Got a Difficult Client?

Of all the difficulties professionals face in their day-to-day practice, few can top the challenge of dealing with a difficult client - a fact of life for professionals who make their living guiding people through some of life’s most trying and anxiety-provoking experiences. Think root canal, divorce, home renovation or managing your money.

Opportunities for misunderstandings and disagreements abound, because the rendering of a professional service is often a long-winded and complex process with many twists requiring difficult decisions at every turn.

Not surprising then, that this is a topic we are being asked to provide guidance on, so we are proud to announce the debut of ‘Dealing with Difficult Clients’ an interactive workshop chock-full of coping strategies and tips. Program details are available here, but in the meantime, here’s a taste of what you’ll learn and tips from some of the best pros in the business.

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Some clients are difficult no matter what but others become troublesome because of project glitches and mistakes. Obviously it’s better to prevent than to cure, so the first step is to make sure your client and project management procedures are top notch. However, if in spite of your best efforts you end up saddled with a real fusspot, here are some helpful tips. We can’t guarantee they’ll always work, but they’ll certainly improve the odds you don't end up with these two choices: grin and bear it or fire the client.

Dealing with the Perfectionist and the Opportunist

Their motives may differ but the result is the same: one wants top quality for nothing and the other always needs to get a good deal or better yet, a freebie.

• Manage expectations. Take time at the beginning to clearly explain the scope of work, what the client will get, the process, procedures, number of revisions, pricing protocols, timelines, and all other project details using everyday language without jargon or industry lingo. Even if your client seems to have done a lot of research before hiring you, don’t assume they know what’s going to happen. The onus is on you to make sure your client understands and agrees with everything. Going forward you can bank on this - everything can be referenced back to this agreement.

• Consider engaging the client in a discussion so you are sure they are actually hearing and thinking about what you are saying. It’s also a great way to gauge their understanding and expectations.

• Provide clients with general information sheets like Project Steps, Backgrounders, FAQs, Vocabulary/Common Terms and other explanatory materials.

• Manage change: Whenever an idea, situation or product that is different to what was agreed-upon comes up or becomes feasible, provide the client with a range of choices: go with the new option and renegotiate the terms of the contract; tweak or modify the original idea, or proceed exactly as agreed upon. Be sure to outline the cost and timing implications of each option and have the client sign a new contract or a change order before proceeding.

• Be empathetic: You must always act in such a way that the client feels that their demands are being taken seriously and that you are willing and able to compromise and meet them half-way otherwise they’ll dig in their heels and there’ll be no moving forward. Once you’ve done this and they know you are receptive, explain the cost and implications for you in a way that appeals to their reasonableness. At a certain point however, you need to be clear on the cost of the request and gently but firmly show there are limits.

Managing the VIP who refuses to deal with your staff

Some clients have big egos and others just want to make sure they’re getting the best advice. Both want to work with you and no one else. Changing the workflow in your office and being at their beck and call are not an option, so here’s what to do:

• Assign a project manager, project designer, paralegal, etc. to each prospective account and have the person participate in all client meetings right from the start so the client understands they are dealing with a team and they have an opportunity to develop a relationship with the person who’ll be their day-to-day contact.

• Explain the benefits and superior service the client will receive by working with a team instead of just you. This way, if you’re in court or on a site meeting, there’s always someone available to talk with or to answer a question.

• Make sure that anyone that you assign to a file or a project as the main client contact or manager is properly trained and is a mature person with good common sense.

• Establish communication protocols so the client knows that you are involved and aware of all facts and developments to prevent them from feeling they’ve been left at the mercy of a junior and you have no clue as to what is going on. Establish points of contact to reassure the client: attend important project meetings, call the client after a specific or important call to communicate that you’ve been briefed and what steps are being taken, or simply call from time to time to touch base.

Dealing with the pussyfooter who can’t make a decision

For some people choosing what to have for lunch is torture – never mind deciding on a strategy, layout, or course of action. Moving them along is challenging and time-consuming. Here are some tips:

• Try to understand the reasons why someone isn’t good at making decisions: is it because they are fearful and need reassuring? Maybe there are a lot of people involved in the process. Or, the person has no authority and is embarrassed to tell you. Once you know what the reason is you can take steps to move the process along.

• If your client works in a company find out where they sit in the hierarchy, what their decision-making ability is and if there’s a specific process they need to follow to arrive at a decision. Ask questions like: what information do you need to make a good decision? How much time would you like given your busy schedule? Can I call you in a few days to see how it’s going? Offer to provide information materials or to conduct briefing sessions.

