You: I hate my clients. They’re angry, stressed out, demanding, and impatient. They blame me for everything and are making me miserable. I don’t know if I can do a good job for people I can’t stand to be around. Do you have any advice?
Me: If you are delivering a perfunctory service–preparing a document, a few court appearances, basic work where you don’t have to see the client that often, just focus on the work. Or, focus on the money they’re paying you.
If you’re talking about an ongoing relationship, where you have to deal with the client closely over a long period of time, a difficult client is more challenging. The way I see it, there are three things you can do:
1. Be honest. Tell the client you need to talk to them about something important and ask permission to be candid. Then, tell them how you feel. Explain that you understand what they’re going through, but when they take out their anger and frustration on you, it makes it more difficult for you to do a good job for them. Remind them that you are on their side and that you need to work together. Once they agree, establish some ground rules so you can move forward.
2. Get a buffer. Have someone else in the office deal with the difficult client. You step into the picture from time to time, briefly, and then step out.
3. If you can’t change your clients, change your clients. If you still find it difficult to work with an individual client, despite your best efforts, ask them to find another lawyer. If you find it difficult to work with most of your clients, you need to consider a new practice area (or new career).
You don’t have to like your clients to do a good job for them, but it helps. If you do like your clients, they’ll be more likely to like you, and that is always a good thing.
Marketing is everything we do to get and keep good clients. Here’s the formula.
