The Abusive Customer
January 2005
The Customer Is Always Right, Except When He's Abusive
One of our client's just saved $35,000 in payroll labor this year when he stood up to a customer who consistently manipulated contracts and legal terminology to bully his way into additional services without being willing to pay for them. Our client called it “scope creep”. We called it a situation that called for inner wisdom. D (our client) knew in his heart he was being taken advantage of and that this bully was his opportunity to stand up for himself and discover courage for the first time in his professional life. He knew he had to face his own fear as much as the bully. We assured him we all have our own “boogie man” and that rationalizing away the problem was an expensive exercise that kept him imprisoned and unhappy. D took the coaching and over a few months: he fired the client and took him to court for past due invoices; he went out and found new clients to work with in a new way; he created a change order process to avoid confusion in the future; he felt a sense of freedom he'd never experienced! At the end of the year, he'd found enough new business without the abusive client to be up over 10% over the past year.
D's problem isn't yours - it's easy to see our way through other people's stuff - but what are you struggling with? Is it time to get a fresh perspective on something that's keeping you awake at night? Contact our office at 503-632-8542.