Water Well Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/752472
W e've all been there. An unhappy customer calls on the phone to complain about the mess your crew left on the lawn. Another might refuse to pay their bill until you make a series of unreasonable concessions to the invoice. Next, one of your new employees refuses to do a task they were actually hired to do one day earlier. Finally, yet another client swears your water treatment salesman promised certain things you know he never would. All of this in a single day? Probably not, but what to do? Now I will never claim to be an expert on all the ways to handle dissatisfied, unhappy, belligerent, or just plain mad customers or employees. But I have had to deal with many of them throughout my career. In this year's final installment of "Engineering Your Business" we'll discuss some of the fac- tors that make for a difficult customer, employee, or even friend and what you can do to head off a bigger problem. My original title for this column was going to be "Dealing with Difficult Clients," but some recent incidents opened my eyes and I subsequently changed the title. Although I can outline disputes with past or current clients, it's simply not enough to let that be the sole focus, and not review problems many of us have with suppliers, employees, and others as well. To be fair to all concerned, the actual title should be "Deal- ing with Difficult People—Including Me!" I'm certainly not immune to the frailties of being human or the one-to-one personality conflicts that often arise from these relationships. In fact, in many of the cases I will cite I may be as much to blame as the other person in the incident. That said, I hope many past events in my life mentioned here help lessen your personal involvement in such clashes. General Degrees of Difficulty Before we delve into the interpersonal relationships and dynamics that can cause or negate potential clashes with others, I would like to summarize some of my own personal observations. Dealing with difficult people is not always a matter of as- signing blame to another individual and tagging them as the "difficult one." In fact, more often than not, you could be re- garded as the instigator or protagonist. It may have started with a slight comment you made, an observation, or even a compliment where you meant no harm or insult, but was nonetheless interpreted as such. Another common mistake occurs in situations where a split second of anger or frustration results in a misdirected com- ment, and just a few more seconds would have caused you not to vent—or as I say, "You would have sucked the comment right back in." Most people I know like to feel their opinion is valuable. Disregarding or ignoring the input from another will most cer- tainly result in hurt feelings at the least, and possibly a major row with someone close to you at the most. Lastly, I've caught myself or others occasionally talking over the top of some people, particularly with coworkers, in technical matters—cases where their input and suggestions may well be more valuable than mine. These are situations where I may have been doing something the same way for more than 30 years, see no reason to change, and have become so entrenched in doing it my way I'm not even open to a possible better idea. This attitude not only robs you and your client of a poten- tial better solution, but can also rob the coworker of self- esteem and goodwill they might badly need. These are just a few of the ways I have discovered where I may have been responsible for a disagreement. Human dynam- ics are complex enough, and you by yourself cannot fix all the problems in the world. You can, however, correct those comments and personality traits you are individually responsi- ble for. Categories of Difficult People So to understand how to work with difficult people, I think it is first important for you to understand the various cate- gories of these individuals. I have learned everyone doesn't have the same priority with their issues or complaints. Many individuals have specific financial motives directly related to their problems. These that follow are my classifications. The Money Manager: A successful individual who does not necessarily need to get a lower price for their services, but revels in the thought he was or will be able to get one over on you and get you to concede a lower bid, even if just a few dol- lars. This is usually a congenial and pleasant person, as long as he is getting his way. Dealing with this type of person, more often than not, is knowing what your "wiggle room" is on a bid and how much you can afford to lower your bid. I have even been in situa- tions where I purposely inflated my proposal price enough I could afford to lower my bid price by 1% or 2% to get the job and also make the buyer think he won. ED BUTTS, PE, CPI ENGINEERING YOUR BUSINESS DEALING WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE They're everywhere and knowing how to interact can have a profound impact on your business. ENGINEERING continues on page 50 waterwelljournal.com 48 December 2016 WWJ