how do you forget about clients from hell and continue?

[theseodude]

Hi
This question is not about "how do I deal with a client from hell?"
it's more of a psychology question.

Right now, I am having this client from hell. He is a past client and he has accused me of all kinds of things that I am not guilty of, and threatened to report me to the Better business bureau, plus some other threats.

I was on the phone with this guy for an hour today and he is a lost cause. There is no reasoning with him. He won't listen.

It is very emotionally and mentally exhausting for me. After i got off the phone, I had to go outside for fresh air. I was seriously considering closing my business. All kinds of bad thoughts came to my mind, like "what if he comes to my virtual office and makes a mess and I lose my virtual office over this?" "what if he files a lawsuit?"

How do you "shake off" these thoughts and continue your business? do you just say "fuck him" and forget about him, or what do you do? I am so mentally exhausted because of this guy, I fee like I cant continue.

 

[YouFeelMeDawg?]

So what exactly did you do? cause I don't believe your some sort of saint here either.

 

[GiorgioB]

I have a few ecommerce stores and believe me, every week I have threats of being sued, reported to the BBB, etc.. don't get hung up on those, just pretend that you care, but don't give a shit deep inside. if you start giving a shit, your profitability will start taking a hit..

PS. This is just for the asshole customers of course, if its you who messed up, you should of course rectify.

 

[theseodude]

So what exactly did you do? cause I don't believe your some sort of saint here either.

I don't see how this is relevant, and can't answer this without revealing my niche. But let's say I am a shoe seller, and client asked me for a pair of shoes for women, without mentioning size or color. I gave him a pair of women's shoes. Now he wants a refund because the shoe doesn't fit. It's not my job to make sure the shoe fits. Lame example, but something like this.

 

[daserpent]

But dude if u sell him a pair of shoes and they dont fit, what use are the unfit shoes for him? ofc he is gonna be angry then. U should never started without asking the details of the shoe he wants.

 

[Adam718]

EVERY business goes through this all the time, man. It's so common! DO NOT let this get you down. You'll see that soon enough you're going to look back at this and laugh about how big of a deal you made it when it was really nothing. Just shake it off and continue, what's the worst that could happen, really? This guy is probably blowing off some steam.

 

[Panther28]

I always found that the best way is to apologise for your mistake(even if its not), and give them a full refund, and a freebee. Make sure that you leave them feeling guilty that you done such a good job customer service. I have even managed to upsell customers after this with this approach. Then just get back to your winning customers.

 

[lokiys]

Dude you should be rules - in example with your shoes - you should show him that you DO NOT giving refund.
If there is no rules for you then this is really time to make them. Give him refund and add he is black list.
I'm not sure what you did because i can not give you full answer...

But my suggestion is easy. You are a BUSINESSMAN and not he that mean send he to hell and continue your business and do not care about he.

If that is your fault then apologise for your mistake and go on.

Basically that king of persons only what that to argue with someone.
People psychology in this case is very easy - ''Give him what he want'' - and add this case to your experience. This will make you stronger...
Good luck

 

[phpbuilt]

By default -- a seo professional should be fully 100% capable of supporting themselves through their own IM endeavors. In other words, instead of ranking other people to grow their business, you find a niche and rank your own business.

Assuming your a good SEO, that's the path you need to take. Then there's no worrying about having bad clients.

 

[Random Rank]

Thats a really awkward position to be in, i hope that client calms down but whats going wrong for you, if he is a past client he might be able to understand.

 

[Duffers5000]

Are you the guy that had a hot chick on the phone last week getting all suggestive ? If that was his wife I would consider closing the business and quitting town...guys probably on route with a shovel and a 45.

 

[Dumper]

You can't please everyone, let him go...

 

[BHopkins]

You can't please everyone, let him go...

This is the best advice. No matter what type of business you run, there will be an unhappy customer eventually. My very first customer in 2002 was a real piece of work. I went way above and beyond what we agreed to in order to keep him happy. I almost quit everything. I look back and laugh now because I can see how I am better as a result of this guy.

 

[dbyrn]

To reset unpleasant past experience - use beer, my dear! :drinking2

Remember: not too much.

D.

 

[unclemike]

You have to care but not let things effect you personally. Remember to be as professional as possible.

Cheers
Unclemike

 

[redrubies]

You will never be successful in business if you consider closing up because of a crazy customer. Also, you're showing signs that working for yourself is not for you. One of my sisters tried to have her own business on the side along with her 9-5 job, and she could not cope. For days she went on about a customer who said something negative to her. I have been working for myself for over 20 years. People are just nuts. I roll my eyes and shrug it off. If you can't shrug off the crazies, you shouldn't work for yourself, and especially not work for yourself in anything internet related. The internet brings out all sorts of loons. Shrugging it off should come naturally. I believe that it's in the blood. I also believe that if you have to learn to shrug it off, then you should find an occupation that's right for you. Lastly, there is no way that I would stay on the phone with a customer for an hour unless we clicked and were talking about something very interesting. Otherwise, it's through email-yes you can have a refund, no you can't have a refund because you broke it, and I'm sorry I ruined your Christmas but I am not in charge of the Post Office. the end, goodbye

 

[redrubies]

I don't see how this is relevant, and can't answer this without revealing my niche. But let's say I am a shoe seller, and client asked me for a pair of shoes for women, without mentioning size or color. I gave him a pair of women's shoes. Now he wants a refund because the shoe doesn't fit. It's not my job to make sure the shoe fits. Lame example, but something like this.

