How to Handle Unhappy Clients

It happens to the best of us but there are proven ways to deal with unhappy clients and win them over. 😡➡️😁 1️⃣ The most important part in dealing with unhappy clients is making sure that they don’t get unhappy in the first place. Most of this has to do with correctly setting expectations, and then fulfilling them and over-delivering on your promises. Throughout your entire relationship with the client, make sure you continually set expectations for the experience that they’re going to have and the products and services that they’re going to receive, along with when they will receive them. Leave yourself a little buffer room in case you get behind, but always over deliver (ie deliver early) on your delivery dates. 2️⃣ Separate yourself from the problem. As creatives we tend to take everything personally and that can lead to emotional, and often irrational, responses. Take a second and process the problem and brainstorm ways to solve the problem versus getting upset and reacting to the problem. 3️⃣ next up is listening and reflecting. Do you want to make sure you clearly understand what the client is unhappy about so read and reread the problem and then respond by repeating the problem back to them in different words to make sure that you understand exactly what they are upset about. Be empathetic, be sympathetic. Truly decide in your head and heart to CARE about what they’re upset about. 4️⃣ come up with multiple ways to make up for the problem and then let your client decide what they want. This part is two-fold because it first sets the bar for the type of compensation that is appropriate versus something over the top, and also reassures them that you want to make them happy and will make up for it. ALSO, be ok with OVER compensating, even if it’s not your fault. CARE ENOUGH about your client (and your business reputation) to take a loss to resolve it. —— I believe that how companies deal with problems determines if they’re a great company to work with or not. There will NEVER be a company that doesn’t have issues, but there CAN be one that deals with them right. TELL ME about some of your worst client complaints and how you dealt with them!