"I Don’t Like This" and Other Client Squabbles
Handling complainants is difficult for anyone, no exceptions. Hearing how your work didn’t do what your client wanted isn’t easy to process.
Some of us take the defensive: “Well what I did is GREAT work, and all your objections are unfounded!” And others take the offensive: “Oh wow, yes I see how you could hate this. Let’s start from scratch.”
I think somewhere in the middle is a better option.
One of the hardest lessons I learned was through, you guessed it, the hard way. I met with a potential client who wanted her whole website updated but didn’t have much of a budget.
Instead of sticking to my pricing, I made an exception because I needed the money. I severely docked my pricing to match her budget and began working.
With all of my website content clients, I share with them what I’m doing along the way. I’m very upfront that they’ll be receiving rough drafts to determine tone and quality before I go forward.
She had agreed to this with full knowledge what she would receive FIRST was indeed a rough draft.
I was REALLY pleased with how this website content came out as it accurately reflected her brand and her business (or so I thought). Hitting the “send” button, I waited for her email.
The next morning, I woke up to an email saying “I took a look! Could we talk over just a couple tweaks I have?” I thought, YAY she loves it! Just a couple things is great.
When she called, I was in for a very upsetting phone call. For 30 minutes, she berated me on how I didn’t capture her as a person, her voice, or her brand. She went further to insult my work and called me a fraud who “doesn’t even know how to write.”
Dumbfounded, I explained how the draft I sent was the rough draft like we discussed and this was only preliminary to discuss tone, etc. All of the issues she had in this rough draft phase would be gone by the final.
Instead of hearing me, she continued to insult and talk over me and said she would not continue working with me. She wouldn’t give me a second chance as “you don’t deserve that.”
I remember hanging up the phone in shock and broke down crying. Where had I gone wrong? How could I have handled that differently?
Thankfully, I had a meeting directly after the call with one of my sweet and kind clients who reminded me all the business I had brought to her company. Sometimes the storms happen for flowers to grow.
That phone call happened over two years ago, and I still think about conflict resolution. I’ve yet to have another meeting or phone call like that one (although I know more will come), but here are some things I wish I had done differently and encourage others to do in squabbles with clients.
Listen
As human beings, we are defensive about two things: our reputation and our money. When our reputation is challenged, we fight back!
But when our money is involved, we want the most worth for our currency. Understandable!
I can hear the collective sighs, “What does this have to do with listening?”
If you are handling someone’s money in exchange for goods or services, they WANT their monies worth.
Don’t you feel the same?
So if a client doesn’t feel like you’re honoring their monetary worth, they’ll be frustrated and possibly angry. Instead of defending yourself (reputation!) listen to their concerns and hear them out.
Respecting how someone feels and their concerns is one step forward into kindness. As you listen, you’ll be able to understand their concerns and frustrations. This allows you to stifle your pride in order to walk in someone else’s shoes.
Identify
A key to good listening is to be able to repeat what your client just said. For example:
“I hear that the quality of this product isn’t satisfactory to you, is this correct?” By repeating back what they said to you, you’re able to clarify the problem.
Once you’ve clarified, identify how it affected them and how it’s stops your work from moving forward.
Identifying issues leads to understanding, empathy, and trust. Instead of fighting back, ask plenty of questions until you’re finally on the same page again.
Solve
Looking back on that tragic phone call, because it really was a horrible experience, I did do one thing right: I tried to solve the problem. Solving an issue can only happen after we listen and identify the issue.
Solving the problem can look different from person to person! Some will solve it by offering a discount, some will solve by talking through options, and others…are you ready for this?
Others will solve the problem with a difficult client by simply walking away.
The best advice I can provide as someone still learning is to listen, identify, and solve while remembering your worth. So easily, creatives and small businesses are duped into believing they can only make retribution because, “The client is ALWAYS right.”
While I still hold that to be true for the most part, sometimes the client IS wrong and it’s okay to realize that as the case. Provide great service, give them what they need, but also know when to walk away.
