Customer Success Professionals · situation guide
Explain results, set realistic expectations, and discuss the scope of a renewal.
Start a personalized practice session in seconds. No card required.
A pilot can support a useful claim without proving that every team will get the same result.
Vocabulary for this situation
Keep expectations proportionate
Moderate or control expectations so they are less extreme, especially by balancing optimism with limits or evidence.
“We should temper expectations: the pilot involved one team.”
Usage note: Moderating expectations does not mean dismissing positive evidence.
Practice “temper expectations” →Identify a proposed cause carefully
To attribute X to Y is to regard X as caused by, explained by, or produced (created, said, or written) by Y: attribute the delay to a late dependency; attribute a quotation to an earlier essay. A related use assigns a quality to someone (the patience attributed to her). The noun attribute, stressed on the first syllable, means a quality or feature and is a different word.
“We can't attribute the entire improvement to the rollout.”
Usage note: Improvement alone does not establish what caused it.
Practice “attribute to” →Describe room to negotiate
Wiggle room means a limited amount of room to adjust inside a constraint — a deadline, price, budget, scope, or rule — not unlimited freedom, general adaptability, or an approval that has already been granted.
“There is some wiggle room on the weekday response time.”
Usage note: State the terms that are actually negotiable.
Practice “wiggle room” →Communication sequence
We should temper expectations: the pilot involved one team.
We can't attribute the entire improvement to the rollout.
There is some wiggle room on the weekday response time.
Common mistakes
Related guides
Start with a focused set of expressions. Understand the meaning, compare examples, and write your own response with feedback.
Get started for free