How to Set Realistic Expectations (for You and Your Customers!)
Are you in the habit of setting your expectations for the future?
If that is so, are your objectives grounded, practical, and achievable, or are they just too unrealistic to attain? Most of us set our intentions subconsciously throughout the day without even realizing it, and setting expectations is not just about work—it affects every part of our lives. So today, we focus on why it is crucial to set realistic expectations that are intentional and achievable, especially for sales calls. Whether you do so in your job or any other aspect of life, setting the right expectations can make a huge difference. Join us in exploring how setting the right intentions will set you up for success, both now and in the long run.
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Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Anneliese Rhodes: How are you setting your expectations for the upcoming week, month, or year? Are you practical and achievable in your objectives, or are they so extraordinary that they seem almost impossible to reach?
Cynthia Ficara: Today, we will discuss how setting intentional yet realistic expectations is a key component to not only achieving your goals, but sustaining long term growth in your career.
Good morning, Cindy. Good morning, Lisa. Good morning, everybody.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yes. Good morning to all of our listeners out there and happy day. Thanks again for joining us for another episode of secrets in the medical device sales podcast. Brought to you by the Girls of Grit, and we're woo . Yeah. And we're here to talk about all the topics that y'all write into us about.
And on that note, today's topic is setting expectations and expectations in general. And man, boy, Cindy, when we started looking this topic up, I was shocked at how much is written, published, and talked about on setting expectations.
Cynthia Ficara: I couldn't believe it. You know, it's something that we think about each day or actually I'm going to rephrase that.
I think it's a subconscious thing we do all day long. And you know, when we looked at some of this research, it was pretty profound. And that's why we decided to talk about this today because it is very important in what we do in medical device. And honestly, it's important in our lives. It's important in everything we do, whether We know any job you do is setting expectations has such a huge effect on us.
And I don't think I took the time to step back and look into this.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. I know. I don't think like you said, it's so subconscious that we do this, but I don't think we realize how it can affect our workplace as well as our home life. So in our, a lot of our research, this book kept being repeated over and over again.
And so I'm going to give it to everybody and I hope y'all, and I encourage y'all to go to audible and either listen and buy it or order the book online. I'm definitely going to. Neither Cindy or I have ever heard of the book or read it, but it's only been out about two years, but dang, if it's not spot on with what it talks about.
So the book is called the expectation effect, how your mindset can change your world by David Robson. I love those kinds of titles because it's like, man, if you do this one thing, you're going to change your entire life, right? It's like powerful. The book itself is like, But it's awesome. And so basically, you know, here's a quick summary of it.
It basically, one of the writers wrote and said a journey through the cutting edge science of how our mindset shapes every facet of our lives, revealing how your brain holds the keys to unlocking a better you. So that all sounds fine and dandy, but what does that really mean? And when in reading a little bit about this book.
What it talked about is when you go in and you already have like a certain expectation of let's just say your customer, your expectation is that your customer is a super hard customer to deal with. They're not going to listen or they're always busy or whatever it is. You go into that sales call with this already preconceived notion, whether you realize it or not, that the sales call is going to be tough.
And so your approach with the customer is one of potentially aggression or very forward pushing and your ideas and your beliefs and what you have to sell them because in your mind. You've already sold them as being a hard customer, so you got to sell them hard. And what the book talks about is changing that mindset, working to maybe look at it a little differently and a more positive way, and it'll, it'll affect your outcomes.
So today we're going to talk a little bit about that. Um, but again, neither Cindy or I have read the book, but we highly suggest you get it. It sounds like a fantastic book. I know I just bought it on Audible, so I'm really excited to read it.
Cynthia Ficara: Lisa, thanks so much for pointing out that book because you're exactly right.
It kept popping up. So there's got to be some good information. Now. I can't wait to listen on audible too. So stay tuned for more, but honestly, it does really make you think about expectations and honestly how it's in our lives every day and in work.
Anneliese Rhodes: I know. Well, I started thinking about it and I'm sure you do this and I'm sure a lot of the women out there listening to our podcast do this and men too.
