Difficult clients can have a big impact on your company, putting a strain on valuable resources and even impacting its profitability. However, they also can drive you to do your best. They may force you to reconsider your processes, products and services to ensure you’re acting positively. Understanding how to manage difficult clients can help you do so more effectively. In this article, we discuss why dealing with difficult clients is important, list the most common types and offer steps to manage them.
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Why is dealing with a difficult client important?
Dealing with difficult clients is important since they can directly impact your company, employees and resources. By dealing with them, you can minimize the impact they have on your business and reduce the amount of stress they cause for you and your team.
Identifying difficult clients
There are many types of behaviors that might characterize a client as difficult. However, they all share one common tendency—they negatively impact your business. Difficult clients can be emotionally draining for your team members, cost you resources or slow down your productivity. They can increase employee turnover, impact your mental and physical health and affect you and/or your company’s reputation.
Some of the most common types of difficult clients you might encounter include those who:
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Treat you or staff members poorly, particularly over minor problems
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Closely analyze invoices and look for ways to get free work
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Must consult with others before making decisions, even simple ones
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Assure you that a project is simple while requesting complex systems or customized details
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Demand tight deadlines and expects you to meet them although you have other responsibilities and clients
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Act as if they know your business better than you and tell you everything you’re doing wrong
How to deal with a difficult client
Here are the steps you can take to deal with difficult clients:
1. Remain calm
Regardless of how your difficult clients behave, it’s important to remain calm at all times. Your ability to remain calm will be a positive example to others and strengthen your own reputation. You’ll also find that you can express yourself more clearly when you do so with a calm, yet stern demeanor.
2. Listen closely to clients
Sometimes, simply acknowledging that you’re listening to your client’s concerns is enough to diffuse an escalated situation. Listen to each concern or complaint without becoming defensive. Make sure they understand that you share their concerns and want to find a solution. Most people want to feel listened to and understood. Provide that opportunity by allowing your client to vent without interruption. One way you can show them that you’re listening is to repeat statements back to ensure you understand what they’re saying, ask follow-up questions and acknowledge that you hear and understand them.
3. Reply promptly
When a client expresses that they have an issue, try to make finding a solution a high priority. Giving the client a prompt response validates them and establishes a clear line of communication from the beginning. At this stage, you don’t need to accept responsibility for the problem but you should tell them you will look into the matter immediately. You may suggest a time to speak with them to discuss the situation further.
4. Document the situation
Having a written contract at the start of the project may help avoid later misunderstandings. However, they may still occur which is why it’s important to document all interactions with a difficult client. Keep a record of all client communication by writing down the time, date and what was discussed for future reference.
5. Identify the problem
The next step is to take a close look at the problem. For example, sometimes a problem can be the result of miscommunication or expectations that align with what your business offers. Speak to account managers and review invoices and all communication records to identify what may have caused the problem.
6. Suggest a solution
If, when looking into the matter, you discover that you or your team were in the wrong, take responsibility for the problem and offer a solution to correct the problem. Conversely, if the client misinterpreted or miscommunicated expectations, show them relevant information such as clauses in their contract. Be careful to avoid blaming them and instead suggest that the problem stemmed from miscommunication. Explain what they can expect from your service moving forward and that you’re open to starting again.
7. Consider terminating the client
Depending on the situation and frequency of problems, you may consider terminating your relationship with a difficult client as more time and resources spent satisfying their demands can impact your own profitability.
While you should always try to resolve a client problem to protect your own reputation and potentially earn that client’s long-term loyalty, you also need to recognize that if you can’t resolve it, terminating them may be the best solution. Regardless of whether you decide to maintain the client relationship or part ways, keeping your behavior professional at all times can maintain or even strengthen your own reputation.
8. Review the situation
After the situation is resolved, take time to review why the problem occurred in the first place. Consider if any steps could have been taken to prevent it or what you could do with other clients to avoid similar problems in the future. For example, you may want to change your workflow processes, improve your communication process or reword client contracts.
I hope you find this article helpful.
