Dealing With Difficult Clients
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
Many clients are a dream to deal with, but occasionally you might get someone who drives you up the wall.
The client who tells you that a complex project is simple and easy, whilst having no real knowledge of your sector, or the work involved. This person yells at your staff members, gives unrealistic last-minute deadlines, and calls you in the evenings and weekends to tell you nothing in particular.
Having a difficult client can place a great deal of strain on your business, cause you to lose valuable staff members as well as margin while you work overtime to meet their unrealistic expectations. We are led to believe that the customer is always right, but are there times when the customer is just plain wrong?
And if that’s the case, what can you do about it?
Listen to their concerns
First off, you need to establish what the problem is. Listen carefully to your client’s concerns and encourage them to be specific. “I don’t like it” or “It isn’t what I expected,” isn’t going to help you to solve this issue, so ask them to be as specific as possible so that you fully understand what they are unhappy about.
Be calm and rational
Even if you are dealing with someone who makes you want to tear your hair out and jump out of the nearest window screaming, it’s important to retain professionalism. Losing your temper is only going to exacerbate the situation. Slow down your speech and speak calmly. Try using these tactics from the FBI’s hostage negotiation unit. If it works on a weapon-wielding maniac, then it might just work on your difficult client.
The FBI’s Behavioral Change Stairway Model:
Step 1: Active Listening
Listen to their point of view and make it clear to them that you’re listening.
Step 2: Empathy
Try to understand their perspective and let them know that you have empathy for how they feel.
Step 3: Rapport
When you feel empathy and they feel it too, you start to have a rapport. They trust you.
Step 4: Influence
Only now have you earned the right to recommend a course of action to solve the problem.
Step 5: Behavioral Change
They take action. (Perhaps by coming out of the building with their hands up.)
Offer a solution
Once you have established what exactly the problem is, it’s time to offer a solution.
If you are at fault, offer to remedy it as quickly as possible. At the end of the day, your reputation is more valuable than your bottom line, so if it costs you money to repair a mistake made on your watch, it is important to do so.
If you are not at fault, courteously refer the client back to your original agreement. Try to find a solution to the client’s problem that works for both of you, whilst setting clear parameters for the client’s expectations.
Reflect and Learn
Use this as an opportunity to reflect on what went wrong and what you can do to avoid this happening again in the future. Was everything clearly outlined at the beginning of the project? If there were miscommunications, what can do to improve communication with your clients going forwards?
As a business, you want to be constantly evolving, so use this incident as a tool to examine your process and see if there are ways that could benefit from improvement.
This is also an opportunity to reflect on working with this particular client. If this person is continually causing you problems, upsetting your staff, or using abusive language or behavior, it’s important to assert firmly and calmly what behavior will and won’t be tolerated towards your staff.
If the client doesn’t adjust their behavior accordingly, then it might be time to cut the cord. Some people aren’t worth the headache and it gives you more time and space to focus instead on your more productive clients.
Don’t miss an update! Have every Vistasuite blog post delivered directly to your inbox.
Vistasuite puts real-time visual communication in your pocket. It's a single hub where internal and external photo sharing joins forces and project management lives in one place, so you can finally collaborate with the right people, at the right time. Learn more.