I had to go see my dermatologist at Duke yesterday. I like her except for the fact that she comes at me with a knife every time I go over there.

I went in yesterday at 1:30 for my appointment. I brought a pile of reading material. I came prepared and expecting to wait.

The wait isn’t bad. My cell phone doesn’t work in the bowels of the massive Duke hospital campus. I get my reading done. It’s quite pleasant actually.

The nurse that took me back to the room sat down with me and reviewed my chart. She asked about my medications, my allergies and whether I was having any pain.

She then instructed me to take off my clothes and put on the gown (ties in the back, please).

Then, casually, she remarked that the doctor would be in soon, “very soon.” I hurried. Off with the shirt, pants, shoes and socks and on with the gown. She was coming “very soon” and I wanted to be ready.

Ninety minutes later my doctor still hadn’t arrived. I was annoyed.

The funny thing was that I would have been fine with the wait if the nurse hadn’t changed my expectations. I went in knowing it would take forever, but the nurse changed all that with her two little words.

My question for you is – how do you impact your client’s expectations? Are you helping your reputation by managing expectations and making clients happy or are you creating disappointment with your service when it’s totally unnecessary.

“Under promise and over deliver” – those are great words to live by.

When will I get my divorce? “Years from now. This process is incredibly slow, the bureaucracy is a nightmare…”

When will the judge rule on my motion? “Months and months, the judge is really backed up.”

How much will this cost? “It depends on your spouse and other factors, but you’ll be lucky if you have any money when this is over.”

When will you return my call? “My usual call return time is 48 hours.”

When will you get that draft document to me? “Two weeks”.

You get the idea – under promise and over deliver.

Don’t make the mistake made by the nurse.