So when you plan that, like Perfect vacation. Right? I mean, you've got it down to a T. It's like everything is planned out. It's all going to be perfect, right? Everything's going to be perfect. Okay. Anybody that has a family knows nothing ever goes perfect. So as a parent and I'm raising my hand here, I already know my best set expectations probably aren't going to be hit, but there are certain things that you're like, yes, this is going to be awesome.
So about, I don't know, two or three years ago, I planned a trip to Alaska for, Myself, my husband, his two girls, and my two kids. And I had it all planned out. And every single one of them, um, not maybe me so much, but everybody else loves to fish, okay? So I planned this amazing fishing trip that we would go on this boat and sewered.
It was like a private boat. It was like a big time thing. Wow. We fly, we fly in. Alaska is amazing. But as you well know, it's not. Alaska can have some pretty crazy weather. Now we were there in the summertime, but for some reason, there was some big storm that came out of nowhere randomly after 20 years and it's right when that fishing trip is supposed to happen.
Of course. So what do you think happens? It gets canceled and I mean, I am so mad. I'm so angry. It's like ruining my day and here we are in a, it looks like a foreign country. Alaska does, but it's amazing. So what do I do? Well, you know me, I'm like, I'm going to patch this. I'm going to make this better. So of course I called the agent and after much screaming and yelling and telling them that they better refund my money, I managed to find this very, Pool isolated Island where you can fly in by seaplane and go salmon fishing.
And Cindy, it was literally the best part of our trip by far. Even I loved it. It was amazing. We saw bears up close. We were catching salmon with like random just hooks. No, no bait, nothing. It was unreal. So my expectation definitely wasn't met in that moment. But then it ended up turning out to be something even more positive.
And I think that's really what we're talking about here today is trying to manage those expectations that we all have, we all get, whether in business or in personal, and how do we make sure that we're not exponentially putting this, this feeling, these emotions into things. And also, Especially in our workplace, expecting our customers to embrace our expectations as well and be, okay, fine, we're going to do exactly what you say you want us to do because we know that's not reality.
We know that's not the way it's going to work. So today we're going to talk about that and we're going to lay it out for you guys and we're going to go through kind of what this looks like, defining it, and then how do you set your realistic expectations to still be successful, but to not be completely disappointed.
Cynthia Ficara: And you know, that kind of links into last week, we did an episode on disappointment, you know, do's and don'ts of disappointment. And that's actually how we came about discussing this topic today is they're, they're related, you know, having realistic expectations to prevent that disappointment. So today is more about the power of expectations and what you can really accomplish with that.
So What we're going to go through today is number one, kind of understanding expectations versus assumptions, because there is a difference. Then we're going to kind of go into a positive mindset, how that can affect. Your outcome of expectations and also how do you set them? So that's really where we're just going to roll with this today, whether you want to apply this to your next fishing trip or vacation in Alaska, or you want to think about this for your next sales call.
I think it's still good information. Any, which way you apply it.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, understanding what expectations versus assumptions are, I mean, first of all, we all know what assumptions can mean, right? We're not going to say it online here, but, um, they can come out really, really negatively.
And, you know, You know, what I found interesting is in my head, I think I kind of correlated goals and expectations to be the same thing, but in reality, they're actually not. So the way we were looking at goals and defining a goal is a result. Or an achievement towards which effort and action are being directed.
So it's like, I'm going to win. I'm going to get this account from 500, 000 to a million dollars. What are my action steps that I need to take in order to get there? And those are the goals, right? They're like hard and fast, or they're what you set. I think the expectation or I know the expectation in terms of a definition is the act or state of looking forward to or anticipating.
It's what's in your head that you're putting forth this emotional responsibility onto. And so you're setting those expectations as you're driving towards your goals. So I think the key there is to understand that goals and expectations are not the same. Um, they're, they're actually quite different.
Cynthia Ficara: They are.
And I think what's really important when you're talking about these efforts and actions, which are the goals towards your expectation is let's just take, for example, a sales call. So if you have an expectation that you want X result, what's really important is that you have A plus B to get you there.
