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Episodes
Tales from those on the front lines of dealing with clients. Tales of difficult clients, complex situations, relationship management - and how massive client management problems were solved, and what they learned. Largely those running agencies, but all across different professional services.
Episodes
Friday May 27, 2022
Friday May 27, 2022
customer approached him asking for a large order of cupcakes from them. The company accepted the offer and this customer frequently made visits to the company.
At this point, Braden already suspected that this could be a troublesome customer to deal with because of 2 major reasons.
First, every time the customer comes in, she would taste test their products including the ones that are actual orders. It came to the point where they would make her separate samples and leave them somewhere else so she wouldn’t bother with their work.
Second, when the deal was made and the company ordered ingredients for the production, the customer threw a tantrum saying the company ordered the wrong ingredient just because the packaging was different. It was the same ingredient made by the same manufacturer, just a different packaging because it was bought in bulk.
Fortunately, the company owners dealt with the situation professionally and have proceeded. The day of the production came, everything was super hectic and stressful. What’s worse is, the customer was there doing “quality control” eating 10 cupcakes in every batch they made.
As we reach the end of the episode, Braden shares some realities about such work environments and how important the principles of trust and leadership are in every industry. Let’s hear more of Braden’s story and learn a lot of interesting things in the food industry along the way!
Tuesday May 10, 2022
Tuesday May 10, 2022
In this whiskey and wine-powered episode, Timi Orosz, founder of Connect One Marketing, shared a story where she learned three crucial things in business: communication, boundaries, and friendships. It happened when a friend of hers approached her and asked her to help him develop a branding strategy for a new business.
At that early point, a little voice in her head told her that this could lead to something troublesome, but Timi decided to push through and help her friend.
Everything went smoothly until she needed to outsource a web developer to build the business website. She found this developer with an amazing portfolio and reasonable rates, and her impression of him was great.
As they have been working together, Timi was on good communication terms with this web developer. Suddenly, the web developer went missing in action and ghosted the project. Timi had no choice but to hire another developer at a higher rate since it was already a rushed project.
As she continued working on the project, she started receiving emails directly from her friend’s teammates, asking her to fix some technical stuff. Timi’s not the technical type, but she still offered to help (thanks to Google) and suggested having a professional handle it.
Timi was disappointed in herself since she still helped them even though it was not part of her responsibilities. She was also disappointed in her friend since he didn’t communicate with her about this. Things eventually piled up until both Timi, and her friend decided to call off their partnership.
As the episode ends, Timi and Morgan share the importance of communication, setting boundaries, and friendships in business. Watch the episode to learn why you need to establish these three essential principles in business.
Tuesday Apr 12, 2022
Tuesday Apr 12, 2022
In this episode, Ari Krzyzek, the co-founder of Chykalophia, shared an exciting-turned-heartbreaking project that led her to learn how important it is to have detailed contracts and establish policies when offering digital services.
It all started when a client approached her to do an exciting project, and Ari was excited about it too. The client also recognized Ari’s expertise, saying that they are the professionals they’re looking for, which for Ari, was very warming and boosted their ego.
During the brainstorming phase of the project, Ari and her team threw lots of ideas to the client, and in return, the client wanted them to try everything out. Little did they know, this triggered the problem. So the original contract of getting 15 pages done in 5-6 months became 150+ pages and lasted for more than a year.
Since a lot of time was wasted on revisions and demands, Ari and her team were burned out from finishing the super delayed project. What’s worse is, they weren’t paid the full price.
As the episode reaches the end, Morgan and Ari share a lot of lessons and ideas preventing such things from happening. One of them is establishing a process structure and strictly following it every time a new project comes in. Watch the episode to hear more!
Friday Mar 04, 2022
Friday Mar 04, 2022
In this episode, Rachel Brenke, a multi-faceted entrepreneur and intellectual property attorney shared two stories with key takeaways: (1) Always establish good communication with your clients and (2) Know that no money is worth the stress and mistreatment.
The first story started when Rachel was diagnosed with cancer in her early 20s, but she just shrugged it off since it was “impossible” for her age. Two years later, her cancer worsened, and she had to undergo therapy.
As Rachel was about to head home after 3-day radiotherapy, she was in the elevator with her client. After that, she received an email from that client.
The second story was when a big shot photographer approached Rachel to help with a copyright infringement case. Rachel did what she was good at and produced results, aka “financial compensation” for her client’s case. However, the client had some sort of different expectations.
As the episode wraps up, Morgan and Rachel point out a lot of lessons, primarily on the good practices and preventive practices that every entrepreneur or business owner should have.
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Thursday Feb 10, 2022
Thursday Feb 10, 2022
In this episode, Morgan meets fellow Will Smith fan, Liz Wilcox. A self-employed Email Marketing Specialist from Miramar Beach, Florida.
A while ago, Liz´s was contacted by her friend because their client needed some email marketing services. And of course, she was very excited to work with her buddy.
The client worked in the funeral industry, and to begin with they thought Liz´s rate was waaay high.
In Client Horror Stories #28, Liz works with a friend, who was the middleman between her and the clients, getting in contact with grieving customers, and a client who does not believe nor let her use her usual tools.
Talking about her style and brand and her client´s persona, in Liz´s own words “If you are on a fundamental level so different from your client, that's probably a red flag that you will never make them happy”
A year later, a new marketing manager comes in, Liz goes on holiday, and when she comes back her client stopped replying to her calls.
Luckily Liz has a policy of getting paid upfront... good advice especially when your client disappears.
As in many of our stories, one key lesson to be learnt: when something feels funky, it probably is.
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