eliminate) the stress that comes when things go wrong.
Things are going to break in your client’s new house; that’s a given. By setting expectations ahead of time, we can help set the stage for this eventuality. We should take the time to do what’s right. We should communicate to them what will and will not happen. By the time we start inspection, our clients should know exactly what they’re getting into.
Over the years, I have found that aligning my clients’ expectations with reality and then doing my best to exceed those newly set expectations has been great for my business. Under-promise and over-deliver has been a constant mantra. This fairly simple concept has helped me become more successful and less stressed out. What more could I ask for?
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Thanks, Joe
