Sticky,Situations,with,Clients business, insurance Sticky Situations with Clients

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A customer breaks hisword, chews out someone on your staff or keeps calling you in the middle of thenight.  What do you do?  Do you shrug it off, remembering the customeris always right?  When looking at stickysituations with clients, we sometimes decide to put our heads in the sand.  Maybe those clients are a bit difficult towork with, but they bring us lots of business, right?  Is the business they bring us really worththe trouble?  Are valued employeesdeserting you while you keep that pesky client? Are you loosing much-needed sleep while you struggle over what to doabout this client? Are you suffering inside because of what a client is puttingyou through?  How much value does thisclient really bring?Where do we drawthe line in the sand?In my book ManagingSticky Situations at Work, I reveal three Decision Points that help guide youwhen dealing with any sticky situation. Working through those points will help you answer these questions,particularly for client related situations. Let’s examine what the Decision Points are and how you might apply thatto a sticky situation with a client.Define the Cost.  What is the cost for acting?  When you are dealing with a client, you mustask yourself, what will it cost my business if I lose this client?  You must also ask, what will it cost mybusiness if I keep this client?  What arethe costs for not acting?  If you saynothing, do nothing, what are you giving up? Is this client worth the anxiety and frustration?  Too often we don’t consider the costs.  Instead we plough along as if we had nochoice.  In MichaelPort’sbest-selling book, Book Yourself Solid, he gives us all permission to fireclients.  His premise is that someclients cause our business to stagger under the weight. Set the Limits.  When you go into a sticky situation, it helpsfor you to set your limits.  What are youwilling to do?  What are you not willingto do?  When you know what your limitsare, you know when you’ve gone over the line. With clients, you may decide to allow them some leeway, but howmuch?  This is your decision, but onceyou make it, you must be clear both to yourself and to your client.Determine the PowerSource. Who has the power?  Are youfeeling powerless?  When we feelpowerless, any situation becomes stickier. Clients make us feel powerless. We believe they hold all the cards. But, do they really?  Considerwhat you bring to the table.  Is yourproduct or service of value to your client? How willing is your client to give up that product or service?  Think about the value you add to thatclient’s business. Let’s look at a stickyclient situation and see how we might apply the three Decision Points.Mary runs a high classday spa.  She attracts clients fromthroughout the region and has created an excellent reputation for her services.  Recently she negotiated a deal with a nearbyhotel.  The hotel owner wishes to useMary’s spa for his customers.  He wantsthem to have access to the spa as a service the hotel will provide itsguests.  Mary has worked months innegotiating this deal.  Now that thepapers are signed and the deal set, the hotel manager, Rick, comes to Mary andrequests that she devote part of her facility to his guests.  He wants her to make that part of herfacility off-limits to her regular customers. This was not part of the original contract and it presents a number ofproblems for Mary.  First, her staff must“police” that part of the spa.  They mustmake sure the users are hotel guests and not other clients.  Second, Mary has regular clients who enjoyusing certain parts of the spa.  They mayconsider themselves second-class citizens if they are told they cannot use thespa on certain days because of the hotel guests.Determine thecosts.  Mary looks at the contract she’snegotiated with Rick.  If she does not act,she risks alienating her regular clients. Furthermore, she senses disgruntlement on the part of the staff.  She’d hate to lose valued staff over thisissue.  If Mary does act, she riskslosing the contract all together.  Rickmay decide to move his business elsewhere. Mary spent weeks negotiating with Rick. What he brings to the table is a steady client base with a guaranteedminimum income. Set the Limits.  If Mary decides to talk to Rick, she mustdetermine what she is willing to do.  Ifshe allows Rick to take over a third of her facility three days a week, thismight jeopardize her current business. Rick cannot guarantee that the hotel guests will use the spa; he simplywants it available to them.  Mary couldhave a third of her spa unused and unavailable to her current clients.  She decides that she cannot lose the bulk ofher business over this issue.  Shedecides that she will allow Rick to have first access to the space he’srequested.  If within twenty-four hours,his guests have not made reservations for the spa, she can release the space toher current clients.Determine the powersources.  At first Mary felt as if Rickhad all the power.  He offers to bring asteady stream of clients to Mary.  He hadthe power to make demands on her.  Marynow realizes that she brings to Rick a high quality spa facility with excellentstaff.  She knows that no other spa inthe area can compete with her as far as quality goes.  Rick is very interested in associating withMary because of the reputation she’s established.  Once Mary recognizes her own power sources,she is in a better position to talk to Rick and negotiate with him.Even though we worryabout losing valued clients when we face sticky situations with them, we havechoices.  The Decision Points enable usto carefully consider those choices.