The Trusted Advisor Series: Managing Expectations on Process (Not Just Results)
Howard Givner
Innovation Driver & Strategic Leader in Event Marketing, Ed Tech, & Agency Growth
You’re standing at an elevator bank in the lobby of a building, waiting for your elevator to arrive. It’s been a while since you pressed the button – you’re not sure how long exactly, but long enough that you’re starting to think about it. The button is lit up, so you know the signal went through, but there’s no display indicating what floor the elevator is currently on. It could arrive any second, or it could be a while.
Someone else walks up, and despite the fact that it’s clear you’ve already pressed the button, he presses it anyway. You secretly curse him for his idiocy, but acknowledge that sometimes you do the same. You both know that pressing the button repeatedly won’t get the elevator to come any faster, but the gesture at least makes you feel like you’re doing something.
The seconds tick by, each one feeling interminable, as your anxiety builds. Where the hell is that damn elevator!?
Now imagine the same scenario, only this time there is a digital indicator telling you what floor the elevator is on. When that number changes steadily, you know the elevator is moving. When it stays on one number, you know it’s stopped there, and people are getting on or off. In this scenario, your blood pressure is nice and steady. Sure, you might get impatient, but there’s no anxiety. Why? Uncertainty produces stress (a huge reason event professionals were so burned out during the pandemic years), while information breeds confidence. It’s the combination of not knowing what’s going on, and having no control over a situation, that creates tension.
Expected Vs. Unexpected Airplane Turbulence
Think about the last time you were on a plane and experienced a bout of unexpected turbulence. You’re relaxing watching a movie or reading a book, and then suddenly the plane starts to shake. You have no context with which to evaluate the situation: it could be nothing, or something might be very wrong (highly doubtful, but the alarmist part of you has a vivid imagination). And you certainly have no control over it either way.
Uncertainty produces stress (a huge reason event professionals were so burned out during the pandemic years), while information breeds confidence.
Now picture that exact same level of turbulence, only this time the pilot has announced a few minutes earlier, in a voice exuding confidence, that you may be experiencing a bit of turbulence coming up, so he’s put the fasten seatbelt sign back on for a little while. The plane behaves in the same way, but you’re far more relaxed. Here, again, uncertainty has been replaced with information.
Let’s apply this to the events industry, or to being a service professional in general. It’s three weeks before your event and your client is anxious to get the run of show. You know you have plenty of time and weren’t planning on finalizing it until the week before. But does your client know that? Are you keeping that confidence to yourself, like the pilot in the first scenario, or have you communicated your timing to the client in advance, like the pilot in the second example who lets his passengers know about the turbulence ahead of time?
The How and The When vs. The What
When we talk about managing expectations, we typically focus on the “what”: preparing your boss or client for what the final attendance, budget or other result will be. But it’s also about the “when” and the “how”. It’s about communicating a clear process to your clients, keeping them updated on that process, and proactively letting them know if, and when, you need to deviate from it.
It’s not enough to deliver a great event; the process of working with you during the planning cycle must be smooth and to the client’s liking. If the event is successful but you’ve made the client anxious and stressed out along the way, they won’t want to work with you again. Conversely, the event can miss the mark, but if the client loved working with you, you’ll probably get another shot.
It's not enough to deliver a great event; the process of working with you must also be smooth and to the client's liking. Remember, for the client, the event itself is only a few hours or a few days. The process of working with you, however, can take months, if not years.
Remember, for the client, the event itself is only a few hours or a few days. The process of working with you, however, can take months, if not years. As event professionals, we’re often laser-focused on what happens during those hours or days when the guests arrive, and give far less thought to the enormous time frame from inception to execution. Trusted advisors, on the other hand, know how important it is to really nail the process, to ensure the client’s engagement with you is stellar.
