That Pam Chick - Latest Comments in Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

Thomas Baugh — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:17:34 -0000

Overcommunicating is by far the best tip. By being pro-active and constantly bombarding the client with new thoughts and ideas, you can become a real asset rather than just an expensive techie!

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

Faizal — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:52:39 -0000

Impressive Points.
Some points really gives good ideas to close deal with positive replys.

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

adam libman — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:09:52 -0000

great points. They apply to most client situations. In my experience expectation manager coupled with a solid guarantee are all you need (well..maybe you need a hell of a lot more, but thats a great start!)

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

RedEvo — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:39:40 -0000

We are pretty brutal with potential clients and find this approach weeds out the ones that want instant results without any work from the ones who are prepared to listen and learn.

I get quite angry with trick SEO's who give unrealistic expectations.

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

thatpamchick — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:33:34 -0000

@Haniff Din - I think you might have missed the point here. Many times clients are unhappy because you haven't fulfilled your obligation to them. And we need to mature as an industry to get to the point where we are actually acting like business people. This article isn't about how to be nice to customers. It's about how to increase your revenue by having happy customers.
Also, making your clients rich is wonderful. If they are happy with you and you make them rich, they will continue to bring you business. I don't see how that can be a bad thing.

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

Haniff Din — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:24:24 -0000

I certainly got fed up with spoon feeding clients and keeping them ultra-updated. At the end of the day you just end up making them rich. If a client is trouble and doesn't get it, my advise is ditch them. Generally if a client is unhappy and you are spending time reading how to be nice them, bin them.
unhappy client = useless client = big time waster = ditch them fast

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

Ricardo Figueiredo — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:46:17 -0000

Great article Pam! For most people, these are things that come with experience, but I would advise any SEM project manager new to the business to get a full, comprehensive training on the points above.

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

Pushkar Gaikwad — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:40:12 -0000

Well most of us learn this the hard way. I think the most important thing is to understand the ground reality and what can be delivered and what not and only then take the client.

After some initial blunders, I now make sures I am promising what I can deliver in the budget as many a times, clients just want the result in a very small budget which is not possible, in that case, you have to tell the client in front.

Pushkar

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

Ben McKay — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:19:08 -0000

I was previously in marketing before formally moving into SEO. One thing that strikes me is how spot-on the first 3 points are. I have raised those points in comments before, but it's great to see these points wrapped up so well.

Under section "2. What to do if your client is unhappy"...you could also go through section 1 again from a different angle.

I actually use Base Camp too - love it. makes managing work loads and to-lists, sharing ideas and communicating a whole ot easier. Centralising all this info helps with accountability too.
Excellent post.

Ben M

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

Foot In Mouth — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:18:39 -0000

"Also, if they know you will give them something for free if they complain, they will always find something to complain about."

I totally agree with this point, it's been a long time for me to realize it, but free services are not a long term solution. They plant a seed that just grows and grows.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to manage SEO expectations, because there are so many variables especially if your client doesn't understand how to measure his own success.

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

paisley — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:56:16 -0000

Excellent information from a great presentation.

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

Dave Snyder — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:51:53 -0000

These are really ideas that should be utilized in every field, and since many in the SEO industry tend to be less than client savvy, it is great info, that the Scary SEO conference goers really ate up.

Pam you are amazing, and we were blessed to have you there.

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

thatpamchick — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:04:28 -0000

@ed - That is very true for all relationships in life. Setting expectations is key to happiness.

@Mike - You're right, it could be used for that. These are all basic principles that can be used for anything but rarely get taught anywhere. I haven't seen a college course or a conference session that addresses this topic for professionals.

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

ed — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:57:16 -0000

All really good tips and pretty much exactly what I was taught in the old days (sales school for a service company).

I've had a lot of unhappy clients referred by friends and my clients to me over the last couple years. In almost all cases they were scammed by a person who did nothing or had great work done but never at the deadline they had been quoted.

I'd say realistic expectations are the first thing to get down - then you rarely have an unhappy client.

Nice article!

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

Mike | PlanetChiro — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:57:16 -0000

This is great. Funny how the entire post could be used for explaining chiropractic care to a new consumer. May have to hire that Pam Chick to do our patient education marketing. :P

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

purposeinc — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:33:16 -0000

I can't agree with you more. I always point out all of the worst things at the beginning, and also am very, very happy to cut negative people loose, even when they are pouring money in my direction.

I wish I could have been there for the presentation, and look forward to seeing your video.

Re: Scary SEO 2008 Presentation: Dealing with Unhappy Clients

Dan Waldron — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:16:03 -0000

Just wanted to say HI. I found your blog a few days ago on Technorati and have been reading it over the past few days.