When the client is late

A new account manager in our leadership communications workshop, we’ll call her Angela, has found herself in a typical new manager situation.

She was promoted because she’s good at her job, and is now expected to have some difficult conversations, yet she was never given management communications training!

Angela has a client who is constantly late with his approvals. It sets her team back. They miss deadlines. The team resents the client. And they’re starting to resent Angela for not saying anything.

On a recent call, her client was upset about another missed deadline, and even said, is there anything I can do?

He opened a door for Angela to tell him that he was the problem.

But she chickened out and didn’t walk through it.

And the cycle continued.

All it would take is five seconds of guts.

And a formula.

She could have used the Confident Communicator Feedback Formula, followed by a Clear Request (which also has a formula).

She’s practiced saying her truth in our workshop, and it sounds something like this:

“Yes, actually. I really appreciate it. The last three times we asked, we didn’t get your approvals on time, and it made our jobs a lot more difficult. Moving forward, can you make sure to respond within one business day of our request?”

That’s nonjudgmental feedback and a doable request.

The magic formula.