And what's more important that you use these action steps. of explaining, defining, and both parties understand what A and B actually is. Because if your expectation is to move a customer forward in, let's just say, bringing in a product, well, all the facts need to be laid out. Before you can affect a result rates, you have to first make sure that they have all the information they need to make that decision to get to where you want to go.
Anneliese Rhodes: So give me an example of that, Cindy, because I think that's a really good way of basically outlining how not to assume. Right? That you're really giving your customers all the information that they need in order to hopefully meet your expectations and get to where you want them to get to on your plan.
But what does that look like for our listeners out there? They're making that sales call to that customer.
Cynthia Ficara: So let's say I'm calling on a customer that I've known, and I already know them, and we've launched a new product, and maybe I emailed this customer about the product. So, I can't just go in under assumptions that this customer, Knows what I'm talking about because my expectation of going into this would be he knows the information I sent him and I'm thinking he knows the information I sent him.
So now my expectation is I can't wait to have this discussion to see what he thinks about it. And if I go in there and I say, hey, Dr. So and so, if I ask, what did you think about? Our new product or what did you think about this new research or whatever it is I sent them and he looks at me like I have two heads saying I don't even know what you said I didn't see anything and then your expectation of that day was I thought we were going to have this great discussion to move forward and then I realized oh he never even got the information so I can't explain it.
I expect something to happen if I did not give them the action, the goals, and two parties agree. I should have said, Hey, Dr. Smith, have you read the article I sent you? Then your expectation can be, okay, now let's have a discussion. Where would this take them? Does this bring value? Would this help with our new product launch?
And you go from there.
Anneliese Rhodes: Wow. That's a great example because basically what you just gave was an expectation assumption that they assumed the doctor read the information, knows all about the product and is prepared to talk about it just like you are. No, they're not. They're so busy. They probably didn't even remember that they had an appointment with you to meet with you until their secretary was like, Hey, you got Cindy coming in at one o'clock PM today.
And then he's like, okay, sure. I wonder what she wants to talk about, right? So you're exactly right. The end. You also talked about being adaptive to your expectations. So let's just say you roll into that customer call and you do have the expectation of discussing the new product with him, which is obviously your goal.
And your expectation also has it in there that you want to get the case with him. Well, maybe as soon as you realize and you've uncovered that he doesn't have all the information, you adapt. You provide the information that you were going to provide anyhow that you did in the email, but you will do it again because you realize they are very busy.
So you give them the information and then you segue into your expectation, your initial one, which is, Hey, how can we work together? I would love to do a case with you. You know, this would fit patient population X, Y, Z, that kind of thing. So you just touched on a couple of different things that I think are really important in managing expectation.
It can
Cynthia Ficara: completely change the trajectory of your conversation when your expectations are aligned with your customer. And I just, you know, really to emphasize that is both parties need to agree on what you're talking about and you can really move forward. And what's really interesting, again, we mentioned how much research is out there and our decisions we're making.
That are guided by our expectations are all about the outcomes. So, for instance, there was one of the articles we read and I can link it below, but it gave a really good example about deciding to visit a restaurant. And it talked about how we can anticipate the food to be outstanding. But now what we've done going into that is that our expectations are now represented in our brain.
That there's going to be outstanding. And that's how we allow ourselves to make adaptive choices to that. So even in decisions we make that are small, what we expect is something that we need to think about knowing that. We can make a choice, we can lay all the information out there, we can set realistic expectations to have the outcome that we really want to have.
Anneliese Rhodes: I love it. And you know, what you're talking about is the next thing that we're kind of, the whole neuroscience behind it all, right, is the power of positive thinking. And I mean, I know you've heard that before. I've heard that before. It is so true, but there's like neuroscience behind it too, right? And what I'm likening your call to honestly is rising to the challenge.
I mean, again, every sales call was like, perfect, then where's the fun in that? So why don't you instead look at it as, okay, so there's my challenge. I'm going to need to reevaluate how I'm going to approach this customer. I'm going to give them this information again. But that's just a small hurdle. It doesn't mean that like, it's all going to go bad.
