One of the first items we discuss with our customers at that inaugural meeting is the expectation list. This is our name for their wish list, but we have two good reasons for using it. First it allows the team both of us to focus on what we have agreed to work on and secondly it allows for a review periodically to see where we have come from.
We ask the directors to list for us both, what they hope to achieve in the next 12 to 24 months. We are seeking just a list of items that they want to complete in that time frame, not details on how to get there.. When we have it, be it half a dozen items or 29 items we then ask them to do something a little harder as their homework. Put them in the order of importance, that is, which do they want to complete first. Maybe it’s inspecting the roofs if they haven’t been inspected in a while, maybe it to get bids to resurface the pool, or to rewrite a specific document like the election policy or the rules. We make certain everyone knows the list is not set in concrete, that it can be added to, and that items can change their order of importance but whatever the document is at the time that is what we as their managing agent are going to be working from. At the end of a few months we can both review our progress and examine the list for a re-edit.