When you engage with a client, do you make your capabilities sound grander than they are, the search easier than you think it is? Do you add fluff or do you keep it straight? How do you keep that balance between integrity and getting work in the door? I wrote this blurb earlier this year on our corporate blog site RecruitingArsenal and it is timeless as ever.

Everyone wants results – parents, teachers, siblings, workers, employers, friends, family, and yes that “other family” – your clients. So what do you do? Just mumble fumble your way through it, lie about what you can’t do? Heck no – when handling client expectations, be upfront on your capabilities; when taking on new projects, be realistic – don’t promise the moon but get pretty darn close to earth. When giving a project time estimate or completion date – pack in some buffer, just in case. When you deal with clients and stretch the talk, you’ll be found out sooner than later.

So, plan on a little under promising and a lot of over delivering. After all it’s what you deliver that counts, not what you say you can deliver!