Project Managers Way…
For starters, ‘Don’t create an unreasonable customer in the first place.’
may sound the simplest, but it is the most difficult one. The root cause of having great customers turning sour is the first time you should have told the truth and avoided overcommitting; worse, you did not want to look bad in front of the customer.
Committing under pressure is like accepting a proposal because too many people are looking at me (a mistake highlighted even in the movie Yeh Zindagi Nahi Mielgi Dobara). If you are unsure, request time to return and then return even if the reply is a no.
Setting non-scalable expectations: There was a critical issue: you did not look day or night, weekday or weekend; perfect makes sense. But if you are setting the same expectation for any query and every query, that is a tunnel with no light at the end.
Listen to understand, not reply: With the noise around you, don’t miss the focus. So when things go wrong, instead of the issue, customers end up saying anything and everything which is not an issue, irking you. Stay focused, stay truthful, and if it is what it is, then be it.
If you do not know it, don’t bluff: When conversing, be real and have an honest discussion, not standard answers. What is worse than your customer thinking I can say/do anything, and it is okay because I am the customer? Do not walk on the road of no return.
Train the customer to liberate, not isloate: If you pick up and drop the customer at their office and talk about driving a car, you are not helping. Please help them learn how to drive that will solve your and customers’ problems.
Long-term goals: Act swiftly, inform and update. Long-term relationships are built on dependability; the rest can be negotiated; before committing, think about whether you can deliver it, not the AI/Robot/superhuman, but by you.
Lastly, do everything you can and learn from your mistakes; every day may not be your day, but turning up every day is up to you.
#happyprojecting #project #management #diaries #listentorespond #keepgrowing #happy #customers #ispossible
