Babette Ten Haken

Contact Babette
  • Home
  • Programs
    • Keynotes
    • Breakouts & Workshops
    • Professional Innovation Coaching
  • Blog
  • My Story
    • Testimonials
    • Honors & Awards
  • Resources
    • Do You Mean Business? – The Book
  • Contact Me!
You are here: Home / Collaboration And Convergence / Defining Moments: “If You Don’t Like It, Don’t Pay For It”

Defining Moments: “If You Don’t Like It, Don’t Pay For It”

September 6, 2012 by Babette Ten Haken Leave a Comment

Years ago when I was working in PR, I went into a meeting with a client. My boss and I were supposed to talk to this person together, but at the last minute my boss wasn’t going to make it.

I got to the meeting, and quickly found out why my boss had bailed out. Turns out, the client was unhappy. Very unhappy. Apparently we had tried to do a series of ads for them that had flopped, and I was here to answer for that failure.

So I walked into the meeting room, and proceeded to get chewed out by a justifiably upset buyer. He was frustrated by the lack of results, and asked me what would happen if we botched the next project he gave us.

My response? “If you don’t like the work, don’t pay for it.”

“No, seriously. What am I supposed to do if the work you produce for us doesn’t get results?”

“I mean it. If you don’t like the work, don’t pay for it.”

Keep in mind I was going out on a limb here. Yes, I had the authority to write off bills if required. But write-offs would have hurt my standing and reputation within the agency, and if clients started thinking they didn’t have to pay our bills, it could be open season on me and my agency.

Still, as far as I was concerned, it was better to have a customer than a sale. I’d rather someone tell me they were dissatisfied so we could work to fix it than simply get the payment and never hear from that client again.

Not long after I said that, the meeting ended and I went back to the office. I wasn’t at my desk five minutes before my boss came out to have a word with me.

“What exactly did you say to him in that meeting?”

Before I got a chance to tell my boss what I’d said, he continued.

“Whatever you said, that guy loved it! He just called, he wanted you to come back next week to talk about a new project he wants us to take on!”

I learned something critical that day. Of course you want your customers to trust you. But sometimes in order for that to happen, you have to trust your customer by, essentially, putting yourself at their mercy. When I told our client that he shouldn’t pay for the work if he didn’t like it, I was telling him that getting results was more important to me than getting his money. From that point on, he felt like he could trust me enough not to try to rip him off. Being able to recognize what it takes to earn a buyer’s trust helped make that meeting a defining moment in my career.

Michael Boyette was the executive editor of the Rapid Learning Institute Selling Essentials e-learning site. 

Enjoy this post? Please share it!

Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on LinkedInShare on EmailShare on Reddit

Filed Under: Collaboration And Convergence, Professional Development Tagged With: advertising, customer service, defining moments, Michael Boyette, Rapid Learning Institute, sales

About Babette Ten Haken

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hire Babette to speak at your next conference or corporate meeting.

https://youtu.be/Yf-h80O_QZ4
Sign up to receive posts via email
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide
No spam, ever. Promise. Powered by FeedBlitz
SalesProCentral
Customer Experience Update

Categories

  • Collaboration And Convergence
  • Customer Experience, Success, Loyalty, Retention
  • Human Capital & Industrial IoT Workforce
  • Professional Development
  • Trending Book Reviews
  • Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • Are You Bringing Out The Cross Functional Best In Your Teams?
  • Are You Leading Better Internal Customer Experiences?
  • Find Powerful Soft Skills Lost In Your Professional Toolkit
  • 5 One Millimeter Mindset Blog Posts to kick off April. No fooling!
  • Pause for Your Own Professional Cause and Reflect

Archives

Storytelling for STEM Professionals and Left Brain Thinkers Speaking Programs. Learn more....

Contact Babette
Sign up to receive posts via email
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide
No spam, ever. Promise. Powered by FeedBlitz

Recent Posts

Are You Bringing Out The Cross Functional Best In Your Teams?

Are You Leading Better Internal Customer Experiences?

Find Powerful Soft Skills Lost In Your Professional Toolkit

Follow Us!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on LinkedInFollow Us on Instagram

Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions

CATALYST FOR PROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION: Storytelling for STEM Professionals and Left Brain Thinkers Speaking Programs.
Sales Aerobics for Engineers®, All Rights Reserved 2021 ©
By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies