Bill Gates once said “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”  It can be difficult to see the silver lining when you are in the midst of dealing with a difficult client. In our two-part series we are going to identify six common types of challenging clients and next week we will give our tips on how to deal with your less than ideal customers and learn and grow from the experience. 

Difficult client behavior can usually be categorized into some very typical categories. 

Indecisive/Committee Decision Makers

The clients cannot decide to save their lives. Every little thing takes long and intense thought and they have to run it by their team, spouse, cousin and drycleaner before coming to a decision. These clients are bottlenecks to your workflow and because they have so many people weighing in they have thousands of ideas/possibilities and they are scared they will choose the wrong one. 

Everything is on Fire/911

The 911 client thinks everything is an emergency and needs to be done yesterday. They have no respect for the fact that they are not your only client and can be pushy about getting things done immediately. There is no distinction for these clients between an actual emergency and typical workflow items. 

Know it All

The know it all knows everything about everything. They question and second guess everything you do and assume they know about your job as much as you do. They make you question why they have even hired you in the first place. 

Bargain Shoppers

Bargain shoppers are those who want you to discount your prices. Before they hire you they are asking for a discount, extra free work, etc. If you manage to get them into a contract without giving discounts beware, they will continue to look for freebies and discounts. 

No Boundaries

The client without boundaries calls you on a Saturday and expects that you can drop everything to work on their projects. They disregard your preferred communication channels and ignore your policies. They treat you more like an employee than a business owner who they are working with. 

Bully

The bully can be a combination of any of the above-mentioned clients, the difference is that they are aggressive and put pressure on you to bend to their way of thinking. They can make you feel pressured to do what they want or else.

Next week we will go over strategies and tactics to deal with these difficult  clients and create working relationships that benefit you and your business. 

about

Danielle LaFleur

Danielle has over 27+ years in Marketing, IT, and Network design, development, and workforce leadership training. She is the owner of Gray Lux, Inc. She understands the real needs every small businesses has in creating value online and in-person with their clients.

She is dedicated to creating successes for her team and her clients.

Danielle has helped hundreds of small businesses maximize extra revenue streams, and has created a process for extracting an ROI from an ROE in training and development which is currently being used in over 100+ corporations.

As your business grows and your client roster increases you can guarantee that you will start running into issues with your clients. It is likely that the issues could be fixed with a few key policies and boundaries. So, how do you set new boundaries with current clients? It can feel awkward, but you can do it in a way that feels natural and professional. 

Figure out What Boundaries are Needed

Before you start announcing new policies get a clear picture of what issues need to be addressed. Are you getting phone calls late at night, are deadlines being missed? Figure out all the places that you have frustration with your clients and write it all out. Once you have a comprehensive list creating wording around these issues addressing what your policy is and what the consequence of breaking the policy is for the client. 

Put Them In Print

Once you have your boundaries written output them in print everywhere that makes sense. They should be stated clearly in your contract, in your welcome letter and if you provide any onboarding information make sure it is stated clearly there. For clients, you are already working with sending them the new policies with the offer to chat about the changes and what that means doe their contract. 

Enforce, Enforce, Enforce

 Finally, and probably the hardest part; enforce your new boundaries. Make no exceptions. If you start excusing behavior it is a slippery slope until you are right back into your frustration point. Even if you get some pushback initially, clients will treat you in the way you teach them too. So, stick to your new policies and clients will respect you. If they do not abide by your new policies then you really need to think if you want to continue to work with them in the future. 

Setting boundaries and creating policies can feel really uncomfortable at first, but in the long run, it will allow you to enjoy your work. When you are constantly aggravated by clients you become resentful of them and their projects, so think of your new protocols as a way to give better service to those who hire you. 

about

Danielle LaFleur

Danielle has over 27+ years in Marketing, IT, and Network design, development, and workforce leadership training. She is the owner of Gray Lux, Inc. She understands the real needs every small businesses has in creating value online and in-person with their clients.

She is dedicated to creating successes for her team and her clients.

Danielle has helped hundreds of small businesses maximize extra revenue streams, and has created a process for extracting an ROI from an ROE in training and development which is currently being used in over 100+ corporations.