How To Resolve An Issue With A Client
How to Resolve a Conflict With a Client
Welcome to business tips with Michael Tobian. Today’s discussion is “how to resolve a conflict with a client”
No matter how good your company is, at some point, you are going to have to deal with conflict resolution with a client or customer. It might be because your client is unreasonable or having a bad day and they take it out on you. It could be that the reason they are upset is not your fault whatsoever and you are being blamed... OR it could be that you or someone on your team screwed up or are not providing an adequate service or product. In any case, it’s important to resolve the issue and it’s not always easy to do, so I hope I can give some good advice from my experience. I’ll be covering the following questions today:
Humbly determine your objective
Prepare
Make them feel heard and express sympathy
Respectfully Lay our your perspective
Resolve the issue
To apologize or not to apologize?
Humbly determine your objective:
This is the step that will most likely predict your outcome. If your want the outcome to be in the best interest of your company long term, it might take a little humility. Early in my career I would approach these situations in a way that was extremely ineffective. My objective was to not look foolish and to make sure the client knew I was right. What a terrible objective. I would let my pride get in the way of a results oriented resolution. Now days, if I find myself in one of these situations, my focus tends to be centered around coming up with a positive resolution where my client feels that they were treated fairly. If I’m dealing with a particularly difficult client, this can be an ambitious goal but I usually end up with a solution that is fair to both parties. Sometimes the client’s attitude completely turns around and expresses appreciation. Without a results oriented objective, this would be a difficult outcome
Prepare:
If you have an unhappy customer, you are likely going to hear about it in an email or a review or some form of text first. Avoid the natural inclination to contact them immediately. With text, there is no pressure to respond immediately. Most complaints reference a past conversation or an incident that occurred. Learn everything you can about the conflict, so you can speak intelligently about it. If you attempt to engage with your client and don’t have all the facts, it’s going to make the situation worse. If your client is clearly in the wrong, lay out a very logical and bullet proof argument as to why. Hopefully you won’t even have to use the argument but you should know and understand your perspective before going into the discussion
Make them feel heard and express sympathy:
Many conflicts aren’t actually about money or your services, rather about the way someone was made to feel. I remember an instance where I had to deal with a customer’s concern about a financial matter. This client had more money than he knew what to do with. He didn’t care about the money, nor would he probably have even noticed it gone in his bank account, but, he felt that he wasn’t being treated fairly and everyone will have a problem with that, regardless of their financial situation. When they are expressing their concerns, listen to the entire thing. Avoid the urge to interrupt. I try not to even interject until they have expressed everything possible. When people feel that they are heard and understood, they are much more willing to then listen to another perspective, especially if they feel sincere sympathy. Plus, if you listen to their argument, you will fully understand it. You response won’t be a straw man argument and your conversation will be more productive. This part of the process is not about you, it’s about them.
Respectfully Lay out Your Perspective:
If you or your company are in the wrong, skip this step, but if they are missing information or some explanation is needed, do it in a way that is respectful and VERY logical. Often times after I listen and sympathize and then lay out a very logical viewpoint, the entire conflict is over right there. The customer often confides that they were in the wrong, or that they misunderstood, etc. If there is still a disagreement, then at least there will be a mutual understanding of each other’s positions and the resolution should be smooth sailing
Resolution:
If you do a good enough job with the above steps, the client is likely to appreciate and agree to any reasonable resolution you propose. If not, I’d suggest laying out what limitations each side has in the resolution and asking the client how they might propose solving the problem in a way that is fair. If they are so unreasonable that this is impossible, you will have to determine what the next steps are. If some kind of litigation or other measures are inevitable, you will need to decide whether or not that is worth your time and energy. While deciding whether or not you should pursue the resolution through other means, try to remove emotions and pride from the equation and make a logical decision that is best for you, your business and maybe even your customer. I rarely get to this point. Keeping good customer relationships is of utmost importance to my businesses, so we go out of our way to provide an excellent customer experience and resolve any issues immediately.
To apologize or not to apologize:
That is indeed the question. If I or my company did absolutely nothing wrong, I’m unlikely to apologize for the alleged offense; however, in most cases of conflict, something was not handled respectfully or with care, so I may find myself apologizing for the way something was handled. If we did do something wrong, I always apologize and make it right. If it is a very serious matter with big consequences, you may want to talk to an attorney before even engaging further with your client. Your attorney may have advice for you in this regard.
Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoyed this discussion. I have plenty more tips for running a business, so please subscribe and follow if you would like more of it.