I'm tired of the fault game. I am guilty of playing this and certainly see it all the time in the world of client | manager relationships. As MMs, we've got to put a stop to it.The bottom line is this, if someone is paying you to do a service and you are within the terms of your contracted agreement, the details of delays, mis-information, etc don't really matter. If your customer is upset, and feels the job hasn't been done right, well, on time, etc - then they are right. Even if you can prove you have fulfilled your duties, if they are not satisfied, we've failed to meet obligation #1 - meet their needs.
I know, I know, some people are impossible. But guess what - that doesn't excuse this obligation. It just means we've got our work cut out for us that much more.
Accept the fact that you will fail with some people, but consider it a failure, and not the client's fault. The minute we start assigning fault to our clients, is the minute we start making them out to be the bad guy. And they are not the bad guy - they are the ones paying our salaries. I can tell you from experience, even the most difficult of clients knows somewhere inside that they are difficult. And when you stay the course and don't let them get the best of your patience, they will notice. Think about it - if they are truly that difficult, then they are probably that difficult with everyone they work with and are no doubt used to a certain type of response. By bucking the status quo, you might just be the one person that stands ahead of the rest.
Know in advance that you'll probably never hear a so-called "difficult client" directly acknowledge that you've done a good job, but I bet you'll hear it via Word of Mouth. It happens all the time.
Resist: Don't let your frustrations get the best of you.
3 comments:
Dustin: I couldn't agree more. Whenever I hear someone talk about a difficult client, I view it as more a statement about the consultant or manager than about the client. Sure. Learning how to manage and collaborate with clients can be difficult, but if we're intending to work with clients, we need to gain that competency. Over the years I've found very, very few bad-clients. I take it as a challenge to develop a so-called bad-client into a real good-client. It becomes a test of my own expertise.
Great advice. I'm often guilty of this because I have a strong view of fairness/justice, but at the end of the day a job is a job, and your job is to make sure you fulfill your customers' and boss' needs.
Thanks for this. I am often struggling with the who is in right and wrong. I work in an environment where the customer is internal. May times I feel like they should know better and should be more informed consumers. The selflessness that comes with what you are saying is sometimes hard to swallow.
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