The Customer Is Not Always Right

Most clients and customers are great, but there will always be a handful of clients that may give you some trouble. Here’s how you can handle them tactfully and preserve your working relationship with them.

In the course of my work, there is a relationship that is established with my clients. It is in my best interest to keep that relationship positive, as a positive relationship means an easier time on my current contract, a high possibility of future work, and the possibility of my clients referring my services in the future.

As much as I value my clients’ business however, I don’t believe that “the customer is always right.” I’m not sure where this phrase comes from, but it seems to be a mantra of sorts for people in retail or people who serve at restaurants. Unfortunately, “the customer is always right” went from a mantra for workers to a feeling of entitlement for customers. Here’s the truth – people are paying for your work, but not a right to treat you awfully.

Confucius, an ancient Chinese philosopher, believed that there were five main relationships:

1. King to subject
2. Father to son
3. Husband to wife
4. Older brother to younger brother
5. Friend to friend

Confucius’ belief was that in these relationships, there needed to be reciprocation. He also said that if these relationships were built, then society would prosper. I want to add another relationship to that list:

6. contractor to client

I have a duty  to my client, but at the same time, they also have a duty to me to be helpful, pleasant, and to pay me on time. The strength of all relationships lie within continued reciprocity.

1. Make a contract and make contingency plans.

If your contract is ambiguous, your client might assume a lot of things. When they assume things and don’t get it, they get upset. When they get upset, they might argue. When people argue, they say a lot of nasty things, including “you’re fired.”

I urge that you make a contract and fill in all the details. Make sure your clients knows 100% what they’re getting and also what they’re not getting (so they don’t have false expectations). The psychology of your clients is very important to success in business.

2. Don’t get angry at your clients – think of other things.

There will be clients who you want to shout at. Please don’t. There is nothing to gain by unleashing your rage at a client. Asking you to not get angry sounds like a ridiculous demand (it is), but as a professional, you have to be able to absorb and not act on these urges to blow up like a North Korean satellite.

Since I do most of my communication with my clients through email, I have an advantage here, because I can always wait out my anger before responding. You may not have that luxury. If you’re getting angered by a client, force a smile and laugh, and say “sorry, but I can’t do that.” Practice it. The reason you force yourself to smile and laugh is because the human mind can only hold 1 thought at a time. If you smile and laugh, it temporarily removes the angry thoughts from your mind. The same goes if you have a nasty thought in your mind, for example, eating cockroaches. That image is there. Most people would say “don’t think about it,” but the only solution to stop seeing yourself munching on the creepy, hairy-legged bugs is to imagine something else, like shooting a perfect free throw or jumping around at Lego Land.

3. Be willing to walk away from some clients.

Some clients will just be too difficult to work with, so be willing to walk away from the contract. Are their demands beyond reason and completely ignoring the constraints of the contract? Just tell them this:

“Sorry, but this is neither in our contract nor a reasonable request. If you want this done, you will have to pay me for it. Otherwise, I cannot do it. If you do not agree with this, then I cannot do work with you an we will have to mutually agree to a termination of this contract.”

The client will do one of three things.

1. Have a sudden change of heart and be willing to reason with you, because they really do want your work.
2. Agree to a termination of the contract.
3. Sue you for breach of contract.

It’s obviously not an ideal situation to get sued. However, if you worded your contract correctly you will be fine and the client will realize that they would not win in a court battle. And besides, if you’re in business, you’re liable to get sued at any moment, so you should not be surprised when you do get sued. So, you should always prepare for this by making a solid and well planned contract.