• Establish a critical path and make sure you keep the client informed of where you're at on an ongoing basis. Alert the client several days [weeks] in advance of critical deadlines and make sure they understand the cost and implications of a missed deadline.

• Learn to edit choices and options before you present them – unlimited choice is bewildering

• Some people don’t realize how wishy-washy they really are. Meeting notes or minutes can help them see how much they change their mind.

Dealing with the slow payer who always loses your invoices

Getting paid on a timely basis is critical and you need to take steps to ensure you collect your hard-earned money. Here’s how:

• Recognize you have the right to collect money owed to you. Sounds crazy, but many professionals are very uncomfortable talking about money and feel it is undignified to call and ‘beg’ for outstanding funds. What they fail to recognize is that collecting money is a normal part of business and that not collecting money, or collecting late, projects an image of a practice that is amateurish or badly managed and can make clients wonder what other aspects of your practice aren’t up to snuff.

• Obviously the work has to be done properly, so you need to have a process in place whereby you confirm that the client is satisfied with the result, that there aren’t any issues left hanging or any type of dissatisfaction with the service. This will prevent surprise ‘mistakes’ and ‘issues’ from popping up when you call to collect.

• If they don't 'understand' the charges or they 'lose' your invoices, book a monthly meeting to review the invoice together, answer questions and collect your money. Be prompt and proactive in dealing with the situation - do not allow the client to string you along inventing excuses.

• Be prompt with collection calls - right from the beginning. Don't set a precedent by letting invoices slide or by waiting 2 or 3 months to collect. The minute clients see you're undisciplined or that they can get away with a couple of months free financing it'll become much harder to collect. Also, the longer you wait to collect, the bigger the chance you won't be paid.

• Be persistent - don’t make one or two calls and give up.

• If all this fails, you may have to halt all work on the project. Don’t be fooled into thinking that if you don’t finish you have no hope of collecting. If it’s come to this you probably won’t collect no matter what. Cut your losses and explore your legal and collection options.

Two Professionals Tell Us How

People are funny when it comes to money and they can be downright irrational when getting divorced. It takes a special person to guide people when making life-altering decisions that are driven by raw emotion. We spoke with Anita Kain, Principal of Kain & Ball, a legal practice focused on family law and with Michael Korman, a wealth manager and member of the Platinum Advisor Group at Raymond James Ltd.

Oomph: How do you guide clients who are going through something as stressful as a divorce?
Anita Kain: It’s a real process and it doesn’t happen spontaneously - it takes lots of on-the-job training and experience. The first step is to learn that you are seeing people at their worst and to approach them and the situation with a great deal of understanding. The next step is to provide lots of information on the applicable law and on what their options are. Explaining the law helps us to show why the things clients have seen on TV aren’t feasible... We have literature, information sheets, FAQs and a special section on our website explaining the process in detail.

Oomph: How do you deal with the real ugly or extreme cases where clients have become irrational?
Anita: If a client is making what I believe is a very questionable decision, I’ll ask them to write it down and give me the written instructions. Putting words to paper forces people to slow down and organize their thinking; it makes people see things more clearly, carefully and in a more comprehensive manner and often makes them reconsider the decision they were making. If they’ve written it all down and they still want to proceed in the same way, then I know they’re really serious. Another tactic is to build time into the process so there’s an opportunity to cool off.

Oomph: Trusting someone with your money is not an easy thing to do. How do get your clients to trust you implicitly?
Michael Korman: I use moral suasion instead of coming across like I’m pitching a product. I advice and persuade in such a way that I lead my clients to a logical conclusion in their own mind. They need to think that they thought of something on their own instead of being led or pushed into a certain situation. Open ended questions and third-party stories help clients to arrive at an understanding of the situation.

Oomph: OK, so there’s a major disaster, attack or economic shock and the stock markets take a dive. How do you deal with clients who call in a panic?
Michael: I start long before the occurrence by getting to know my clients really well so that I understand their psychological temperament and how they think. I do this by asking a lot of open ended and probing questions such as “how do you feel about ups and downs in your capital?” and so on. It takes a while until you get to know a client really well so I’m always asking questions.

If I have done a good job of assessing their emotions on a continuous basis and I understand them, then I know how they will react when there’s a crisis and it’s a simple process: some are intuitively able to understand what’s going on, others need help. I contact them and start communicating right away by painting a macro picture so they understand what’s going on. I ‘manage’ that view by relating it to them so as to manage their expectations. All the while I probe, but I also stay quiet and listen. The process doesn’t change, just the way you communicate it. It takes awhile to master and it’s an art, not a science – the art of interpersonal communication.

