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 Post subject: How to deal with a difficult client
PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 11:03 am 
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Location: Telluride, CO
I sent out a proposal a couple of days ago, and it came back marked up with changes I frankly don't agree with. It will dumb down the menu significantly. She's calling me tomorrow to finalize. Suggestions on how to handle?

Amy


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 Post subject: Re: How to deal with a difficult client
PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 11:35 am 
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Location: Ottawa, ON
Outright turned down work is very dangerous; I've done it a few times due to lack of availability, and at least twice due to unsuitability of work (i.e. I and the client were not going to see eye to eye). I've done at least one I definitely should have turned down, and ended up with work I wasn't proud of; a sorry state of affairs.

Particularly in your business, turning someone down could spread bad things word of mouth. I would try very hard to gently turn the client to a road with output you can stand behind but is acceptable to the client. Maybe explain the advantages of the original menu (or a compromise menu)? I've often found clients don't see what you are getting at, and given some polite explanation (not condescending), can come around.

That is pretty poor, obvious advice, but really it is a tough situation. Really I just want to express support at figuring it out with burning any bridges!


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 Post subject: Re: How to deal with a difficult client
PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 11:44 am 
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First, I would try to get a dialogue going about her changes, see if you can find a compromise you are comfortable with. If she is insistent on getting things her way, I think you need to explain that her changes have made the menu into something that you are not comfortable putting your name on, all the while, stressing that her ideas aren't worse (even if they are) just not in keeping with the brand you are building and offer her the name and number of a caterer who is more in keeping with her wants. Make it about serving her -- "I think that you will be happier with XYZ catering. I think that they are more in line with your (positive descriptor here) style."


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 Post subject: Re: How to deal with a difficult client
PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 1:55 pm 
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Perhaps she knows her guests and what they like to eat and wants to please them first. Maybe you could take her suggestions and put your special spin on a couple of them and leave a couple of them as she wants. The thing you want is to come away from every event with flying colors and high recommendations.


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 Post subject: Re: How to deal with a difficult client
PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 3:14 pm 
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She may be posting on a bulletin board somewhere asking for advice on how to deal with a difficult caterer. :twisted:

Frankly, I would be embarrassed that I did not listen to and understand her needs fully enough to do the proposal right the first time and vow to not make the same mistake during the second meeting.

The customer is right. Always.

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 Post subject: Re: How to deal with a difficult client
PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 4:36 pm 
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I agree with Jim. Sometimes people just prefer artichoke dip on wheat thins than caviar on toast points.

See if there is a pattern to her dumb down menu, e.g. is she trying to cut down on cost, get rid of unusual/unfamiliar items? What changes she made should help you determine what kind of compromise you can make. It may be she wants to feel in control, or as Jim suggested she did not make herself clear as to her needs. In that case, it is you that did not understand (hard as that is to do). I was always glad I was a therapist when I had my own business. It helped to turn the empathy on, even when I was gritting my teeth as a business person.

As a Nordstom's personal shopper once joked to me, the customer is always right, even when they are wrong. Good luck!

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 Post subject: Re: How to deal with a difficult client
PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 4:39 pm 
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Yeah, this reminds me of "Project Runway" season 1, episode 5. For those who don't have their early "PR" episodes memorized, it was the one where the designers had to design a wedding dress for their models -- as in, they had to design something that the model herself would like to get married in.

Nora did everything her 16-year-old model wanted. The dress was trite and dated and exactly everything a young girl would want for her "special day." The model was thrilled, but the dress got the designer eliminated.

Jay, on the other hand, listened to his client, a slightly ditzy Kate-Moss-wannabe, and threw out any of her ideas that he hated. she was also thrilled with her dress and agreed that Jay's interpretation of her ideas was better than what she had come up with on her own. He finished second in that competition and went on to win the season.

Sure, you have to be flexible and the client does know her guests, but you also have to assume that the client hired an expert to take her event a step higher.

