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Dealing with Confrontation
4:33 with Paul BoagArguments or disagreements are bound to happen between you and your clients. First, it is important to keep calm, and Paul offers a number of additional steps that can help alleviate conflict.
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So I'd like to tell you that if you've follow all of my guidance
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about client services every client project will be wonderful
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or we'll all live in this happy Utopian world and everything will be great.
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Unfortunately, I can't tell you that. It'll be a nightmare.
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There will be times when things go wrong.
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There will be times when you have problems,
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you fall out with the client, and aaah!
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What do you do?
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Dealing with confrontation is unfortunately
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an important skill that you will need sooner or later.
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I'm sorry about that but that's just the way things are.
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My first piece of advice for this is keep calm.
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Just because the client is angry,
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don't allow yourself to go down that route as well.
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Just because they raise their voice, doesn't mean you should.
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It's much better to keep calm that it is to get angry.
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Acknowledge if you've done something wrong
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but also acknowledge that the situation
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has reached this point and apologize for that.
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Whether or not, you've messed up
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or whether the client has been unreasonable,
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it's still your responsibility to stop these kinds of problems
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and you should apologize if things have gotten this far.
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And, don't do that nonapology thing.
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I'm sorry that you feel like that. That's not an apology.
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That's just a platitude.
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But you're sincere in your apologies.
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It does make huge difference
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and admitting your mistakes will take a lot of the wind out of theirselves.
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It's really important to identify the underlying problem here.
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Often what a client gets angry about isn't actually the root of the problem.
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They might be annoyed because the design is not what they wanted
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or that you've misunderstood their brief or whatever else
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but actually the underlying problem might be--
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"I don't feel you've listened to me."
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So you need to work in identifying what that underlying problem is.
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Be sure that you get to the root of the problem before going any further.
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Also, another thing is like a dumb thing but ask the client what they want.
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If they're unhappy, you often get into this argument about
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what it is that they are unhappy about
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and you focus on the problem and not the solution.
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Instead of focusing on what's gone wrong,
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say to the client, "Okay, what can I do to fix this?
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What can I do make you happy?" and then do it.
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Fix the problem.
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Whatever it takes you got to go for it, you got to fix the problem.
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And then, because you've asked the client what they want you to do
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and then you've done it, then you can say, "Are you happy now?"
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and of course they have to be happy
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because you've done exactly what they've asked.
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It's not always possible but it's a general rule of fun but it's not bad.
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Once you've fixed the problem, get feedback on them.
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Get them sit down and say, "Are you happy now?
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Is there anything else I can do?"
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Take stock as well.
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With the client, sit down with them and say, "Okay. Where are we at?
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Do we feel that things have been resolved properly?"
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and then demonstrate to the client
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that you're going to avoid a repetition of this situation.
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Learn from what's happened and correct the problems
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so that it's not going to happen again.
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Now, most of the time this will sort things.
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Just occasionally, it doesn't.
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There are really things have gotten very badly wrong.
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Now, there are lots of options available to you here
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but the one that I tend to prefer and I tend to use
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is I essentially reboot the project.
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I will say to the client, "Okay. Look.
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This we've just gotten off the rails really badly here.
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Let's go back to basics. Let's start again and begin the project again."
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And often, although that screws your profit margins,
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it will fix the project.
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And, sometimes it's better to go back to the very beginning
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than it is to put plasters on the problems to try and cover up the issue.
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Starting afresh is often the best way to go.
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Failing all of that, walk away. Know when to walk away.
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The point comes with some clients where you just have to go--
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"Look, we're not the right fit for one another.
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It's not happening for whatever reason
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and it's time to go our separate ways."
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I think that should be a last resort but is there for you.
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Don't rush in to that option
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but know when to do it when it comes to it.
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