3 There's Them and then There's Me

Hi, I'm Jared, and today I want to talk about my clients. As I have said in my previous entry, I do not claim to be an expert in the corporate world nor do I believe that I am, my background is purely out of my own experience that is a meager four years. But today as mentioned earlier, I want to to talk about my clients.

To start with, what is a client? They are the people who patronize the business which in turn provides for your salary, and may ultimately be the reason why you go home with a headache. Now, every company has their own set of clients, and so does every department. Basically the term client is so broad that they have been classified into two less broad categories that my college business books talked about for the last four years. But I'm not here to talk about that, what I want to talk about is who are the clients to you as a person who will deal with them whatever kind of job you will have.

For me there are three types of clients. First is your outside clients, or the people that avails your products and/or services. But your outside clients are not limited to people who pays money for your service/product. In my opinion, outside clients are generally anyone who you cater to regardless if they are the general public. It means that your outside clients can be your coworkers and colleagues that require your service/s to go about their daily tasks. Comparing it to a game, outside clients provide you with your missions or quests, they  are the the npcs that file the requests that you in turn accept. You need to remember that they can be very temperamental and there are those that have very high expectations especially when they have been utilizing the product or service for an extended period of time. Just like in any RPG, each mission has its own set of challenges that you need to complete; some of them might be recurring but some of them are all together new. You must understand that there are those who have already grown dependent in the services that you do, so much so that your failure can cause serious repercussions not only to you but to your company or department.

The second type of client is Your Boss. During college the bosses are considered as your in-house clients or your stakeholders but in my experience I have learned that your boss is not just a mere client. Similar to a game, I found out that they are like the Request Master from whom you have to accept and fulfill your missions but at the same time they have a very dark alter ego which turns them into a dungeon's very secret high level monster that you need to slay to succeed with your task. In every company your boss usually is the last hurdle that you need to pass to complete your task and when dealing with your boss you must disillusion yourself from the idea that you will always succeed, with most days requiring you to grind to raise your level or power up in the hopes of succeeding. Every boss is different, there are those that can be very supportive and will even help you so that you succeed and most of the time they will cover for you from the endless bombardment from your Outside Clients. You need to remember that just like your Outside Clients each boss has a different set of expectations and responses to failure. They can be harsh at times but you just have to learn to toughen up because the corporate world is a jungle filled with cannibalistic beasts ready to devour you.

The last type of client is Yourself. I know it is confusing but it's true, why? In simple terms, you will not work if you don't believe that there is nothing to be gained in the endeavor. People are not so complicated as they seem. Most of us have a goal in sight that is why we work our asses off every single day. You must look beyond your paycheck and understand if your own needs are met by your current job and what else you need to do to achieve them. In a game, you are what they call an easter egg. There will come a time that you will be disappointed with yourself for not meeting your own expectations but you can't bitch about it to other people since only you can achieve your own goals and satisfy your needs. Success in self satisfaction isn't guaranteed but you need to strive to do so.

Having identified your clients, what now? Next is how to deal with them, I have listed a few things that may help you but as always this is not foolproof.

1. Keep Calm and Smile - Do not lose your head when dealing with an irate client, and once you do, people tend to lead with their emotions and run their mouths. This is applicable whether you just started in the corporate world or you're already a veteran. Your mantra should be "I am chill, even if I want to bite their heads off".

2. The customer isn't always right - You were hired by your company knowing that you are fully capable of handling your tasks and you are the one who knows the process and what is the supposed result. With that in mind, do not be afraid of correcting a client if you know that what they are saying is wrong but always try to say it in a nice and professional manner. Remember: you don't want to offend your client.

3. Be ready - For what you ask? For an onslaught of questions, reactions, criticisms, and stupidity. Yes, in the eyes of a client you are the Google search bar so be ready to deal with them as much as you can and for as long as you can.

4. Set expectations - Confidence in one's skills is good, but do not forget that the client has his own set of expectations that you need to satisfy. If you need to lower the client's expectations then do so, because it is better to have a low client expectation and surpass that than not be able to meet them at all.

So there you have it, my experience with my clients. It's understandable that most of you must know this already, but there are times that we get confused too, and we need to be reminded. Just remember that you can do it, just think of it as an RPG with a set of quests that you need to accomplish, if you do that, dealing with clients won't be that bad.

Till next time!