57 Strategies for Dealing with Difficult Clients: Resource Guide
Welcome to this resource guide for dealing with difficult clients.
No matter what your consulting business looks like eventually you will deal with difficult clients. Clients can be angry, overwhelmed, price sensitive, demanding, secretive, and the list goes on...
Still, regardless of your scenario, it is ultimately your response that determines the final outcome of your engagement. This resource guide includes best practices from a variety of industries on how to engage difficult clients in a successful way.
This is a lengthy resource so I've included a video to help you find the content most relevant to you. Watch video, enjoy the guide, and download it for later.
Table of Contents
These short guides use stories and situations to highlight how to handle difficult clients. Take a look and see which resonates with you most.
- A Consultant's Guide to Difficult Client Feedback - Do you know how to deal with an angry client or a frustrated customer? Learn how to resolve difficult situations calmly and effectively.
- Dealing With Unhappy Customers - Communication Skills from Mind Tools - Every agency has to deal with difficult clients. Steff Moore takes a different tact and recommends you ask, "What would Client Eastwood do?"
- Difficult Clients: The Clint Eastwood Guide to Managing Them by @workflowmax Spin Sucks - Get it right and you win more work; get it wrong and the relationship is over.
This articles in this section take a more visual approach. Each includes either a Slideshare presentation or infographic to illustrate how to deal with difficult clients. If you are a visual learner, this section is for you.
- A Guide To Working With 'Difficult' Clients [Infographic] - We love our clients, without them our businesses would shrivel into nothing. However, once in a while a client comes along that is not so easy to work with.
- Customer Behavior - The Wonderful World of Difficult Clients [Infographic] - Most companies must deal with clients. To help you identify and handle challenging clients, Ciplex created this infographic
- Dealing with Difficult Customers [SlideShare] - Dealing with difficult customers can be paralyzing; let's take another look at interactions that, with a little change in perspective, can make encounters positive
As you browse these "how to" articles you will get a good sense of how difficult clients are handled in a variety of different situations. Review the strategies and see which make the most sense for you and your consulting services.
- How to Deal With Difficult Customers and Clients - No matter how good your customer service, you will eventually have to deal with an unhappy client. Whether you made a mistake or they're just having a bad day, these five tactics can help you handle difficult customers.
- How to Deal With a Difficult Customer-Service Conversation - By following these conflict resolution techniques, you can get your way out of any tough conversation and find a resolution that works for all parties.
- How to Deal with Challenging Clients - Moz - If you are a consultant, part of your job is managing your client's attitude and behaviors, even when times get tough. Craig Bradford shares his tips to prevent sunny situations from turning blue, and offers advice for providing a cure if problems arise.
- How To Deal With Difficult Clients - There are those clients that teach us so much just by being constantly and completely difficult. Here is what we can learn from them.
- How to Deal With Nightmare Clients | Webdesigner Depot - Regardless of how smoothly your business may operate, no one is completely immune to criticism and controversy.
- How to Fire a Bad Customer - Have you ever had “that” customer? How do you let “that” customer go?
- How to get paid on time every time (even from difficult clients) - Are you assertive at invoicing or a pathetic wimp who lets clients walk all over you?
- How to Get Tough Clients on Board | Inc.com - Entrepreneurs offer sure-fire tips for dealing with difficult clients.
- How to Handle Difficult Client Situations - Many of us are in contact with clients on a daily basis and unfortunately, difficult situations between us do come up every so often.
- How to Handle Difficult Conversations at Work - Start by changing your mindset.
- How To Handle The Client From Hell - Law360 - He keeps making the same mistakes. He never listens. He won't return your calls. And just your luck, he's your client.
- How to Manage Impossible Clients - Effective responses to four classic bad behaviors.
- How to sell difficult customers: Driver, Amiable, Analytical, or Expressive and increase sales with personality styles. - If you've been in retail sales at all, you’ve had an experience selling to a difficult customer. It's like this...
- How to Surprise and Delight Difficult Clients - Clients are tough to please—and rightfully so. Here is some help to always come out on top.
Some times, you are just looking for one good idea to fill a specific gap in your approach to handling difficult clients. The articles below were written to provide a number of ideas for you to choose from. Review the titles, scan the descriptions, and click on the article you believe has the missing piece you need.
- 3 strategies for dealing with difficult clients - Not everyone a PR pro works with will be a good fit for the client or your firm. Here's how to gracefully end business relationships that aren't working.
- 10 Tips to Handle Difficult Customers in Your Small Business - You must know by now, repeat customers are key to building a successful small business. But, it isn't always easy to build a relationship, and you need to have a plan in place to deal with bumps in the road when customers are unhappy.
- 10 Ways to Handle Difficult Customers | Fox Small Business Center - The customer may always right, but that doesn't mean all customers are easy to deal with. Here are some tips to help.
- 105 Best Ways to Deal With Difficult Customers | Business Unplugged | Carol Roth - You can’t have a business without having customers and some of them are difficult. I have tapped into the minds of the CarolRoth.com contributor network to find out their best tips and advice.
- 11 Clever Tricks for Dealing with Difficult Event Clients / Customers - Ever had a difficult event client who frustrated the bejesus out of you? Here are some great best practices for dealing with difficult customers.
- 15 Songs to Help You Deal with Difficult Clients - When you're dealing with difficult clients, a little aural boost can help you push through. Here are my picks of 15 feel-good songs for bad days.