It just means, okay, there's the challenge. I'm going to meet it. Now I'm going to exceed it. So I think it's all in the way that you look at things and what are you telling yourself? Don't be so negative. Be more positive. You're resilient. You're in sales for a reason. You're going to get told no a million trillion times.
You got to be able to hear the yeses And I think that's part of that whole Positive thinking, you know, really
Cynthia Ficara: is, I mean, a positive mindset truly can improve your overall well being and think about it. Aren't you more likely to go further in your career when you're in a well state versus not? And when you're in a positive state and you feel that momentum of good, like you said, the yeses and you carry them forward into The next conversations that you have is much better than a negative way and you know, the power of positive thinking is how you tell yourself it'll be and.
With that, you see resilience, you see creativity that you can pull and be better going into these conversations. So your expectations, while they need to be realistic, they also need to have a positive approach. So combining these two can be a really powerful, powerful force.
Anneliese Rhodes: I can't agree more. I know I say this a lot, but I swear people feel your energy.
You know, if you're Debbie Downer, Oh man, that sales call went bad. That went terrible. Well, then your next customer that you're going to call on is going to feel that or the same guy that you're calling on or female. They're going to be like, Whoa, dude, I don't need your negative energy. Let's be positive here.
I got enough negative stuff in my life. I need you to be the positive force. Right? And then they're going to want you to come back. Even if they tell you for a case. Today, they may just enjoy you being around and at some point they're like, I got a case for her. I want her to come back. I want her to come in here.
Tell me again about that new product. I remember her. She had a smile on her face. She was so happy. She brought positive energy. What was her name again? I want her to come back again. I mean, what All of those things will happen when you come in with a positive attitude. When you're negative, or Debbie Downer, or ugh, that went really great, then they're not going to call you back.
I mean, it's just as simple as that.
Cynthia Ficara: Also very simple when they say, you know, what you tell your mind is what will be. So if I say, I will put forth my best effort or I will make this happen as opposed to walking into me and say, Oh, I'm not going to be able to do this. This is, Oh my gosh, this is never going to go right.
I'm not going to be able to do this. Then you know what? You're not because you just told yourself and your mind is that powerful that it will say, all right, if you say you're not going to, then guess what? It ain't going to happen today, buddy.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. And you know, We're talking about this like it's so easy.
I mean, look, we all have bad days. We all have situations where we're just like, Oh, I'm just not feeling it today. And maybe those are the days that those expectations are really small. They're not quite so large. They're not. I'm going to go out there and win the toughest customer in my territory over days.
Maybe those are the days that are reserved for the small tasks for getting the things done that move your business forward. Yes, but maybe in a smaller fashion, maybe it's more of the setting up the lunches or the dinners or the end services, or you're just doing your case. You're Obviously, you need to be there fully, but you're doing your case.
You're happy to be there, but then maybe you don't make that extra sales call that day because you don't need that new customer potentially to perceive you as being negative. So I think it's important that we all recognize we're all human. We're all going to be negative at some point, but when we're setting expectations and calling on those customers, let's set them appropriately, but try and keep a positive mindset.
Cynthia Ficara: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think it's great. We just discussing our positive mindset, applying to understanding true expectations versus assumptions, because you can set yourself up to win or you can set yourself up to fail. So now I just wanted to kind of walk through a few things on for all of our listeners.
How do we set expectations and we can tie this into life, but also really work just going into a work meeting. So if you just want to take an example of. Going to see a customer this week. What are some things we can do to set the expectation?
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. So I think I said it already, but starting small, you know, you don't need to get these grandiose expectations of I'm going to bring in a new product and that customer is going to sit down with me.
And in two weeks, he's going to give me a case. Now me saying that it actually happened to me a couple of weeks ago and I was like, overwhelmed. I was like, Holy crap. This is amazing. And I'm like, wait a minute.
