Law firm. Contract extraction project. Demo showing 94% accuracy on their actual documents. Walked away immediately. "We need 99.9% or it's not worth implementing." THE EXPECTATION PROBLEM: Partners expected perfection. One error in 1,000 contracts. Anything less - not automation, just another problem. Reality - 94% accuracy with 6% review queue producing 99.7% final accuracy isn't good enough if mental model requires 99.9% with zero review. Lost $8,400 project because couldn't align expectations with reality. THE LEARNING: Showed them the math. 94% = 940 contracts automatic, 60 to review = 6 minutes daily. Final accuracy 99.7%. "But that's still 3 errors per 1,000." "Your current manual process has 8 errors per 1,000 based on your QA logs." "That's different. We can train away human errors." Mental model: "automation = perfect" or "automation = waste." THE ALTERNATIVE: Different firm, same demo, same 94%. "Incredible. We're at 89% manually, takes 6 hours daily." "With review queue, 20 minutes daily for 99.7% final accuracy." "So 6 hours at 89% becomes 20 minutes at 99.7%?" "Correct." "When do we start?" THE DIFFERENCE: First firm compared automation to imaginary perfection. Second firm compared automation to current reality. First firm saw 6% review rate as failure. Second firm saw 94% automation rate as massive win. Same solution. Different mental models. One walks away, one pays immediately. THE REALIZATION: Accuracy expectations matter more than actual accuracy numbers. Client expecting 100% won't accept 95% even when it's better than their current 87%. Client expecting 85% will celebrate 95% as major improvement. Success isn't hitting accuracy target. Success is aligning expectations with reality before building anything. THE NEW APPROACH: Discovery includes baseline measurement first. "Show me 100 contracts processed manually." Most firms estimate 95% accuracy. Reality tests 82-91%. Suddenly 94% automated looks different. Frame against baseline, not perfection. "You're 87% accurate in 6 hours daily. We'll get you 94% accurate in 20 minutes."