What To Do With Demanding Clients?

• Author: Gil Keough
• Posted: August 17, 2007
• Category: Business Matters
• Tags: Management
• Comments:

Or - Whatever happened to customer service?
 
The question of what to do with a demanding client implies that there are clients who are not demanding. All clients are demanding. It is merely the extent of their demands that varies from person to person. All clients are looking for the best price. How do we know? Because we are clients too. And don’t we demand the best service while looking for the best price? Of course we do! It is always interesting to hear a colleague ask this kind of question without considering that the answer lies with the very person asking it.
 
What do we want when we are the client and are making demands of a service provider? We want to be treated politely, with kindness and consideration. We want the provider of what we are purchasing to accommodate our requests and sudden changes, and we want to be treated as if we are the most important person on the planet. What we don’t want is to hear about policies, or warranties, or what a provider can’t do for us.
 
So, when a client seems to be making “unreasonable” demands keep in mind that your demands seem unreasonable to those who service you. If we are under contract what can we be expected to do but fulfill our obligations, not to sub-standard levels but to the very best of our abilities? As service professionals it would behoove us to go above and beyond in order to please and impress those who contract us. Those of us who have been in the service business for a number of years and who have gained a “certain reputation” may feel we are entitled to special treatment from clients. As if we were celebrities. We may feel like we are the “A-list” or “Cream of the crop” and as such we deserve “special treatment.” If that is the case perhaps we should reconsider the word “service” the root word of which is “serve.” As service providers WE serve our clients, not the other way around.
And what is our reward? Why, whatever we ask for! We dictate the terms of our contracts. We ask for the price we want. We factor in things like expenses, incidentals, etc. Are we to expect that we will never have to go above and beyond to accommodate our clients? And what if they are a bit more demanding? Would it be professional to be irreverent? Hostile? Perhaps to view them as ignorant or cheap? Or even worse, to do substandard work because we did not get “royal” treatment from those that contracted us?

Our clients pay good money for our performance. Clients know that when they shop around and finally pay more for our services. That makes them less than ignorant. And with the money they pay for us they are far from cheap. Might they think somewhere in the back of their minds that they paid well for a great service and that they feel entitled to get what they paid for without paying more? The fact that we agree to the contract means we are honor bound to fulfill it to the BEST of our ability without expecting any more than what we contracted for. It would be akin to paying for a full car wash then being told that they did everything but the tires. If you paid for it wouldn’t you want it done right? I would!

I grew up in a third world country. Most of the time we had no electricity or running water. I learned that we cannot go through life making demands or believing that we are better than others, or that they owe us anything. I learned that if you do good work the reward may not be amazing, but it will be sufficient. And as your reputation for a good work ethic grows so will the demand for your services, and consequently your pay increase as well. The moment we forget that we are serving our customers, we become the kind of people that we don’t like working for. You know the kind…people that demand everything and want to give the least in return. It seems we’ve taken to calling these kinds of people by an interesting term…clients.