Cynthia Ficara: Yeah. Is it amazing? Or what did you do? Did you go in with the positive mindset? Maybe you did.
Anneliese Rhodes: You're right, Cindy. I did actually. I did. And I was really, I was really prepared. I, I had all my data correct. I had my product information. I had the demo there. I had everything I assumed. And I knew potentially here I am assuming, Oh my God, I'm like going back to what we just said. But I had all the information that I knew that he would want as a surgeon.
Answered, right? And so I had all that information, but I will say when I went into the call I did not think I'm getting a case in two weeks. I Went into the call thinking this is really a great product. I know he's interested in it Otherwise, he wouldn't be meeting with me on it, obviously And I know it's gonna help a lot of his patients But I'm just gonna go in with a positive mindset and I'm just gonna present all the information and be happy about it, excited about it, and how can they not feel your energy when you're excited, and then lay it out there, and then that's it, right?
And then we'll just see where it goes. But that meeting with him was a small step towards my goal of getting them to use the new product.
Cynthia Ficara: But you had all the right action steps. You, you put forth the information, like we said, Lisa, that sounds like a great situation, but I also think the best part about what you just said was your presence, the attitude you brought in, the positivity and.
You know, consulting and seeing where it goes. No, I think that was, that's an excellent example. I hope more people can do that. Yeah. Thank you.
Anneliese Rhodes: Okay. So another thing to do is strategically choose your target. So I think I was mentioning this before, but obviously on your off days, you're not going to go after that super tough customer, right?
But even when you do go after the tough customers, because we all have to go after them, they're tough for a reason. So understand. that that relationship that they have with your competitors, it's probably been there for a long time. So you have to respect that. And maybe when you go in to meet with them, set those expectations, not low, but don't expect to like win the guy over.
Maybe instead set it to Uncover, maybe some unmet needs, you know, maybe uncover the things that even though he's been using this device, this product, this company for 15 years, there's always going to be something that is not met that they need. And can you provide it? And if you can uncover that as your expectation, that's Well, you've gotten a win for the day.
I mean, you're just building. These are small little steps that you're taking to build towards that business.
Cynthia Ficara: So Lisa, something you mentioned just made me think of something very important just to caution everyone in their thinking. We're talking about expectations and sometimes they don't always go the way you thought, but please never lower your expectations to be, Oh, it's not going to work anyway.
Okay. I'm just not going to have any expectations because that's completely opposite of everything we said today. All that means is you need to reassess and you need to have different goals to get you to your expectation. So don't
Anneliese Rhodes: love that. Don't ever go low. No, don't ever go low. What you're talking about is pivoting.
Just pivot. Just change your course a little bit based on all the knowledge that you just gained from that sales call. Because if you look at it in a positive sense, even if the customer said no, they still gave you some inclination of why they're saying no. And maybe how you can pivot your sales call for the next time that you see them so that you can change the way that you're going to address them and talk to them about the new product.
I mean, it's just pivoting it. That's all it is. So yeah, don't lower your expectations because then you're just lowering expectations of yourself, right? And you need to be true to yourself, be who you are, believe in your product, believe in your company, believe in what you're selling, and know that it's the solution for your customer.
So today we talked about the power of expectations and how powerful they can be in your everyday work life as well as your home life. And there's a lot of information out there, but we outlined three things that we really want you guys to take home and think about. So the very first thing that we talked about was understanding expectations versus assumptions and knowing the difference between the two.
Number two was always have a positive mindset. Remember the power of positivity, stay positive. And number three, setting those expectations appropriately for your sales calls.
Cynthia Ficara: Excellent. So our call to action for today is this. Choose a meeting on your calendar for next week. Take out a pen and write out clear, concise, and realistic expectations that set you on a path to success.
Anneliese Rhodes: I love it. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Secrets in the Medical Device Sales Arena. We are your hosts, Annalisa Rhodes and Cynthia Ficarra, and we are the Girls of Grit. We really appreciate all of you tuning in every week and writing to us about topics that you want us to discuss. We hope you have a great day and great week.
Take care. Bye bye.
