You handled that well Kylie. Everyone has bad days, and some people just dump on the first person that crosses their path. Its hard not to take it to heart and wonder what you could have possibly done wrong. I would have been the same as you, and it would have kept me awake trying to figure it out!

The first thing to try in remember in any situation is that "everything is not always as it seems" And I've also been taught the wait 24 hours approach before responding in a difficult situation too.

Now if I could only tell myself this when I end up taking something to personal

Anyway I'm glad everything worked out for the best!

__________________
Deb Frawley
Gem's Virtual Office

Another update: he paid his bill yesterday and wrote a note thanking me.

Stepping back from any situation that makes us feel bad is always the first step for me. If I'm trying to 'fix' the situation too, that stepping back helps to put things into perspective.

__________________
Kylie Short
Tilda Virtual Services - Making virtual personal

Kylie
I read your post today and felt a breeze passing in my mind, as the complicated issue is being discussed with ease.
I have also learned through hard experiences of life that ego spoils the whole game. Keeping oneself in low key and still sticking to principles and values is the tricky and skillful act. I was wondering if I was in your place, perhaps I would have also reacted similarly or not.
Definitely this is a lesson for us to learn.
Regards
Vinita

We could go into this huge discussion about how we are conditioned from birth (think of Pavlov's dogs) to act and react in certain ways simply because we are women but I'll spare you all LOL. I do find it hard to separate my emotions from the situation sometimes but I try to deal with issues such as this one as logically as I can.

Another update: at the business breakfast meeting this week he told the people at our table what I do, all about my business, how every business in town needed me and my team and that said more to me than anything else. We were comfortable in each other's company instead of being awkward and it would have been a shame to lose him as a client, friend and as my mortgage broker.

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Kylie Short
Tilda Virtual Services - Making virtual personal

Thats great Kylie....and if everyone takes his advice you'll have more clients knocking on your door

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Deb Frawley
Gem's Virtual Office

A constant through this string seems to be how people are different and react differently. That being said, when I read your post and got to the lessons list the lesson I learned didn't appear on the list! Isn't that amusing!? My first thought was, "I better not answer the phone when I know I'm not in the right frame of mind!" I think your client, looking back now, may have very well learned that leason in a way that could have been very harmful! He could have lost you! Thanks to you, the entire relationship was saved. Good job!

Make it a great day!

Sundi

Good customer service,

Most of the time, if you have checked and you are sure that you did not cause the problem, it is something that has happened to the client and you just happened to be the one to get dumped on. And here again is where VA's can play an excellent role and that is being truly concerned about your client's well-being.

Good job.

Gina Murray
mgmvirtualoffice

You handled it very professionally. Good job! I agree it's very important we step back in situations like this.

I admit I've taken things too personally once in a long while and did not step back when I should have. But, like all of you, I'm learning and am getting better!

I've had a client who used to jump on me when he had problems or when he wasn't feeling well. But, all is better now.

Once again, good save, you did great.

I dug this up because I needed to read this today.

Today one of my clients sent me an email that said, "I feel extremely frustrated and disappointed. I do not feel that I am getting the proper attention or service from your company."

Now how can you not take that personally??

But today he made a grave mistake -- ordering 2000 pcs of the WRONG item for his client. Of course "I" input the order so I had to retrace my steps to see if I did something wrong.. Luckily I kept his email and sent to him EXACTLY what he asked me to do, which I executed to the letter.

I told him I was sorry that he was feel that way and I understood that today was a very trying day for him/his client and his business (he is new to this particular business so he still is having quite a bit of growing pains.. this being a BIG one). But what got me is that me and my associate tried to do whatever we could to help him find an alternative for his client today, yet we end up with email. AND at the end of the email he says, "who is ___________ (my associate) anyway?"

Well mind you I sent an email introduction of my new subcontractor 3 weeks ago since she was covering for me while I was away. Also I have been contemplating firing this client because is he very frustrating to work with. He peicemails information and never is concise and clear in his email communications, resulting in numerous follow up emails from me.

So, I ended my email by saying we should talk about this.. We talk tomorrow at 10a. This is my first customer service complaint and I don't really know how to handle it. I mean, everything he has asked for has been done in a timely and efficient manner, yet he feels he isn't a priority. What do you say to that?

__________________
Tamika R. Johnson, MBA, Principal
administrative partners, llc
www.administrativepartners.net | http://adminpartners.blogspot.com

Tamika - Seems like he's scapegoating you, right? Probably not a good fit for your company.
But to be fair, I'm learning daily about how sensitive internet relationships can be. People seldom directly communicate what they mean or need. They expect VAs to intuit a lot. The parameters of any task can be so subjective ... Not many people are good at giving directions.
So what's a VA to do? Either coddle 'em or fire 'em, what other choice is there?

__________________
Mary H. Ruth/Virtual Writing & Communications
http://www.writingVA.com