What I’m reading: Gilian the Dreamer by Neil Munro
What’s on the iPod: Restless Days by The Clarks
My daughter received an interesting call last night. One of her professors – one of her favorites, in fact – called to ask a favor. It seems a student of hers has lodged a complaint about her to the dean and she was scheduled to defend herself today. The request: would it be possible to send her a copy of the letter I’d written to the dean months prior? I was on it.
This is a professor who drove five hours just to meet with my kid at her internship. This professor, in discovering that the internship promised was not the one being received, took it upon herself to chastise the company and threaten to blacklist them should they not comply with the internship requirements they themselves had written down for my kid. Those alone are actions beyond what many internship professors would bother to perform.
Yet she didn’t stop there. She called or emailed my kid every week, checking on her progress, asking what she was doing daily, and making sure the duties matched the requirements originally stated. I can’t swear to it, but I’m betting when the marketing started to slip back into telemarketing, there were a few calls made to managers.
I sent a letter back in late August to the department dean. He should know who his best professors are. Oddly, this professor never heard about the letter until my daughter mentioned it to her. The dean, being busy or unconcerned or both, didn’t mention it to the professor.
Isn’t that how it goes? Good news may travel fast, but bad news sticks like tar under feathers. I was happy to give this professor some ballast in her discussions with the dean, but I wonder why so many times the only attention paid is to the bad things?
It’s human nature. If we don’t have to fix it, it’s “Thanks!” and we move on. But bad news is something that must be dealt with, handled, and the unhappy parties have to be placated. One bad word has more impact than a slew of good words.
As freelancers, we don’t have the luxury too often of defending ourselves to unhappy clients. For us, waving a pile of letters and referrals from satisfied customers means nothing to that one person who’s upset because things don’t look or feel as they should. Like students and professors, clients and writers aren’t always going to match.
For that, we need a process.
Take away emotion. Don’t fuss and stomp because someone didn’t love your work, and certainly don’t do contortionist moves in order to please. Back up, remove your knee-jerk emotional response, and ask questions. What’s not working? How far from the client’s vision is the project result? And ask the client directly – how can I make this better for you?
Complaints don’t have to spell the end of our relationships with unhappy clients. Complaints can uncover problems in our communication style, writing style, collaborative style.
So when you get bad news from a client, how do you handle it?
12 responses to “Countering Bad News”
You have got to be kidding me. It would've taken all of 5 minutes to mention to that professor that they received your letter. A quick email, ask the assistant to do it for you or mention it in passing wouldn't have been too hard.
Of course, a copy of that letter would have been better, but the professor should've have the respect due her by at least telling her about it. If you had written a complaint, you bet the dean would have been at her side in an instant checking on it. (I assume anyway).
Exactly, Wendy. It wouldn't have taken any time at all. Maybe he didn't because I CC'd her, I don't know.
Well, I said I'd CC her on it, but had forgotten. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now, but I would have at least mentioned it had I been the dean.
I think that pretty much applies to everything unfortunately. When a company wants to get something from you (payment usually!) they're pretty quick to find you. But if it's they who must do something than it always takes a long time…at least it has been like that in my experience.
I find that remaining calm and asking how they think the problem can be solved is the best way to go. If their solution suits me than great, if not, I try to find a way to meet halfway, make concessions on both sides. It's a bit like working out a love quarrel…!
If only love quarrels were that easy, Caroline! LOL
True, they are much more complicated…but hey, I try! LOL
Atta girl, Caroline. When you figure it out, let me know. 🙂
Lori,
Your advice is my philosophy to a tee. I actually am putting myself out there with a six month guarantee I just started.
Basically, any client who signs a six month contract with me, if they are not 100% satisfied with the results as we both outlined in the contract, they will get another six months completely free. If this happens, I will take the following months to adjust how I listen. Yes, it is a big guarantee, but during a time of poor customer satisfaction, sometimes that, in itself, is what can set you apart from the crowd.
I stomp around the house and bitch and moan in private. When I cool down, I really look at what they've said and try to come up with viable solutions when it's legitimate and not just trying to wiggle out of payment.
As far as dealing with companies, as the Customer Service Complaint Bitch from Hell, I also make sure to let a company know when someone's done good work, not just bad.
Sal, that IS a big guarantee. I'm hoping no one has taken advantage of that guarantee. I worked for a resume client once whose customers were promised a 30-day guarantee. That meant every time someone wanted to tweak their resume, we writers had to do it for free. There was more than one instance of customers coming back 29 days later wanting a "revision" that was actually a complete rewrite to fit one job listing. It's the main reason I quit that client.
Devon, I love your self-imposed title. 🙂 I'm about to become UPS's worst nightmare.
As you know, I bitch to you. LOL You're good at understanding when clients are trying to avoid payment. It takes practice, but we all learn it eventually.
Well, I just announced it, so I'll get back to you in six months 😉 Having that guarantee there will do two things. First, it will make sure I keep listening to my client. Secondly, it puts a little comfort in for the client that if they don't see the results we outlined in the contract, they aren't wasting their money. In a time where people are watching their pocket books, why not give them the comfort to know they are choosing the best person for their project?
It's not a bad idea in terms of listening to your clients, Sal. From that perspective, it's a great motivator. And it is incentive for clients, amen. I just worry about those few who will drive you nuts with endless revisions and then expect a refund. I'm sure there's a way to counter that.