I don't think I was particularly clear on my last post. That may have something to do with my own stroppy "client" screaming, "More cheese and crackers!" at me. Of course, the best case scenario is that you can collaborate with this client to come up with something that you will be proud of and she will be pleased with. It sounds like her method of communication -- marking up your proposal like she was a professor correcting an essay -- may have gotten your hackles up. Lord knows, it would have gotten mine up. Come back at her as pleasantly as possible with the assumption that she didn't mean to be PITA and listen to the reasons for her changes. Often, you can then see the things she wants that she is not articulating well, and give them to her. Also, when she better understands the reasons for your choices, she may come around to your point of view.

Back to wedding dresses (what can I say, I did that gig for a decade.) -- I used to get clients all the time who would start right off with "I don't want to wear a crinoline." Now, I could see right away that they were looking at dresses that would be awful without one, but I would just help them try on a few, making conversation about why they hated crinolines, (itchy, cumbersome, hot, whatever) and I would watch. I'd usually see them adjusting their boobs to looks bigger (or smaller) or pressing their tummies in. Then I'd say, "You know, I think you might try this dress with a small crinoline. This type helps shape the tummy and a little larger skirt will balance the top." And bingo, I've sold a dress and rented a crinoline. It isn't that the customer isn't right it's that she isn't an expert. You need to listen, even when the presentation rubs you the wrong way. You also need to be honest, though diplomatic. Listening and honesty are what builds trust and makes sales.


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 Post subject: Re: How to deal with a difficult client
PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 5:20 pm 
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jim262 wrote:
She may be posting on a bulletin board somewhere asking for advice on how to deal with a difficult caterer. :twisted:

Frankly, I would be embarrassed that I did not listen to and understand her needs fully enough to do the proposal right the first time and vow to not make the same mistake during the second meeting.

The customer is right. Always.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Jim.

I DID listen to her, thank you very much, which is reflected in the menu I sent her. But she's changing her mind, and not in a way that works for the menu.

I will handle it and give her what she now wants, but I don't appreciate your sarcasm.

Amy

Edited to add: This is not a client who wants boring food. They are a high-powered Washington couple who know good food. Yes, "the client is always right", but they sometimes don't know what they don't know.

I'm sorry I even launched this thread.


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 Post subject: Re: How to deal with a difficult client
PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 5:45 pm 
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Location: Ottawa, ON
jim262 wrote:
The customer is right. Always.


I'm not some clerk at a store, and not a servant. My customer hires me as an expert and is most certainly not always right, and the same goes for most professional services. If we can't come to agreement, then it may well be a failure communication or other issues, but it most certainly doesn't mean the customer is right. Working to make a satisfied customer is not the same as doing what they want; sometimes you do what they need (with their consent and -- hopefully -- belief of course).

I don't do bad work just because a customer is mistaken (well I have and regretted it). And customers often don't fully understand their needs on first blush: a few iterations back and forth are most certainly normal.


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 Post subject: Re: How to deal with a difficult client
PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 5:45 pm 
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Amy,

Is this a proposal, or do you already have a contract with the client? Those are two different situations.

If you don't yet have a contract, then ask yourself: "is this menu dumb enough that it would reflect badly on me?" and "how much do I need the work"? If the answers are "yes", and "not badly", then you know what to do.

You have a reputation to maintain for AH Cuisine, and if you do a bunch of artichoke-dip-on-wheat-thins, it'll drag it down until that's all you're doing. Once or twice won't kill you, but a trend will.

If you already have a contract with the client, it's more difficult. Presumably cancelling now could really upset her and create some bad PR for you; that kinda depends on how soon the event is. In general, I usually "lump it" in one of these situations, and do distasteful work because it's less trouble than "firing" the client. I just don't do another contract with them, ever. That's not hard, you just keep saying that you'd love to, but you have no availability.

Now, if she's dumbing down your food because she wants to cut the cost, that's another ball'o'wax entirely.


Jim: maybe you should think about what you're saying before you post. Telling someone they should be embarassed is not productive. I expect you had a bad experience with a caterer once, but that doesn't justify insulting Amy.

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