How To Tell Your Client You Messed Up! Not Today Blog 17

I have seen everything that can go wrong, go wrong in the last five years. The most difficult thing is to tell your client that you have messed up.

Setbacks

I was the worst electronics technician in my year, who completed his apprenticeship in 2015. It is common sense that has put me in the position of a project manager for the manufacturing and installation of industrial plants for the past 5 years.

The job has challenges. The reason I can keep this up until today is because I have come back from every setback that has happened. I have seen that there is nothing that you cannot fix.

Things Go Wrong

I have made or experienced every mistake there is in project management – in running a company, really.

Losing high five-digit amounts due to miscalculations, incorrect or lost deliveries, trucks stuck at borders for days because of faulty transport documents, oil- and gas leakages, internal fraud, leaked client information, phishing attacks where my invoice to my client was intercepted and forwarded with new bank information, an explosion where my colleague flew eight metres away through the shock wave, just to name a few.

My favourite one was when I blindly walked into a meeting in ripped jeans and a polo shirt, only to find out that I was meeting Indonesia’s environment minister and investors, all in suits. “Just go into that meeting and answer if they have questions about our company, Danny”. Yeah, fuck you haha!

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
Michael Jordan

Here Is What I Learned

There was not one problem that I could not solve. There is always a way. A lot of the time, finding the solution to a problem is not the biggest challenge. Communicating the mistakes is. Angry clients, superiors, friends, or family members can disturb your mental health.

There are ways to steer through the storm and stay sane. Here are nine points that I follow in confrontation with a client.

1. Say ‘I’ instead of ‘we’

Taking responsibility makes a major difference when things go wrong. You do not want to make your counterpart feel that you are trying to hide behind someone. Yes, you might not be the one who messed up. Sometimes taking the blame shows your client that you are aware of the situation and that it will be taken care of. They know you do not want to be remembered that way.

2. Be honest

I have lied and it always made things worse. Lying is fear. You think you can gain an advantage by making up reasons as to why things went wrong. This is not something between you and your client anymore; this is only happening inside you. You suppress your fear for a moment. Instead, be honest! Tell them that you fucked up. Your client will be angry anyway but that is not important here. By being honest you are conquering the fear inside yourself. That is one opponent less. Oh, and I am sorry to tell you this, but your client is not stupid.

3. Forgive

It is extraordinarily hard but tries to assume good intent. Your colleague or your supplier might have said or done something that annoyed you. But you do not know the full story. You need to solve a problem right now and the last thing you want is your decisions being influenced by your mood. Assuming good intentions, is again, something that can make a big difference to your mental state and to everyone else around you.

4. Keep your emails short and precise

Do not write, that your team had a “very busy” week and that you are therefore expecting a delay. The “very” does not add anything. Getting rid of extra words makes your message sound more determined. Being concise can show your awareness of the situation to your client or make it clear to your team member/supplier what is at stake. Be straight to the point.

5. Do not give false hope

Do not say that we might possibly be delayed. There is going to be a delay, you know it. It is crucial that you inform your customer. The earlier you confess, the better. If, in the end, you do make it on time – all the better. If your client asks to have this as an official letter, do not call it “notification of potential delay”, call it “notification of delay”. It is not the right moment.

6. Be persistent

Be tough now more than ever. Focus your energy on solving this problem. Be annoying, exhausting, demanding, challenging to make it happen. Be all that.

7. Take the call

You will not be better prepared at a later point. Take the call. Respond to the email. Do not ignore the client who is chasing you for an answer. It is okay to say something wrong on the phone. You do not know any better right now. There is nothing you cannot get back from. You can call back and clarify.

8. Remember you are dealing with people

At the other end of every email, there is a person. They are as stressed as you are. You do not know what they are going through. They will work with you again, don’t worry.

9. The closer you get to finishing a project the more goes wrong

That is how it is. It has always been. Show yourself how much you really want it. The only way is through.

Before a dream is realised, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which most people give up.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Why Not Today

I set myself the goal to run 352 km in the last 3 months of 2020. It took me nine months to run 398 km. I am going to finish this year with 750 kilometres of running.

Do something hard. Why not today resume a project, set a crazy goal, or call somebody to tell them that you messed up and then go solve it. But I want you to persevere. You are going to finish this.

No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm.
Charles Kettering

Thanks Mon x