Working with difficult clients

When we offer some kind of service to people (as many of us do), you will realize that some of your precious customers tend to be less difficult to do business with than others. Most are wonderful, some forgettable, and some you declare as completely impossible. Although your perspective of your client is determined by many factors (including your relative levels of expertise, your specialties, along with the nature of the project), I'm going to go out on a limb to say there in fact is such a thing as an “impossible” customer — an individual who displays a number of “bad behaviors" which make the relationship more complicated than it needs to be and frustrates your ability to carry out the project you've been hired to produce. There are times, whenever customers behave in such a manner, our primal impulses kick in and we're inclined to react with even worse behaviors of our own.

However, there's a better way. Difficult clientele can be controlled; but provided that you resist the desire to fight fire with fire. Rather, deliver the results, and allow your expertise represent itself. When you satisfy your end of the deal, it is far easier to get favorable feedback whenever clients behave negatively.

This video is a great example of a recent meeting I had with some SMEs (Subject Matter Experts)  about an upcoming project. It is hilarious, but a true representation of our meeting.  You just have to remember to stay calm and remind yourself that you are the expert, and in the end they will indeed love you.