November 16, 2020
How to Deal With Difficult Clients
How To Deal With Difficult Clients
So just in case you think itâs only you thatâs had a difficult client, let me clear something up really quick:
ALL of us in the service business have had a difficult client or two (or 7…) in our day. If you own an online business, customer service is inevitable: youâll experience a difficult client at some point, if you havenât already.
Since we know that dealing with difficult clients is inevitable in your online coaching or service-based business, I think the biggest challenge is to stay calm and know what to do with difficult customers.
Do you âfireâ them as clients? Can you?! Should you talk with them face-to-face before you do? And what about refunds? Do you owe them their money back if they already paid for your products and services?
Knowing what to do about difficult clients comes down to a few basic things:
- Having your legal stuff together so you can at least take a deep breath, knowing you’re legally protected with legit contracts, policies and insurance.
- Knowing what your rights & responsibilities are as a business owner so you’re not left wondering what you can do with your PITA client &
- Making an empowered decision about how to handle your difficult client relationship, based on what you know you’re allowed to do.
If youâre ready to know what to do about difficult clients (besides practicing deep breathing), letâs get into it…
There are a number of things you can do to try to avoid difficult clients. But even with all the preventative tips in the world, sometimes things just happen and you get a difficult client anyway. Here are a few tips to dealing with a difficult client:
Attract the Right Clients from the Start:
As much as you can, itâs really important to try to work with the right clients from the start. That way, you can avoid any issues around misunderstandings of who you are and what you do, whatâs included in your program, etc.Â
When I taught you about what to do if a client doesnât pay you, I shared about how a non-paying client is often an invitation to reflect on how and why you ended up there. Sometimes thereâs nothing we did âwrong” persay. Sometimes itâs that we worked with someone we shouldnât have to begin with.
Attracting the right clients really comes down to you:
- Being really clear on who youâre here to serve and who youâre not.
- Knowing exactly what offers you have, what they include and what they donât.
- Clearly communicating who youâre able to work with and truly help.
- Turning away or referring out clients you canât help, because of your scope of practice or the clientâs needs.
- Having an onboarding process that âweeds outâ the clients who arenât a good fit.
Setting Expectations:
By setting the right expectations with clients from the start, you can avoid a lot of the âI thought you were going toâŚâ types of conversations down the line.Â
There are a number of places in your business that you can set expectations with clients before they turn difficult:
- In your copy and language you use to attract customers. Are you doing or saying something that could potentially attract difficult clients?
- Make it not-super-easy to sign up to chat or work with you. You should want to work with people who really need your help and who are excited to sign up with you.
- Talk it out. If you have a discovery call or connect with someone before they work with you, clearly communicate what they can expect from you or your program so there are no disappointments later on.
Communicate with Your Clients:
If you want your client relationships to run smoothly, you should make sure your relationship is built on a foundation of trust and communication from the start. Make sure your client knows that he/she should come to you with any questions or concerns about your work together.
At the same time, you have to build rapport and make it comfortable for your client to feel like he/she can come to you safely. You want to practice active listening and really hear how your client feels.
If your client feels like youâre going to shut them down or get angry if they share their concerns, they may never come to you with it in the first place. Sometimes these miscommunications are the ones that lead to client problems.
Anytime you can meet with your client face-to-face (even via Zoom or FaceTime!) and actively listen to how your client feels, your chances of effectively communicating and working through an issue skyrocket.
Keep it Professional:
Itâs easy to fall into a habit of communicating with your clients in really informal ways: voice notes, Voxer, DMs, text messages etc. But for the purposes of dealing with a difficult client, you really should start to move towards professional communication (I.e., email, snail mail if stuff gets really serious) instead.
That way, if anything ever heated up, you weren’t able to resolve the issue, and the client wanted to cancel their contract or ask for a refund, youâd have the (legal) proof of communication youâd need to defend yourself. (Many times, things like DMs or texts arenât going to be legally âvalidâ and so they wonât protect you.)
Know your boundaries & stay there:
So much of dealing with difficult clients has to do with actually knowing your boundaries as a coach and staying in them. After 4+ years in online business I can tell you. Sometimes people will push and try to get more out of you than they paid for.Â
Sure, itâs easy to get mad at them and think, âwhy would they even ask me for that?!â Or âwhy would they request a refund when I said âno refundsâ?!â Or âwhy does this lady keep not showing up for our calls⌠doesnât she know Iâm sitting here waiting for her? And now she wants to reschedule next week without losing her session?!â…
But really, it comes down to us. It comes down to us:
- Having the legal policies clearly written and in place so that people know what our boundaries are; and
- Upholding our boundaries when push comes to shove.
Know When To Terminate Relationships with Difficult Clients
Itâs hard to know when you should actually say bye bye to a difficult client. And when you should hang on and work through out. I actually get a lot of questions from people wondering whether they *can* say goodbye to a difficult client.