As long as he didn't damage the shoes, then you should refund him. Although that's like someone asking me for earrings without mentioning anything else. It's my job to get them to elaborate to the point where I know exactly what it is they want. What color, stone or no stone, hoop or not, short or dangle, post or french wire, gold or silver, etc

 

[GreenGoblin]

I refund them, and block them

 

[kvmcable]

While I'm mostly on the side of the seller being a long time business owner I did have a similar instance in the last week. Ordered $1000 worth of neon signs from a sign company. He stopped by my store and I explained what I wanted and how I had them before and how they need to be BRIGHT. Two weeks later he brings custom signs and they weren't bright and looked like a thin font in red ink. I requested black behind the letters to reflect the light forward and not illuminate my store. They were being placed in windows in front of store.

So thin looking red ink and smoked tan backing. I was like wtf. Now here comes expert's reasoning, smoke allows you to look out through the plastic from people outside it will look dark. Um, not what I ordered. Then I said why does my open sign look so bright and bold, easy to see from 200' and your signs look like they're barely lit from 50'? Expert pulls out some sheet showing he's got the right transformer on the glass and blah blah blah. He says let them burn overnight and they'll get brighter. WTF this is neon for Christ's sake. I got tired of arguing and figured I'd call him in the morning to fix it when they weren't brighter.

Next morning 3 of the letters turned pink instead of red. Got online and found transformer company's website. The site says the transformer is for 8' of 10mm tube. I thought ummm, what size do I have? I got the ruler and measured my open sign, 12mm. Measured his sign 10mm, again WTF. Looked at transformer website again to double check the specs of what he installed, yup 8' of 10mm tube for that transformer. Each of my signs have just over 20' of tube, again WTF. So mystery solved, not near enough transformer for amount of glass, glass is 2mm too small and 3 letters obviously short on argon gas when they were sealed. Now I'm a fricking neon sign expert when all I wanted was 2 signs to illuminate like my damn open sign.

Now it's a battle with Mr. Neon Sign expert and he says well you didn't specify all those specs. You didn't say you wanted 12mm tube. You didn't say what size transformer you wanted. blah blah blah. This is the way it goes about every time I try to outsource something to an "expert". Before it's over I have to educate myself all about some crap I could care less about just so I get what I want. My argument is look at that damn open sign. I want neon like that! Why in the hell do I need to measure shit and get educated about how neon works and transformer loads? What the hell am I hiring an "expert" for? So Mr Neon Expert and I will continue this saga until he fixes it or I have to hire someone else.

My point is maybe the client didn't have a clue how everything worked but knew what he wanted. You as the expert should have been able to "interpret" the goal and direct the client in the right direction before it escalated to the point of a pissed off client. Using your shoe analogy, you didn't ask near enough questions or the client would have gotten what he wanted and both parties would be happy. He hired you to be the expert and KNOW the questions that need answers before you start the job. To say well the client didn't specify this or that shows a failure from the seller, not the buyer. The seller is the expert.

Most know I've been a B&M computer store owner for over 20 years. When people ask for a computer the first question my sales people ask is what are you going to be using it for? We learned over the years to determine the goal before offering the tool. If a customer doesn't have a firm answer then we start with the questions to determine does this client need a simple web surfing system or is a serious gamer than needs something much more expensive and complex. The last thing we want to do is sell a client a box and have him come back saying it won't do what he needs done.

This is carried on longer than I intended but if you have a pissed off client and you advertise you're the expert then there was a serious breakdown in communication. The client is probably pissed off because his goal wasn't met. You're pissed off because you did what you said you'd do without recognizing what the customer truly wanted. As an expert your first job is to determine the goal, then create the solution to meet the goal. Sounds like you got the cart in front of the horse.

JMHO.

 

[cash202]

Hi
This question is not about "how do I deal with a client from hell?"
it's more of a psychology question.

Right now, I am having this client from hell. He is a past client and he has accused me of all kinds of things that I am not guilty of, and threatened to report me to the Better business bureau, plus some other threats.

I was on the phone with this guy for an hour today and he is a lost cause. There is no reasoning with him. He won't listen.

It is very emotionally and mentally exhausting for me. After i got off the phone, I had to go outside for fresh air. I was seriously considering closing my business. All kinds of bad thoughts came to my mind, like "what if he comes to my virtual office and makes a mess and I lose my virtual office over this?" "what if he files a lawsuit?"

How do you "shake off" these thoughts and continue your business? do you just say "fuck him" and forget about him, or what do you do? I am so mentally exhausted because of this guy, I fee like I cant continue.

Shot tip: refund, kick ban and forget.

Long tip: NLP. There are techniques that allow you to effectively erase memories after letting go of the unnecessary negative emotions.