Tim Connor tells us to always exceed expectations.
Many salespeople make a lot of promises or benefit statements while trying to sell a new prospect or existing customer. The assumption these salespeople often erroneously make is that it is necessary to promise the world in order to close the sale. It is far better to leave the prospect with realistic, even low expectations that you can exceed, than setting unrealistically high expectations that may never happen. A key concept to keep in mind while selling: The close of the sale is not the end of the sales process, but the beginning of the sales relationship. If a sales relationship is based on consistent customer disappointments, you are setting yourself up for an unhappy customer and very little customer loyalty at best and a cancelled order at worst.
The purpose of the sales process is to discover how you can help a customer or prospect with a need, problem, desire or challenge, and then position your products or services in such a way that the customer discovers in his or her mind the value necessary in order to justify a purchase.