Dealing with Difficult Clients Training Course

Clients often get angry and difficult when they perceive a service failure. The unfortunate thing is that the service failure does not even need to be real. If your client thinks it’s real, then it’s real. Fortunately, there are plenty of opportunities with difficult clients if you manage them instead of reacting to them.

The costs of an angry and difficult client

• Time and emotional cost reacting to the perceived problem
• Resources allocated to fixing the problem, which may not actually be the problem
• Higher staff turnover as angry clients shred employee loyalty
• Less engaged staff and lower motivational levels
• Client fees are often discounted to soothe the anger
• Bad WOM – In your industry, you can’t afford this

The benefits of redirecting the anger

• Instead of being the target, you redirect the anger to the real problem
• Improved client loyalty if you create a successful service recovery
• Positive WOM and referral opportunities
• Work flows are more streamlined and not bouncing from conflict to conflict
• Maintain long term client relationships

4 reasons to choose this ‘Dealing with Difficult Clients’ in-house program for your staff

• An angry, difficult client creates negative word of mouth
• Difficult clients are often less profitable due to the amount of concessions they get
• Your people may lose an opportunity as they were too busy fixing the problem
• Clients love alternative solutions – they save face and you get new business

Key ‘Dealing with Difficult Clients’ Workshop Content: 

• Correctly identify and label the type of anger
• Practice active listening and questioning techniques
• Use the 5 Why’s to understand the root cause of the problem
• Use strategic interruptions to target venting
• Redirect client anger towards a solution
• Communicate that you are accountable and take ownership of the problem
• Decide the correct time to put forward a “fix it” plan
• Understand the halo effect and the laws of attraction
• Build a service recovery plan
• Position client centric services
• Understand how to influence different generations and personalities
• Understand the impacts of client’s attitude, beliefs, values and expectations
• Understand client intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence
• Keep solutions inside the client’s zones of tolerance
• Use NLP techniques to promote a sense of understanding
• Substitute words that cause unnecessary tensions and build in positive reinforcement.
• Create behavioural boundaries even when it seems impossible

The Nuts and Bolts of our ‘Dealing with Difficult Clients’ Course

This ‘Dealing with Difficult Clients’ program can be conducted as an in-house training at your organisation or virtually.

Guidelines

• Group Size: An ideal group size is 5–9 participants.

• Venue: For your convenience, you can choose to conduct this program at your offices. Alternatively, we can provide a training venue at a small additional cost.

• Duration: Each session can be modified to your timeframe.
• Cost: Upon request.
• Target Audience: Managers and staff dealing with difficult clients.

Frequently Asked Questions