How to Deal With Difficult Clients in Software Development (Or Anywhere)

We’ll be going through the most effective strategies and practices on how to deal with difficult clients, whether the client keeps changing project requirements, sets unattainable demands or finding the common language seems like mission impossible.

Some of the steps mentioned we often do by default just by using common sense, but it’s always good to have a place where you can read about the useful ways to avoid losing your cool with your revenue source. Also, we’ll show you what our experts in sales have experienced and how they solve this not-so-rare issue between the service provider and the client.

1) Keep It Together. Take a Break

So, how to deal with difficult clients? By keeping it calm and cool, no matter what. If the client needs to express their dissatisfaction, even if they crossed the line and said something in a bad taste, you should stay composed and not show irritation with the other side’s behaviour.

If a minor disagreement inevitably escalates, the best thing for both parties is to agree to take a break to avoid having an even more heated argument — time is your best friend here.

Also, you’re the one who offers your services (often on behalf of a company) and your behaviour determines in which way the conversation with the client will go.

And that’s why the first and foremost rule is to try not to raise your voice at all, or resist the temptation to do the same if the other side had already raised theirs. If you show you’re in control, you also show professionalism. Staying calm isn’t always easy, but it can lead to better mutual understanding and ultimately, a better product, service, or solution for both parties.

2) Listen Actively. Act Accordingly

Most conflicts with clients arise from the feeling that their demands are not being respected in one way or another. This requires you listening attentively and actively, maintaining eye contact, and showing through your gestures that you understand the client’s concerns.

Furthermore, based on your observations after hearing from your client, the best way to approach the matter is to ask them what they think would be most helpful to them at the moment or what the best way to help them solve your current situation is in their opinion.

If you consider your client’s wishes and clarify the main pain points together, you open the way to a much easier and more painless problem solving. It’s human nature to want to be heard, so this approach of active listening and showing respect often leads to faster de-escalation of unresolved issues with your client.

The best tactic is to show understanding and empathy for the other side, both in tone and rhetoric, as well as body language.

3) Identify the Pain Point

When having to deal with difficult clients, it’s essential to have open communication and mention specific information regarding the reasons why things went south. Why? Because this information is crucial for you to have a broader picture and a better understanding of the overall situation.

Is the problem ‘only’ in miscommunication between members of the team, expectations that the client had but were not met, or is the problem in the end result or deliverables?

Furthermore, a methodical approach that includes summarising the problem in your own words and pinpointing the exact reason for the discontent will make the process of handling the situation easier.

This approach also demonstrates your investment in the current issue, and shows you want to resolve the problem as quickly and effectively as possible. Once both parties fully understand where the main pain points lie, the result is a clearer communication and a solution that can suit both sides.

4) Set Boundaries

It’s not uncommon for a client to simply set unattainable demands, and if that leads to further escalation and even involves bad words, the process is clear — there’s no point in continuing the conversation until both sides have cooled down.

Certain standards in professional communication must be respected — that’s why the key is to set your boundaries that’ll help your relationship with the client flow smoother.

When boundaries are set early on, especially those related to time limitations or budget restrictions, underlining and highlighting respectful communication is imperative. In other words, the quality of your service or project delivery must not suffer because of changes that the client requests abruptly.

This approach of knowing who is accountable for what is mature and professional, and gives the impression of you understanding the core of the problem, but also grants you the authority that’s more often than not required in these situations.

5) Suggest Solutions

What you can do is offer suggestions with solutions for your clients that are aligned with their specific requirements — all that based on figuring out the core of the project-related challenges.

By offering multiple options to resolve the issue, you’re showing the effort and willingness to come to a solution. And it also shows that you’re not just offering something to please them in the short-term.

Moreover, another vital detail to remember is to present each of the possible suggestions you’ll offer with its pros and cons and the potential deadlines that each of them has. It goes without saying how important it is to be completely transparent about what’s realistic and achievable, without making promises that could lead to new ‘glitches’ in your future communication.

If your proposals do not please the client or are ultimately not doable, what you can do then is give it another try. When dealing with difficult clients, it’s one more suggestion that might finally get closer to the client’s demands. What’s crucial is that you determine the next steps, who is accountable for what exactly, and set up deadlines so that everyone involved can be on the same page.

A systematic and structured plan like this changes direction from conflicted or, at the very least tense, to you showing proactivity and strong focus on problem solving.

6) Learn, Adapt & Share

For future potential disagreements with the client, it’s essential to write down the main insights based on your experience, and the ways and methods that helped you come to the final solution. All this information you’ve learned will be useful as a lesson for future situations, which, let’s be real, may happen from time to time.

Another crucial thing: share it all with your team. The fact that you may have resolved the conflict by yourself does not mean that your takeaways must remain only with you. Share your remarks with your team so that everyone can benefit from (your)  previous experiences.

7) Ask For Feedback

And perhaps the most important thing we leave for last. Your conflict resolution experience is invaluable and serves as a prime example of your professional growth and development. And that is why, after you have successfully resolved your situation with the client, you should ask for client feedback.

Why? Because this way you show, once again, respect and understanding towards them. Needless to say, it will definitely help you continue improving your approach to solving similar problems and solve them more efficiently in the future.

8) How our Sales Deal With Difficult Clients

In the 10+ years of Q’s existence, we’ve had several situations where we came across clients that were not so easy to handle. Whether they valued higher management’s opinion and didn’t recognise sales as a point of contact or had unrealistic expectations on the start date and project delivery or didn’t even know how agencies or software development works in general.

There were also situations where the client didn’t see the benefit of working closely with the team and communicating requirements for their product. Of course, some didn’t even see the benefit of creating a roadmap and preparing for the road ahead.

And one of the biggest problems we’ve encountered was clients being very slow to respond or even ghosting our sales when you ask them about feedback, critical decisions, or when you contact them regarding payment.

Let’s see how our sales team approached this issue.

Given the client’s preference for management input rather than that of our sales team, they proactively involved relevant decision-makers early on to reinforce the project’s strategic value. Sales scheduled structured communication routines — like short, weekly alignment calls — to maintain momentum, clarify requirements, and remind the client of outstanding actions, including payment deadlines.

Additionally they also:

• talked to the client with concise, jargon-free explanations of software workflows (bridging knowledge gaps and preventing delays)


• used clear deadlines in the first talks to address slow response times


• highlighted potential risks to the client’s ROI


• elevated issues to key stakeholders when needed

Conclusion

It’s important to step into the role of an ‘educator’ of sorts for your client and let them know what your expectations and requirements are too. This way, you’ll stay ahead of potential issues in your collaboration right from the start.

It goes without saying, sharing this information needs to be carried out in a respectful way. Also, it’s vital to show how the business processes function in your company and the client ought to have it bright and clear right from the very beginning.

This way, the amount of ambiguities should be brought to the minimum by following the steps mentioned in this blog article:

• remaining calm


• listening actively


• spotting the project’s scope creep early on


• navigating unrealistic demands with skill by establishing boundaries


• learning from your previous experiences

All this can be highly beneficial in finding a successful way to solve the problem with your client.

If you’d like to reach out to us and see how easily business can flow with us, contact us and we’ll set up a meeting!