We Have the Best Clients (Bad Apples Get Let Go)
I couldn’t be happier with the group of clients that we have. Most of our clients are very easy to deal with and are more than willing to work with us. We understand that computer problems can sometimes be frustrating. We are glad that most of our clients trust that we will be able to resolve their problems. That trust goes a long way. With that trust comes patience. Patience is crucial when dealing with problem solving because some things just take time. Sometimes, there is no substitute for time.
We have had a few bad clients in the past though. I do not believe that “the customer is always right,” because sometimes, the customer is dead wrong. They may mistreat our technicians or treat them with disrespect. That is wrong. Our employees and technicians are our internal clients and we value them more than some customer with a “nasty” attitude with unreasonable expectations. Some bad clients can behave irrationally. Some clients do not understand how to use the technology, but instead of trying to learn, they blame the technology, or worse, the technician! If a client is upset but they have a reasonable complaint, then we do our best to address the issue regardless of their emotional response.
If the client has unreasonable expectations, then there is nothing we can or will do. An example of this is a customer who brings a computer in with a ton of viruses. They wanted us to remove all of the viruses and have their computer running perfectly after. We explained that with that many infections, it was likely that there was permanent damage done to the system files and that reinstallation would be the best option. They did not want to pay for reinstallation although that was exactly what was necessary in that case. Unrealistic expectation. We’ve tried in the past and the results were usually less than what we wanted. We take pride in doing good work and will likely refuse any job that will cause us to compromise our quality of work.
We do not need every single client that comes to us. We can afford to be choosy with our clientele. Our clients are our extended family and we think that it is important that we are all on the same page. We need to understand one another’s concerns. Our interests need to be in alignment. We need to be explicit about our expectations of what is or is not possible. We need to be open and honest when problems arise so that we can properly diagnose the problem and come up with a solution. Most importantly, we need to remember that we are working with each other to achieve an intended goal, not against one another. We’re only here to help.
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