Boss Responses
Want to know a secret? Your client isn't always right. But how do you tell them that without ruining your relationship? You give a Boss Response.
When you approach your clients from a position of mutual respect and power, you develop a positive working relationship that turns your client into one of your best resources. I believe every business owner can grow their business when they step up and run their business like a Boss.
But how do you successfully navigate tricky client questions and difficult situations to create superfan clients? Boss Responses comes to you with five episodes a week packed full of Boss Responses, real-life examples, and interviews with successful business owners who share their best and worst client management and communication stories.
Boss Responses
#37: Strategies for Handling Unfair Criticism from Clients, with Michelle Garrett
In this episode of the Boss Responses podcast, host Treasa Edmond and guest co-host Michelle Garrett tackle the issue of imposter syndrome, particularly in the context of negative client feedback. They offer strategies for managing unsatisfied clients and emphasize the importance of maintaining a positive mindset. The discussion includes practical tips you can use to boost your morale!
About our Guest
Michelle Garrett is a public relations consultant, writer, and speaker who helps B2B companies create content, earn media coverage, and position themselves as thought leaders in their industries.
After working in various PR and marketing communications roles, including time spent in Silicon Valley with technology companies such as HP, Adobe, and numerous startups, she launched her consulting business to provide down-to-earth advice and a practical approach to public relations for her clients.
Repeatedly ranked among the industry’s most influential PR professionals, Michelle has written a book, B2B PR That Gets Results. She also launched her own YouTube show, PR Explored, where she interviews trusted industry experts about public relations trends and topics.
Michelle has written hundreds of articles that have been featured in business publications including Entrepreneur, Muck Rack, and Ragan’s PR Daily. She’s a frequent podcast guest, often quoted as an expert source on public relations, and regularly speaks at events like Content Marketing World, the largest gathering of content marketing professionals in the world.
In 2018, she founded a weekly Twitter chat called #FreelanceChat to help support freelancers in what can be a lonely journey. Since then, it’s grown to attract dozens of new participants and has been featured in Entrepreneur, MSN Money, and the Houston Chronicle. In 2024, the chat moved to YouTube.
Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn
Grab your copy of Michelle's Book: B2B PR That Gets Results
Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to listen to Boss Responses. This podcast is a passion project that comes from years of helping freelancers shape a business that supports the lifestyle they want.
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Welcome back to the Boss Responses podcast. Today we're going to talk about one of those topics I think we've all dealt with. It's imposter syndrome. But this imposter syndrome question is specifically about what do you do when a client's negative feedback kind of throws you for a loop. Let's get into the question. If you're a freelancer, business owner or anyone who deals with clients, you're in the right place. I'm your host, teresa Edmond. I've been dealing with clients and running my business for nearly two decades and in that time I've dealt with my share of doubt, imposter syndrome and not knowing what to say when a client asked a question I wasn't ready for. I created this podcast to empower you with the boss responses you need to grow your business. Each week, my guest co-host and I will bring you five episodes packed with practical insights. Monday through Thursday, we answer your questions, and Fridays we dive deep to explore how our co-hosts embrace their role as the boss of their business. Welcome to Boss Responses. Their role as the boss of their business. Welcome to Boss Responses.
Speaker 2:We are here for day two with Michelle Garrett. Michelle, what's the question today? Well, today the question is imposter syndrome is hitting me hard. I just had a client tell me my work is terrible and they aren't satisfied. I asked for more direct feedback so I could fix whatever they don't like, and they were vague and said I'm not satisfied and I'm not paying for this. I had better work from the last person I hired on Fiverr. I've had several years worth of satisfied clients and I've never worked with a client who reacted like this clients, and I've never worked with a client who reacted like this.
Speaker 1:How do I move forward? Imposter syndrome is hard. I don't know that I've ever talked to anyone no matter how long they've been in the business or how successful that didn't suffer from some imposter syndrome, but clients like this trigger it hard, and the fact that they're not willing to give you feedback so that you can fix the problem means they never intended for you to do a project that they liked and they never intended to pay you. There are clients like this and the best way you can never have them is charge so much that they'll never come to you in the first place. And that deposit, get the deposit. Get the deposit that makes the project worth it, which is in this case. If it's someone who's paying Fiverr rates, you should be paid in advance or only do things on retainer. It just gets rid of people like that and lean on the fact that you have several years worth of satisfied clients. That means that you are doing good work and you are doing work that your clients like and they're satisfied with.
Speaker 1:One thing that I recommend for every freelancer is that you keep a I call it a glad file. I've heard them called other things. Anytime a client says something nice to you, compliments your work, gives you a testimonial, keep it in that file and when you get one of these clients you pull out that file and you read through that and you remind yourself that you actually provide projects with great value and other people see that value. One person's opinion should not rule your life. So, moving forward, I'd say get them to pay you because you did the work and they need to, and then just send them on their way and tell them to have the best life. Don't let them bring you down. What have you had? Clients like this, michelle?
Speaker 2:I can't say that I've ever had anybody say anything exactly like that to me, but I've definitely had people I did not feel the vibe with. Okay, let's put it like that, and I agree that you should keep a feel. I call mine a feel-good file and then I can go there. And actually it's really important to remember as, as you said, you can't let one person bring you down because you've got loads of positive comments and accolades from people you've worked with, and that's something that my daughter actually reminded me of. She's like somebody on it was on social media, was coming back at me with something and I was like really, and she's let's look at this person. Who is this person? Don't allow that person, who has 100 followers, to ruin your day. Look at who you're taking you know criticism from, or like buying into their comments or whatever. Don't do that to yourself. So just try to remember to stay focused on the positive and not allow like one negative person out of how many get in your head. That's not going to be helpful to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm a big fan of Pat Flynn. If no one has ever heard of him, go listen to his podcast because it's amazing. One of his podcast episodes he was talking about the fact that his son was wanting to start a podcast and his son is younger, so he was telling him about trolls, essentially that there are people out there whose only joy in life is making other people feel miserable, and clients like this fall into that category. And what he told his son is it's never actually about you, it's about them. He says so there's something going on in their life that makes them take out their anger or their pain, or whatever it is, on other people, and his son came back at him with you know what. I think I just feel sad for them and I'm like that's a different perspective and with being the boss of your business and giving boss responses, I think mindset is a huge part of it and I embrace that. So anytime someone says something really negative to me, I am sad for you and I actually, if someone gets in my face, like this client did and this was obviously it looks like it was probably an email If a client ever said something to me like this on a call, I would actually step back, take a deep breath so I didn't say the thing in retaliation.
Speaker 1:That was my first instinct. And then I would say is everything okay with you? Is there anything I can do to help? And then bring it back to the project, Because showing that little bit of empathy to someone can change their entire perspective. In this situation probably not, because this one actually sounds like it was more of a scam. But yeah, I'm all about empathy. I'm all about understanding that everyone has bad days. I'm also all about it's not right for them to take it out on you. So don't let them, Don't let the imposter syndrome be triggered by someone who's probably suffering from their own very bad imposter syndrome day.
Speaker 2:Yep, I agree.
Speaker 1:All right, meet us back here tomorrow as we enter day three with Michelle.
