Difficult Client 14

[tctctraining]

I am doing service for a customer on a product that we supply.
The Manager and the electrician at site are very hard to deal with and are playing the blame game.
I just dont want to deal with them ,unfortuantly I am the only one who does this work at our company and no one elese wants to get involved.

I dont know how to tell my manager to get me out of this.

How can I refuse to work for this client?

 

[patprimmer]

Ummm

We don't know if anyone was yelled at. The OP ONLY states they are difficult and playing the blame game. That really could mean a lot of things and seeing the precious attitude in the subsequent posts from the OP might mean they simply stated the failure was not their fault. There is no information provided on which to base advice. In my opinion the OP is seeking support, not advice.

Regards
Pat
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[jmw]

So, what did you do and how did you get on?

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[patprimmer]

He has not logged on since 19/08. Seems maybe he did not appreciate a frank exchange.

Regards
Pat
See FAQ731-376 for tips on use of eng-tips by professional engineers &

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm

for site rules

 

[tctctraining]

Just logged backed in . I have been busy to come up with a solution for the customer and have found one, finally!

I have read different opinion about my three line post and really appreciate everybody's taking time to respond. I read all parts, they were all good points, some not constructive though.

what I really needed was to get an idea of how to deal with difficult customers who don't understand technical issues and just want to get a free service or empty out their anger and I found some interesting suggestions.

Many posters focused on me instead of addressing a common issue that everybody might have.
taking a course was agood suggestion. Some key sentences were very good. at least I know people handle things diffrently, some poeple stay out of kitchen if they can't take it...

 

[NomLaser]

If you phrased your question like you did your response then your probably would have received a better response from most of the people here. Your OT sounded like you were complaining that you had to deal with someone difficult and just wanted to pass the buck onto your boss.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

"I have been busy to come up with a solution for the customer and have found one, finally!"
Did it involve having your manager remove you from the situation?
Did it involve refusing to work for the client?

"what I really needed was to get an idea of how to deal with difficult customers"
Then you should have asked for that in your original post. Asking, "How can I refuse to work for this client?", painted an entirely different picture.

"Many posters focused on me instead of addressing a common issue "
That's because, per the original post, you were the common issue.

I'm not trying to start a flame war, I just want to point out why you received the above responses. I'm genuinely happy to hear you were able to find a satisfactory solution.

Hopefully the next time you work with the same clients, they will treat you with more respect, and trust you to find another solution.

 

[SomptingGuy]

Think of your needy customers as Freddy Mercury:

"I want it all, and I want it now!"

- Steve

 

[Latexman]

And I want it for free!

Good luck,
Latexman

 

[nuche1973]

How to deal with a difficult client? two words: Heavy Bag. Buy one hang it up some where and beat the crap out of it. I have found myself doing this alot lately, because we have a client (architect) that "reviews" our calcs and then changes the design. I've redesigned the same building 4 times. I'd love to tell him to get bent, but I'm in the lower echelon of the pecking order. Oh well, the economy has dictated that we deal with this until things get better. Might as well use it as an incentive for exercise.

 

[KENAT]

(With reference to a thread elsewhere, just be carefull not to mount it to a brick wall apparantly)

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[epoisses]

"how to deal with difficult customers who (1) don't understand technical issues and (2) just want to get a free service or (3) empty out their anger"

(1) Well then explain them in simple terms. Not every customer is a technical person.

(2) If that's what they after and you want to keep them, then hey, maybe you should GIVE them a free goodie from time to time. You seem to have discovered what motivates your customer, which is great. Use it! while continuing to make decent money of course.

(3) Well LET them empty out their anger! And then start working on the root cause if it is related to you or your company.

Customers are "difficult" because they either pursue their little interests which are not necessarily yours, in which case you have to somehow get to a win-win solution, or because they are just difficult persons for whatever reason, in which case you just have to put up with them and use your interpersonal skills to do business.

There are many ways to get to a win-win solution if you realise that "the customer" is in fact a bunch of different people with different jobs and conflicting interests. See them as different strings you can pull to get the job done (sorry if this sounds like Dogbert but this is how it works).

You should only refuse to work with a customer if he consistently tries to force you in a win-lose relationship, does not bring you enough business versus the effort spent and obviously if you have sufficient other customers. Just give them your competitor's phone number and enjoy the look on their faces.

 

[csd72]

Dealing with customers:

Always rember that 'No army ever went to war believing that god was on the other side'.

 

[trainguy]

My technique involves playing squash 3 times / week. You'd be amazed at how this helps ALL aspects of my career, including the difficult clients...

tg

 

[msquared48]

csd:

If the company has the management philosophy that the customer is always right, then God IS on the other side.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask