I am posting this up a little late to hit my daily email message, but the meat of the message matches the timing. I decided to put the focus of my energy over the last few days into “Exceeding Expectations”. It’s a great catchphrase or over-used, over-arching statement but what is it in practice?

This is where I want to focus today. I have a potential client that I have been working with for months. We finally got to the stage of the relationship where I would be making a sample for them to review. This project is directly in my wheelhouse, and as we peeled back the layers of our relationship more and more, I realized just how much in my wheelhouse this project was. We don’t have a contract yet, so I won’t divulge too much. But I do want to share what exceeding expectations looks like, smells like and feels like.

I design training material for corporations. As I worked with this client I began to understand that they would be open to a virtual training model that reduced travel expenses while expanding their trained staff base. However, the more I talked with them, the more I realized taking them from the workshop model to a virtual model would take. There was no printed material to convert, no branding, and a little used platform to install this type of information.

I decided to take it on full-bore. I drafted them an outline that laid out a complete program. I strategized with them a process that would introduce virtual training and almost gamify the learning to qualify for some live events. I also worked with them to visualize and formulate a peer-training team through a Qualified Train the Trainer program that would help them become more training sustainable without negatively impacting head-count.

I could tell they were getting excited, so we transitioned into the sample mode. Making a generic sample might have sealed the deal, but how would that exceed expectations? Further, how have I elevated expectations to date? I had to hit this running.

I networked with their marketing team to gain access to corporate images, symbols, and video. I received their permission to re-purpose the material for this virtual training product. Since the marketing team had no assets for this individual project, I had a project logo and branding created to augment their corporate logo. I immediately began to clip and trim my way to a smooth corporate-branded bumper with logo animation to introduce each of the lessons I would create.

With a bumper and trailer complete it was time to work on a sample dialogue for this training. Here is what I did. I made a sample lesson for the student audience, describing the new training platform – what it is, who its for, why its made, and how the company would leverage success from it within the field. So not only did I succeed in selling the executives on generating this content, but I have leveraged the content to sell the training to the field staff as well.

In this example of exceeding expectations, I not only made a sample product to close the deal – I delivered a mechanism to allow the executives to introduce the program to the ranks… taking weight off their shoulders. When you put yourself in the position to exceed expectations, you need to first line out the expectations then read the situation from other perspectives. If you can hit the expectations but provide added value from a competing perspective – you’ll exceed expectations. If done well, how can they choose anyone else?