Making requests of others and making promises to others requires competence in conversations for action and the management of promises. These interactions can be as brief as a phone call or as long as a two or three hour meeting. Ultimately, satisfaction is declared at the completion of the promise, the final interaction, where we deliver and declare our promise complete. However, we should never rely on this final delivery to insure satisfaction. We must produce the assessment of value at every one of the interactions we have during the process.
Expectations change constantly.
What was understood and agreed upon at the beginning of the exchange can change during the process and often does. It is therefore necessary to listen anew to the customer's concerns at each contact point and to re-craft those expectations to correspond to the promise we are in the process of delivering. It is important to note that nothing remains static during the exchange conversation. Expectations and concerns are in a constant state of change and our ability to fulfill and make promises also changes with time. The challenge is to minimize surprises, manage the promises and mold the expectations.