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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
Jan 29, 2025
Jan 29, 2025
1 hr 2 min
Are you ready for another client horror story? Today might just be your lucky day! We’re going into an in-depth and hair-raising conversation with Matthew Fornaro, a respected business lawyer.
Over four years ago, Matthew made a decision to take on a real estate litigation with a family consisting of two elders and a daughter who had authoritarian control over her parents. They rented a home in a beautiful gated community in Naples, Florida, and made a deal with the neighbor across the street. What was the deal? Well, they asked him to take over his house, perform the upkeep, and eventually purchase the home for a lower market value upon the end of their lease term on their house across the street. First red flag? There wasn’t any written contract but a term sheet which contained under 20 words scribbled all over the page.
The homeowner’s son visited him and learned about the deal and was obviously unhappy about it. There was a lot of hullabaloo and in the end, the renting family went to a title agent and got all the work done to get ready for the sale and said the homeowner agreed to it. The son then steps in and everyone sues everybody.
Fast forward, everyone is now in court, where a jury trial was demanded by the daughter. They came to an agreement and settled on a good deal, but little did everyone know that the roller coaster was about to happen.
If you’d like to know how the story ended, watch the episode now! Trust me, you won’t regret it!
Dec 18, 2024
Dec 18, 2024
32 min
In today’s episode with Mickie Kennedy, President of eReleases, we will hear about a harrowing client horror story that happened when he was just 4 meager years into his business.
Mickie has a press release distribution business he has been running for more than 25 years now. At such an early start, he was approached by a client from a music conservatory for a press release. After negotiations and a lot of discussion, the project was initiated. Eventually, he received a check from FedEx for the client’s payment. He cashed it in and was then informed by the bank that the checks were—surprise, surprise—fakes!
He then went to file a report to the police, who only told him they weren’t going to do much to help since the amount was only less than a thousand dollars. Mickie was advised to take the matter to small claims court. His client was also informed and got a bit scared and asked him if he could pay via credit card. He trusted his client and 2 months later, he received a charge-back on his account.
What a roller coaster! The PR world is full of these stories, so dive right into the episode to learn more about it.
Nov 20, 2024
Nov 20, 2024
41 min
In the latest episode of Client Horror Stories, David Bates, an Executive Coach at Paravelle, LLC, shares a harrowing experience from his days as a consultant. David recalls being assigned to check on a major pharmaceutical project in town, a task given to him simply because he was the only team member residing in the area. What seemed like a routine check quickly spiraled into a nightmare.
Upon arriving at the training session, David faced an unexpected crisis. The project sponsor abruptly canceled the training during the first break, declaring the content unnecessary. Determined to salvage the situation, David tried to work things out with a particular team member. However, the situation deteriorated further when the big pharma stakeholders invited him to lunch. What started as a seemingly cordial meeting turned into a coordinated attack, with the stakeholders confronting him about the project's shortcomings and ultimate failure.
David's story is a gripping reminder of the unpredictable challenges consultants can face, even in seemingly straightforward situations.
If you'd like to hear more about how David navigated this complex situation and the lessons he learned, be sure to check out the full episode of Client Horror Stories.
Oct 23, 2024
Oct 23, 2024
56 min
In this episode, we are joined by John C. Morley, Serial Entrepreneur Engineer, Marketing Specialist, Talk Show Host, and First Responder, for our exciting new episode of Client Horror Stories. John doesn’t only talk about a single client horror story, but three! However, we’re here to give you a quick look into the conversation.
We’re going to start with John’s two-decade-long client who decided to let him go after telling him that John was just squeezing him out for money. After so much back and forth, their relationship ended and the lawyer hired a different person. What sucked is that the new hire pretended to be John while calling a firewall manufacturer just to get through.
If you think that’s a nut case, wait until you hear the rest of what John has to say. Today’s episode is not just a recall; it’s an episode filled with new learnings and realizations to give you a new perspective on how things should be handled.
Sep 25, 2024
Sep 25, 2024
47 min
In today’s episode of Client Horror Stories, we welcome Mark Michael, CEO and co-Founder of DevHub. While Michael has had a lot of ups and downs in the customer side of things, one experience always stands out.
We all know the NFL, and luckily enough, Mark was given an opportunity to work with a high-profile player. The idea was to create a custom CRM built for all NFL players to make their daily lives manageable. All went well until the client refused to provide a card on file to pay for subscriptions and hostings, and it all stretched out until he wouldn’t even pay for anything else despite 50% of the work being finished.
Just like everyone else, Mark reached his tipping point and put the client in his right place. If you want to know what happens next, check out this episode!