You Don’t Know What’s Going On With the Client’s Stakeholders
One thing we often don’t take into account is the unexpected consequences of our actions (or inactions) on the client’s end. You might have plenty of time to finish that run of show, but maybe the client’s boss is breathing down her neck to get a look at it, because he’s getting nervous about the speech he has to make at the event. Again, it’s not just about the work itself, which you might be totally on top of; it’s just as much about how and when your client is expecting that work to be done. But how are you supposed to know what kind of process the client wants, and whether or not they’re happy with how you’re doing?
The Mid-Cycle Pulse Check
Unless you’re a mind reader, the only way to be sure you’re not only meeting the client’s event expectations, but are also meeting their process expectations, is by asking. Repeatedly.
At the very beginning of the engagement, once you’ve solidified the event goals, analyzed the attendee personas, and determined ways to measure success, the next step is to talk about process. How often do they want updates from you? What should those updates contain? When do you need their sign-off on things? Who else needs to be involved? How often should you be meeting? Just the mere action of leading a discussion on these issues shows your client that you care about the process of working with you.
You want to give your client an open forum to share what’s working and what’s not, so you have time to course-correct before it’s too late. You can discuss event details, of course, but they should take a back seat in these meetings.
Some event professionals do have this discussion, but for most, it ends there, often to their detriment. Particularly with first-time clients and/or first-time events, what your client says they want in terms of communications and detailed updates might be very different for what they actually ask for once the planning cycle begins. Further, their needs may change, as different players on their end get involved, or as they’re faced with internal changes that impact the event.
This is where a mid-cycle pulse-check comes in. If your event is nine months out, schedule time with your client at the three and six month marks, the primary purpose of which is to gauge how well they’re meshing with you, whether the communication protocols are working for them, and anything else they want to share. You can discuss event details, of course, but they should take a back seat in these meetings. You want to give your client an open forum to share what’s working and what’s not, so you have time to course-correct before it’s too late.
Using A Third Party to Get Honest Feedback
All of this sounds good, but often clients are reluctant to be critical of the planner they have to work with on a regular basis. Nobody likes having to deliver constructive feedback, and the fear of offending can prevent important, honest input from getting raised.
This is where a third party can prove enormously valuable. Years ago, ad agencies perfected this art by creating two teams to manage a given piece of business. The creative lead focused on developing ideas, designing mockups of campaigns, and crafting the narratives for selling the products. The account team brought in the business, wined and dined the clients and made sure they were happy. The division of labor was clear: one side was in charge of the work itself, the other in charge of the client relationship.
One of the benefits of this format is that the account person served as a natural intermediary for the client to voice criticisms of the creative work, without the fear of insulting the person who came up with the ideas. Many larger event agencies similarly divide up the labor in this manner.
So instead of you having the pulse-check with the client, have your boss do it, or a colleague. Give the client a safe space to raise their concerns.
Bonus: Random Positive Updates
Aside from regularly scheduled updates with your client, the only times they typically hear from you are when something is wrong. The venue is asking for an electrical fee for using an outside A/V vendor, which wasn’t in the contract. The API integration from the registration site and the event app is glitching. The famous speaker you’re paying an arm and a leg for is backing out because of an “unanticipated conflict” (read: a gig with someone more important than you). Whichever of the myriad curve balls that may arise, your unscheduled client call is to bear bad news.
What if, on the other hand, you surprised your client with an unexpected positive update? Imagine your client’s reaction when you call to say, “The group in our space the day before your event is using a similar set up, so I worked it out for us to piggyback on their A/V set up, and are splitting the labor with them.” Or, “I’m watching the caterer plate the appetizers and it looks incredible!”
Conclusion
Compared to framing, managing process expectations is a relatively easy fix, and can be implemented by event professionals at almost any level. All it takes is an awareness of the potential anxiety that may arise on the client’s side when they experience uncertainty over what’s happening and when. Remember, you’re the pilot; they’re the passenger. Just shower them with information about timing and process. If it’s too much, they’ll let you know, but it’s always better to over-communicate than to under-communicate. And the only way to know if you’re doing it the right way is to have regular check-ins with your client, not just about how the event is coming along, but about how their experience of working with you is, well, working.
Additional Resources