Thank you for joining us for another episode of the Boss Responses podcast . Today we're going to tackle one of those tough questions what happens when you have a disagreement with a client ? My guest co-host this week , Leslie Lang , is a former journalist , turned freelance B2B content marketing writer and content strategist .
She brings amazing insights to all of the questions this week and make sure you tune in on Friday when we'll learn more about Leslie , her business and how she manages her clients . Let's go ahead and jump right into today's question . If you're a freelancer , business owner or anyone who deals with clients , you're in the right place . I'm your host , teresa Edmond .
I've been dealing with clients and running my business for nearly two decades and in that time I've dealt with my share of doubt , imposter syndrome and not knowing what to say when a client asks a question I wasn't ready for . I created this podcast to empower you with the Boss Responses you need to grow your business .
Each week , my guest co-host and I will bring you five episodes packed with practical insights . Monday through Thursday , we answer your questions , and Fridays we dive deep to explore how our co-host embraced their role as the boss of their business . Welcome to Boss Responses , leslie . Thank you for being my co-host this week . Thank you for having me .
Our question today is this I love working with my clients . Until there is a disagreement or conflict , then I'm immediately stressed and have a hard time staying professional . How can I handle disputes without escalating the situation and potentially losing the client ?
This is a difficult one , because the first- thing I have to say is if you're regularly having disagreements or conflicts , you need to figure out why , because that might be something that you're doing where you're not managing the client correctly . Or maybe you're just touchy , because all of us have those days .
If it's a rare thing , but it just completely throws you for a loop , then I say don't respond immediately . Say this is something I need to think about . Let me get back to you If you're always on the phone . You're always on the phone . I need to think about let me get back to you If you're on a call .
If you're not on a call and it's an email , leave it for 24 hours . Say I've received your email , I'll respond back to this tomorrow . Give yourself time to step back from the situation and decide how you want to answer it professionally and then move on . But yeah , at all costs avoid escalating the dispute .
One of the biggest things I've done and that I recommend is to not make it about the person . If the person's being difficult , or if the person says you're being difficult , then immediately switch it to the project or your business . So if it's a project related issue , say this project's very important to both of us .
I want to make sure that we're in alignment on this and then move forward . If they're saying something about one of your decisions , just say that's a business decision that I've made . I'm not willing to waver on that at this point . I would like to move forward . Here are the options we have for doing that .
Just be very clear , cut and dried and be empathetic . If it's a situation where you did say something maybe because all of us make mistakes that just got their backup .
And when in doubt , if your client is consistently sending you emails and you feel like they're confrontational , get in a call with them instead , or a Zoom call , because some people just write really bad emails . What do you think , leslie ?
Well , that's a great point , that speaking can always make a difference . I agree with that completely . I'm going to call this a great idea . I also agree that I don't think there should be a lot of disagreement or conflict . I don't find that in my own business and if there is , then you really need to stop and figure out .
Why Are you working with the wrong kind of clients ? So you're working with people who are not professional , or maybe is it ? You Are you doing something that's not professional , so I think you need to think about that . But yes , I would definitely suggest editors or whoever you're working with .
We're all just people , and I think it's important to keep that in mind . If there's something that you're not sure of , don't let it get to that point . Talk about it , ask questions . Sometimes it might seem like a dumb question , but it probably isn't . I'm just not clear on this . Can you explain this part of it and how this works ?
Try to keep it from escalating into a situation that is going to cause problems and you'll be much better off .
Yeah , and one of the things I see in this situation is a lot of freelancers who are new to freelancing come into it with an employee mindset . So they feel like their clients are constantly telling them what to do and how to do it , and they might be because of the mindset that you're in .
You might be leading them to give you instruction rather than them asking you to use your expertise . The other thing I see is the flip side of that coin , where they're transitioning from employee mindset to business leader mindset . This is my business , I'm the boss of it , and they take it too far .
So sometimes , if you feel like you're in that situation , look at your mindset . Where are you ? Is it your thought process ? Is it how you're looking at things ? And if you're really trying to boss your client , that's not your job .
You are the boss of your business , the client is the boss of their business and you are doing them a service , which means you're serving them on this project . So whenever you are leading your clients , you're leading almost from a position of servant leadership .
You're really guiding them through the process as the expert in the process , but you're doing it very confidently , knowing what you're doing . And if you do it that way , you're much less likely to have disagreements or conflicts , because they're going to respect you as the expert in the situation from the very beginning . So that's the advice I have on that one .
Any last words on this , leslie ?
Oh , I just I agree completely with what you're saying and I would say that when you're a freelancer , working with other people is as much a part of the skill you need to develop as what you're actually doing the writing or the editing or the content strategy . So it's something you don't want to cross too strong , you don't want to be a pushover .
It's something you need to work on learning how to do . Very true .
All right , thank you very much . We'll be back tomorrow with another question .