project-management-how-to-handle-difficult-client

One thing I have come to realize as a project manager is that to succeed in this field, you must have good interpersonal skill as well as be patient with people. I have had to work with easy and not easy clients but in this post we will be focusing on working with not easy clients. For me I can categorize them in various ways

1. The ones who do not know what they want but never approves of what you do
2. The ones who claim they can do what they have asked you to do but just do not have time and often would want to direct you
3. The ones who never get satisfied with whatever output you produce
4. The rude ones
5. The one who doubts your ability and would prefer to speak with your boss
6. The ones that lie and put all blame on you when issues come up
The list can go on and on. The reason I mentioned up here that you must have patient if you must excel in this field. Even when your clients are annoying, you still have to put up your 100% professionalism and try as much as possible to each common ground except where it is absolutely not possible, meaning the person chop winch..LOL

Here are few practical examples of how you can handle difficult clients
1. Be professional: Often times, you may be tempted to respond with emotions stired by what the client is saying. Do not fall into this trap. Keep calm and respond as professionally as possible. This will go a long way in reducing excalations and customer dissatisfaction.

2. Use clear and unambiguous words when communicating with them
3. Listen attentively and document all discussions for reference purposes, you never can tell when you will need it
4. Do not take insulting words to heart, if possible pretend you did not hear them and stay positive while responding
5. Be solution-oriented, always seek ways to move forward rather than dwell on the current situation and frustrations
6. Itemize all issues/grievances and ensure to state action point to resolve each issue
7. Also assure them when those issues will be resolved and ensure to keep to your words
8. Always use the phrase “what do you want?” This helps to calm them down and also make them feel they are being heard
9. In situations where there expectation is out of scope, politely point them to the scope document and make them understand it is out of scope and if the client’s request must be done, it should go through the defined change process.

10. If all of the above still did not resolve the situation, consider recommending him to work with another colleague or better still end the contract and move on to the next client. This is always a very difficult decision to make but sometimes it is so needed for business cintinuity. We had had to fire a client once, initially I did not like the idea but when after months we are still at the design phase and the client would not approve any UI we come up with, yet not ready to share what she wants. The UI designers were fed up and so is other members of the team. My boss at that time had to end the contract and refunded her money as contained in the contractual document.

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