The Customer IS (NOT) Always Right

The famous phrase “The customer is always right” seems to equally haunt service providers and customers (the case being that when you personally are a customer, somehow you are rarely right). However, if your role is the one of the event manager, then this saying will become your reality and what you need is to abide it. The good thing is that you do not have to follow blindly what your clients insist on, rather just show them what they want and convince them that it is the perfect choice. Customers will be wrong and do wrong by you, the question is how to handle the situation and get the contract, or keep it. Our years of practice have accumulated invaluable experience out of which we chose some of the situations to illustrate the problems and the ways in which those can be handled.

Handling clients who want discounts on your services

Your service is too expensive – I want a discount

What an outrageous comment! (usually the first thought that springs to mind). Clients do that, they are not interested in the way you were determining the prices of your services with the aim of making everyone satisfied. They are not there because of that. The first step to dealing with the situation is to accept it. The service business is a place to haggle and to try to pay less. Do not go all personal and offended if they try to make your service less valuable, but:

• be calm and polite
• make a detailed description of what you offer and prove they are getting more than they are paying for
• present your portfolio and refer to some of the satisfied clients.

You will reassure yourself, which is something we so often need, and then you will be in an advantageous position of closing the deal. In the end, if you do not care about keeping this client, you can always instruct them to find the company that suits their needs more.

Managing clients seeking original and unique events

I want my event to be original and unique.

Fairytale weddings are the least of your worries (those are carried out on daily basis anyway), but kid’s parties, bar mitzvahs and sweet sixteen(s) with daughters that want to shine and parents to outshine other parents can take serious proportions when it comes to the word original. Of course you will organize event in accordance to the client’s wishes and yes some of the wishes will be unrealistic or just bad but customers will be reluctant to see that. Then, it’s your job to point that out to the client and suggest a better way. How to do it? It is not always easy for sure, because people in general don’t like when someone is questioning their ideas or plans, especially when they are paying for it. Follow these steps until one of them bears fruit: – Instead of saying that the event must be organized in another way, you should say that based on your previous experience you believe the event should be carried out differently if they expect success. – If not then either list all that can go wrong or give concrete examples. – In case there is nothing you can do to reassure the client and at the same time you are certain that organizing unrealistic event will be a disaster and that it will be bad for your reputation, turn down the offer.

Dealing with aggressive and difficult clients

Aggressive and unpleasant clients are never right (even when they are).

You should never allow client to act in a bad way towards you or your employees; regardless of the amount of work that they bring. Never put money before your dignity and the dignity and safety of your employees. If you conclude that such client’s behavior is common and reoccurring, do not do business with them.

Addressing complaints about service quality

Your service has not been satisfactory.

It can happen sometimes that the situation and circumstances really delivered a bad event. In that case, you and your company probably already have an established procedure which involves discounts or apology gifts. Nevertheless, when the client claims without any obvious reason that your service did not make them happy, you need to act so as to protect yourself. Start with trying to:

• talk yourself out of the situation
• inform them thoroughly about the event and the results and insist on the fact that everyone else thinks the same.
• request a written complain and keep it filed in case of a dispute and prepare employees and associates for eventual testimony.

Firstly, before taking any action in any of the situations – make sure you’re right. Always defend your employees, take care about your reputation and the reputation of your company. Never accept jobs that can adversely affect the business in the future, no matter how much money they could bring. Stick to your principles and do not sell your services under the price list. If you do this for one client you will have to do it for another one too. In the end, with some clients, there will be no need for you to question your expertise and the very event set up. How so? Well, sometimes – clients are just so plainly wrong and you will have no troubles realizing that. Consequently, you learn and see how not to waste your energy and resources on fixing something that needn’t be fixed in the first place. On the other hand, as a great event manager, you will continuously try to do your best, make customers satisfied and coming back.