How to deal with dissatisfied clients?

Firstly, it’s important to understand: dissatisfied clients will always exist, and the more you grow, the more there will be.

And that’s perfectly normal, you just need to be prepared for it.

My philosophy and interaction structure if a client is dissatisfied and wants to terminate our collaboration:

It doesn’t mean that I or my team are bad.

It’s important to discuss this because in the heat of the moment, it’s easy to take it personally and emotionally beat yourself up thinking, “I’m a bad expert,” etc. But that’s not true.

In most cases, client dissatisfaction stems from unmet expectations, not reality.

And here, it’s crucial to understand how these expectations were formed initially and how to meet them.

Give the client a chance to speak up.

In such cases, the instinct might be to end the collaboration and not communicate. But the best thing you can do is offer a call to discuss everything.

When clients are dissatisfied, they want to express themselves, and it’s better for them to tell you everything rather than venting to someone else.

So, at this stage, I suggest a call and attentively listen, asking additional questions.

It’s important to inquire how the client envisioned the ideal interaction in specific cases, what we could have done better, and how to avoid repeating such mistakes in the future.

Restore the balance.

Dissatisfaction is a disruption of balance; the client feels they’ve given more than received.

At this stage, it’s crucial to restore this balance. How can we do that? By offering something extra.

For instance, when we had a dissatisfied client at the agency last time, at the end of our sourcing collaboration, we provided them with an additional candidate database. This wasn’t discussed initially, but we saw it would be beneficial, showing them what they paid for.

Once, when a girl at a training was dissatisfied with the lack of information specifically about LinkedIn, I invited an external speaker, and we organized an additional webinar.

I’ll add one thing: after this stage, clients sincerely thank you, and communication changes entirely, but it’s essential to provide something genuinely valuable to the client.

Analyze for future improvements and implement them.

After the call, take a cold-headed look at all the arguments and analyze the situation, deciding what can be improved and how to avoid such situations in the future.

For example, in the agency, we realized that additional bi-weekly calls would help keep clients informed of our work, and that’s how we once introduced weekly reports, transparently showcasing our process.

Important note: dissatisfied clients are the engine of your business; thanks to their detailed feedback, you can significantly improve your service and product. So, listen carefully because it’s very valuable information for you, and when you understand this, you begin to sincerely thank them.

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