Don’t look back in anger

We all get angry from time to time. From Russell Crowe hurling telephones at hotel staff, Gordon Brown’s alleged verbal tirades, to the famous incident involving Alex Ferguson, David Beckham and a football boot – anger is an emotion that affects us all.

Clients are no different and equally have the capacity to get angry. While not every client resorts to throwing footwear when things don’t go right, accountants do need to know how to deal with difficult situations to ensure clients feel listened to and understood.

Before any new client relationship gets underway, make strenuous efforts to understand their needs – this will go some way to avoiding a difficult situation further down the line. You can do this by asking questions which explore their expectations. If you manage expectations now you can avoid misunderstandings later on. You should also find out just how the client likes to do business, how much they want to be involved in any processes, and confirm all fees and costings so confusion (and irritation) doesn’t occur later on.

No matter how much groundwork you lay, difficult client situations can still arise. If things do go wrong, meet with the client and try to sort out any problems face-to-face.

If your client is angry, take a step back and try to be objective in assessing the problem and share with the client what you want to achieve. Pitch this to them as an invitation to join you as a partner in resolving the situation.

This gives you scope to explore both sides of the argument and gives you the chance to listen to their perspective. Dig deep, use open questions and ask for their view of what happened. Acknowledge feelings behind the arguments (this is not the same as agreeing) and try to unravel how the two of you arrived at this point.

Lastly, be creative. Invent options that will satisfy the most important concerns of both parties and discuss how you will improve communication channels to prevent a similar misunderstanding recurring. As is often the case, communication is key to getting you both back on track and much less painful than a telephone in the eye.

Jack Downton is the managing director of The Influence Business