Anita Kain - Kain & Ball

Michael Korman - Raymond James Ltd

What's New @ Oomph

New Fall Program Schedule

We've got a full schedule of workshops and seminars for September, October, November and December! Detailed program schedule here.

New Programs

Oomph launched in October 2006 with a line-up of core programs that addressed fundamental practice issues professionals face when managing employees and their marketing activities. Not long after launching, we began receiving suggestions for new programs and in January we received our first official commission: 'Getting Top Performance from Your Staff', created at the request of the OAA for their 2007 AGM in May.

For Fall 2007, we are introducing three new programs in response to popular demand: Dealing with Difficult  Clients, [at the request of ARIDO], Winning Strategies for Dealers in the 21st. Century [commissioned by IIDEX/Neocon 2007] and Succession Planning, a topic that seems to be on everybody's mind now that the mass of baby boomers is turning 50...

• Dealing with Difficult Clients: This workshop provides attendees with strategies to create enduring relationships that help expand existing business activity and generate referrals from satisfied clients. Topics covered include: Setting service boundaries and managing expectations;
  Establishing clear communication with clients to avoid misunderstandings; Encouraging clients to work with your staff, not just you; Slow or non-payers: how to spot them in advance and turn the tide to better cash flow; and many more. Details here.

• Planning for Succession: In the next 5 years 40% of Canadian entrepreneurs will retire. One third of those retiring expect retirement income from the sale of their business, yet 60% of owners aged 55 to 64 have no exit plan. In this dynamic three-hour workshop, participants will learn about the various factors used to assess the value of their practice, review available choices for succession planning, and study strategies for building value into their professional services firm. Topics include: What will the market look like when you retire?; Assessing the value of your practice: assets and goodwill; Creating new value by expansion and/or diversification; What's involved in selling a practice; Selling to a partner or an associate. Details here.

• Winning Business Strategies for Dealers in the 21st. Century: Designed for furniture dealers, this dynamic two-hour seminar discusses major industry trends and provides strategies and tips for improving market positioning, capitalizing on strengths and devising creative solutions for improving client service and communications. The seminar will be presented on Thursday, September 27 from 8:30 am to 10:30 am at the Direct Energy Centre. Participants will receive 2 CEU credits.

Other News

Oomph has been named a Distinguished Speaker for the American Society of Interior Designers' 2008 lecture program. We look forward to presenting The Sole Practitioner as a Thriving Enterprise to ASID chapters across the US next year!

We've Joined the Blogosphere!

That's right, now there's an Oomph blog which we hope will become a regular must-visit for professionals and the beginning of the on-line community we hope to create.

The blog will contain tidbits about life @ Oomph - how we work, the issues we encounter in managing and growing our business and other information which we hope will provide inspiration to practice owners. As well, as an avid web surfer, I often find articles and other information that is pertinent or interesting and that I'd like to share. Reports on trends and resources will also appear, so check back often.

We are always looking for program and newsletter content suggestions and the blog will offer the opportunuty for you to let us know what you'd like to see, so please sign up or e-mail us your suggestions! You can access the blog by clicking on the upper right of the menu.

Oomph @ at an Event Near You

Oomph @ IIDEX/Neocon 2007

• We have a booth at IIDEX/Neocon 2007 and we're presenting two seminars:
  • Our booth number is 1441-18. Come by and visit. We'd love to meet you!
  • 'How to Get Top Performance from Your Staff on Friday, September 28 from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the Direct Energy Centre. Participants will receive 0.2 CEU credits. Program details. To register click here.
  • Winning Business Strategies for Dealers in the 21st. Century' will examine the working relationship between interior designers and furniture dealers and provide a forum for discussion and to spur the development of improved methods of collaboration and work processes. The seminar will be presented on Thursday, September 27 from 8:30 am to 10:30 am. Participants will receive 0.2 CEU credits. Program details. To register click here.

Oomph @ the Society for Design Administration

• Keeping Valuable Employees: Retain & Maintain. September 26, 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Arts & Letters Club of Toronto. Click here to register.

Oomph @ ARIDO - Grand Valley Chapter

• We've been invited to present The Sole Practitioner as a Thriving Enterprise - Collaborative Strategies in Cambridget on Saturday, October 20.  Time & location here. Program details.

We're going on tour with Mumby Insurance Brokers!

• Just in time for this year's CEU deadine, Mumby Insurance Brokers will sponsor an Oomph tour of Southern Ontario. Thanks to Mumby, a trusted insurance provider since 1975, architects & interior designers in selected Ontario chapters will be able to enrol at a special discounted rate in 'The Sole Practitioner as a Thriving Enterprise' and 'What If?' a risk management workshop. Venue and date details coming soon, so check back in the next couple of weeks.