- 15 Tips From Psychology to Effectively Handle Difficult Customers - Learn how to use techniques from the field of psychology to help achieve customer service conflict resolution excellence.
- 15 Types Of Difficult Clients And How To Handle Them Effectively - Every agency has that one client from hell. The one who monopolizes your time, frustrates the entire staff, and makes unreasonable demands. If you've got m
- 3 Things It's Okay to Do When Dealing with Difficult Clients | Inc.com - When a customer is costing you more than they're bringing you, it's time to take action.
- 3 Tips to Deal With Difficult Customers - With the good comes the bad, and in business this means dealing with difficult customers every now and again. Often, this is due to things you cannot avoid, such as a shipping issue that a third party has immediate control over or a vendor item defect that you had no idea [...]
- 4 Brilliant Tips for Dealing With Angry Customers - I’m not exactly a people person. Or, rather, I’m not exactly an angry people person. So here is what I do...
- 4 Free Email Scripts to Handle Your Toughest Customer Service Challenges - Here’s why I love scripts and templates: instead of explaining a strategy conceptually, a script helps you see the concept in action.
- 5 Difficult Clients We've All Had to Deal With - eZanga Articles - Clients make businesses successful and rewarding, but can be unbearably unforgiving. Whether you’re the CEO, an administrative assistant, or somewhere in between, chances are you have dealt with a difficult client or two.
- 5 More Email Templates for Difficult Client Situations - Many of you told us you’d love more examples of email templates for different situations, as you’re often so busy being angry, upset, terrified or confused to say the right thing at the right time.
- 5 tips for dealing with difficult clients - Angry to deceitful, obsessive to abusive: difficult clients can be any of these things. And more.
- 5 Tips to Effectively Deal With Difficult Customers - I'm sure you are familiar with the old adage, "The customer is always right?" This sounds great, but it's not necessarily true.
- 5 Tips to Turn Difficult Customers Into Brand Advocates - Customer service will never be perfect. Learning to turn angry customers into brand advocates is the key to ongoing customer experience success.
- 5 types of design client and how to handle them | Career | Creative Bloq - Clients have wildly differing needs. Know who you're dealing with and how to keep them happy by following these tips from Carl Heaton of Bangkok Design Agency.
- 6 Ways Nursing Professionals Deal with Difficult Patients - We all know it's tough to just nod our heads and walk away when it comes to dealing with difficult patients. Here is how you can remain professional.
- 7 Strategies to Succeed With That Demanding, Difficult Customer - Understand how to deflect and bypass a client's anger to meet your goals.
- 7 Super Effective Tips to Handle Difficult PR Clients - Public Relations is a stressful job, especially when working with multiple clients and strong personalities. Some clients are a breeze, while others can be extremely difficult.
- 7 tips for dealing with difficult clients - iMediaConnection.com - We reached out to some industry veterans to find out their best tips for handling difficult clients.
- 7 Tips for Handling Problem Clients - You’ve all dealt with them. They’re the clients who make your life a living hell. Here is what you can do.
- 7 Types of Difficult Clients and How to Win Them Over - RainToday - Andrew Sobel identifies seven types of difficult clients and offers strategies for how to deal with them.
- 7 Useful Tips On Handling Difficult Clients - It should come as no surprise that avoiding complaints from your clients may affect your company's reputation and business. Research shows that as many as 66% of disgruntled clients will most likely...
- 8 Ways to Deal With a Difficult Client | OPEN Forum - Difficult clients are part of business--regardless of what industry you're in. Keep the peace (and your sanity) with these proven tips.
- 9 Rules for Serving the Difficult Customer | OPEN Forum - Satisfying an angry customer does not have to be difficult. Here are nine rules that can help you turn difficult customers into happy clients.
- Are You Good at Dealing with Difficult Clients? | Don Connelly & Associates - Dealing with difficult clients is not easy as they are not unique. Every Advisor has encountered or will encounter them. Keep him or fire him? Read more.
- Best Practices: How To Handle Difficult Clients | Best Practices - Advertising Age - Best practices and tips for how to manage difficult clients.
- Customers: Dealing with Difficult Customers and Clients | Business Unplugged - Dealing with customers and clients (especially difficult customers and clients!) can be one of the most challenging aspects of the business world.
- Dealing With Difficult Clients - 99u - Are you dealing with a Naysayer or a Linebacker? We show you how to identify difficult clients from the get-go, so you can manage for success.
- Don't Be That Client: 8 Clients That Drive Tax Pros Crazy - Looking for a good tax professional? Then be a good tax client. I asked tax professionals to offer up client behaviors that drive them the most crazy during tax season. Here are their responses. Don't be that client.
- Golden rules of complaints handling | Marketing Donut - How to develop a strategic plan, train your staff and an overview of the processes and actions
- Solutions to Dealing with Difficult Clients - When clients are less than angels, you've got to come up with effective strategies for dealing with difficult clients. Start with these solutions.
- The Right Way to Deal With Difficult Customers and Situations - The Right Way to Deal With Difficult Customers and Situations
- Three Reasons Why Difficult Customers Are the Best Ones To Have - Was he going to scream at me? Would he tell the truth? Would I be able to get from him what I needed to prove my case? The fear and doubt was pervasive.
- Tips for Call Center Agents to Deal with Difficult Customers - Learn how Call Center Agents can handle Difficult Customers with these easy to implement tips
This is such an important topic for both the customer and the agency. Thanks so much for including eZanga’s article in your round-up!