Have you had a professional disagreement with someone at work? Has the souring of your relationship led to losses or made it difficult to get through your workday? Having a disagreement with a client can be a very uncomfortable situation. For many professionals, their day is not the same afterwards. They lose focus, and they begin to only think about how to repair or salvage the professional relationship. However, with the right professional attitude, you can use your customer relationship management software, or CRM tool, to restore your relationship with your client.
Look at the Client’s Perspective
Relationships don’t just turn bad for no reason. If your client is giving you a frosty attitude or not returning your calls, there is likely a reason. Use your CRM tool to look back at your recent communications with them. Maybe you didn’t come through on a promise, or you forgot to follow up on a conversation. Maybe you pushed too hard or over-communicated. You could have even overlooked an email, and it’s you who are ignoring the client, not the other way around. Use your CRM software to go through records and identify the issue.
Have Empathy
Another way to build a better and lasting relationship with a client is through empathy. When repairing a soured work connection, many clients hope to see compassion and an effort to make things better. Most of all, you should always have a caring and understanding attitude when talking to your clients. What seems right for you may not always go over well with your client.
Give Up the “I’m Right” Attitude
If you tend to carry a prideful attitude when working, you will have to leave behind the ego when repairing a soured relationship. Once you realize that the professional alliance needs to be repaired, you cannot let yourself get stuck in thinking about who was right or wrong. If you are wanting to repair the relationship, you have to understand where the disagreement came from and move forward in hopes of building a better outcome. Being stuck on the idea of how you were right will only push the client away and leave you without any chance of having a flourishing professional bond.
Apologize
After acknowledging the soured relationship with a client, the client is owed an apology first and foremost. You cannot have a meaningful professional relationship without understanding what an apology means to a client. Even if you feel you are right, apologizing to the client will show them how much you value the professional relationship. Your ego should never be too big for an apology. Clients appreciate heartfelt apologies and will likely be willing to give you a second change if your show you are sincere.
There is no such thing as having a perfect relationship, not even professionally. This is why it is important to work hard to meet each other in the middle when building something professional and lasting. If you’re looking for the best CRM tool to manage your customer relationships, Contact Ninja has the tool for you. Contact us today!