Hereâs when to terminate a relationship with a difficult client (in my humble opinion):
When Youâre Outside Your Scope of Practice:
Hands down the #1 most important time to get out of a relationship with a difficult client is when theyâre asking you to do something outside your scope of practice. Your scope of practice is what youâre legally allowed to do/not do based on how youâre certified, licensed, educated, trained, etc. and what the laws are surrounding your qualifications. (Learn what your scope is here.)
Legally speaking, this is by far the most important step. Because it wonât matter that you had someone sign a contract or that you have a website disclaimer saying âIâm not your doctor/lawyer/therapist/accountant/advisor/etc.â â all that will matter is whether you actually gave them advice on a topic thatâs outside what youâre legally allowed to offer.
If a difficult client isnât listening to you about something being outside your scope (and especially if you communicated that clearly at the outset and didnât advertise otherwise), itâs important to cut ties.
Threatening or Abusive:
I think this one goes without saying, but if your client is threatening you in any way or making you uncomfortable to work with them, itâs important to sever that relationship.Â
Youâre wasting emotional & mental energy:
So many people reach out to me asking whether they can legally cut ties with a client. Or whether they can legally go after a client who owes them money. But after looking at what youâre âlegally allowedâ to do, I always ask:
âIs it worth it?â
If a clientâs taking up loads of mental and emotional space from you AND they want to be let go of their contract⌠let them. Say bye bye and thank them later. Honestly, theyâve done you a favor.
I know, I know. You were depending on the money you thought you had coming in from that client. But Iâm telling you, by letting this difficult client go, you can buy back so much mental and emotional space. Youâll feel so much more energized to attract a new client whoâs actually a good fit. (And who wants to pay you on time, show up to calls, respects your scope of practice, etc.)
Dealing With Difficult Clients That Want A Refund
You should and must have a clear refund policy in your website policies (for online purchases) and client contracts (for client work and program sales) if you want to enforce any refund policy at all.
But even with a rock solid refund policy like the one thatâs built in to all of my DIY Legal Templates, difficult customers will still ask for a refund.
The question then is, do you really want to give them one?
Thereâs a difference between legally having the right to deny someoneâs refund request (which, if you have things setup properly, youâre probably within your rights) and wanting to keep someone around.
If a difficult client asks for a refund AND you donât want to work with that person anyway, I say let them go (and DON’T feel bad about having to do so). Not because you donât have the legal right â but because youâre actually costing your business money in the long run. Hear me out.
If you deny this difficult clientâs refund request, youâre almost guaranteeing yourself that theyâre going to threaten you with a lawyer or actually go to a lawyer to send you a nasty letter. Worse case scenario, they go to a lawyer and try to sue you to get their money back.
Itâs not worth your time or energy because it will cost you money to defend yourself AND youâll waste loads of energy that couldâve gone towards attracting new clients instead.
Of course refunds are really case-by-case scenarios. There are times when you shouldnât honor a refund request and you should let the difficult client have her temper tantrum.
But I think more often than not, in the cost benefit analysis of âdo I really want to deal with this person,â itâs best to let them go.Â
Reflection Questions:
Just like you should when a client doesn’t pay you, I also think difficult client situations calls for reflection and self evaluation. Ask yourself:
- What could I have done differently in attracting this client?
- What could I have done differently in communicating with this client?
- Were there any legal pieces I was missing that made me feel like I didnât have the right to enforce my refund policy? How can I fix that?
- Is there anything I can take away from this experience that would prevent a future client from requesting a refund?
Every experience you have in your business is an opportunity to reflect and see how you can improve for the next time. If we can stay calm and think through what role we played in this relationship, too, then we can move towards healing.
But more than anything, dealing with difficult clients is mostly about:
- Having the right legal pieces in place to protect yourself (since you canât control everything)
- Knowing what your legal rights are
- Staying in your boundaries AND scope of practice
- Taking action to protect yourself and your business.
Next Step: Watch my free legal workshop
If youâre ready to legally protect your business and have the legal knowledge you need to know what to do with difficult clients, watch my free workshop â5 Steps to Legally Protect & Grow Your Online Businessâ right now by saving your seat here.
In that workshop, youâll learn:Â
- How contracts can actually save your (vegan, GF) bacon — if you have the right one.
- What your website needs to be legally protected.
- How to keep copycats off your content.
- The mindset shift youâve got to make if you want to actually grow your business without looking over your (online) shoulder.
- The only way to form your business so that youâre personally and professionally protected.
Ready to watch? Sign up for my free legal workshop right here:
And before you go, drop me a comment below and let me know if this post was helpful in helping you learn how to navigate difficult client relationships. Any questions? Drop those too!Â
So What Do you think?