2.4K
Downloads
75
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
Wednesday Mar 26, 2025
Wednesday Mar 26, 2025
Imagine being your own bubbly self and getting so much hate from someone who projected their insecurities on you. This is what happened to the author and creator of Confused Girl in the City, Giovanna Silvestre.
At 25, fresh out of college, Giovanna had the opportunity to become the second assistant to a big-time director of a big-time movie at a big-time studio. As someone fresh in the industry, she assumed she worked directly under the director. Anyhow, that was cleared up as the first assistant clearly hated her guts and gave her a lot of random tasks which backfired.
When Giovanna was asked to help the director’s wife in arranging his birthday, she formed a deep relationship with the wife and immediately became everybody’s favorite—she even ended up dating their friend! The first assistant was so pissed and thought to sabotage everything by making up stories about her and eventually firing her.
There’s so much more to learn, so listen in and join the adventure!
Wednesday Feb 26, 2025
Wednesday Feb 26, 2025
There’s something quite profound about doing honest work for 23 years and losing it to an uncontrollable housing bust. Today, we are pleased to speak with Matthew (Matt) Stafford, CEO of Build Grow Scale, who is tasked to share his client's horror story for our 59th episode.
Straight out of college, Matt established a brick-and-mortar commercial concrete business which exponentially grew over the years. They’ve managed to build many Lowe’s, Costcos, and other buildings for big-name companies all over the country, traveling 200 days per year to complete every order and work on every demand for their capabilities.
Between 2007 and 2010, America was faced with a multinational financial mortgage crisis, which led to a severe economic recession, with millions losing their jobs and many businesses going bankrupt. Sadly, in 2009, what once was a bustling business turned into a blazing horror show for Matt. Large contractors came into big developments, and Matt and his company were never paid for their work. To top it all off, they got sued by their subcontractor who did their curb work.
Things immediately started to pile up, and despite a long 10-year battle of settling all of their accounts, Matt ended up losing half a million dollars as well as his love for the job. Horror upon horror, this story is going to teach you a lot of lessons, so tune in and get ready for an episode full of knowledge and guidance.
Wednesday Jan 29, 2025
Wednesday Jan 29, 2025
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!
Wednesday Dec 18, 2024
Wednesday Dec 18, 2024
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.
Wednesday Nov 20, 2024
Wednesday Nov 20, 2024
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.